Raise your budget.

If you can't afford more then $1.50 per day, don't bother with it.

That's exactly what they're telling you.

The message is fairly straightforward. $1.50 a day is not enough. Bump it up to $20 a day and it will work fine. You actually don't need to spend that $20, you just need to have it available. $1.50 a day doesn't give you enough water to float your boat.

They may have an unpublished minimum spend requirement spec, most testing is done with at least $5 - $10 a day, I hear that recommend bid prices may drop after an ad has run for a while.

Your minimum daily budget has to be more than a $1 and more than 2x your bid. Try setting it to $2. Also, a tip: you generally want to start with CPC, as your ad could be so bad that you don't get a single click, and before you know it, your entire budget is gone.

Your approach is very logical; I applaud you. Ignore those that will insist that the ONLY way to do PPC on FB is with a big budget; its simple math..

2 = 50% of 4 <--> 200 = 50% of 400

The only difference between the two calculations above (regarding PPC on FB) is that the smaller number equates to a smaller margin of error; which really isn't "error" when you're "testing"... anyway...

FB states that the minimum daily budget is $2

HTH
PLP
tecHead

Even those that have been advertising on facebook for a long time will throw a lot of money at it in order to find a winning campaign. Putting 1 or 2 dollars in at a time is just going to be a slow money pit.

I agree with them. I think your results will change by raising the price or bid.

Firstly, all due respect to everyone responding to my theory...

@Thomas - I love math so much because of what it represents... unmitigated truth

It doesn't matter from which angle you approach the "laws" of mathematics; numbers will never lie and always tell you the same thing regardless of the angle.... (and it does it Universally).

The original premise of my post was to let the OP know that their assumption that they could participate effectively in a FaceBook PPC campaign without spending a mint. This still stands.

Note (@JMichaelZ):
Never once was it implied anywhere by the OP or myself that he (or anyone working with small dollar amounts) should "stop" testing at, (our current popular number of), 4 hits.

We're talking about a "daily" spend limit.

According to mathematical law; (regarding sales conversions - to keep things in context, here); a consistent repeatition of the same calculation ultilizing small sets of numbers will yield the same results as a larger set of numbers... as long as the control environment is the same. Ad, headline, picture, landing page.

Who said anything about "predicting"; (which is NOT a part of the 'conversion calculation'); outcome? We're 'calculating' here.

@garyv - Averages are calculated by adding a set of numbers together and dividing the sum by the count of numbers in that set.

Conversions are based on a ratio calculation.

lol, since we're nit-picking... I never said anyone did say he needed to spend a mint. If you scroll up and read what was said; I advised him to ignore anyone that would tell him that.

Let me repeat that, again... ...you can't accurately calculate...... oxymoron of the year...

No, I'm not missing your "non-mathematical" point.. you're missing mine, actually

And see, this statement excentuates my point, (on so many levels)... "accurate calculation" consists of a calculation that when reversed gives the original set...

2 +2 = 4 <--> 4 - 2 = 2

Math is absolute; therefore "enough data" (in THIS case) is the data you have to work with. We're not talking about a quadratic equation, here. We're talking about a very straight forward calculation...

Conversion ratio = Sales divided by Hits... the only extra level of complication you can go with that is "unique hits".

Like my Nana used to say, "You're doin' that funny math."

You're speaking in 'abstracts' NOT absolutes. Just like with the next statement...

I'm not even going to go into the mathematics any more... either you get it or you don't. I'm not speaking from a marketing standpoint.. YOU are.. I'm coming strictly from a mathematical standpoint.

Put on your marketing hat and yeah, you start factoring in things like trends and environmental variables... and I'm not discounting the fact that those factors can play a significant role in the full understanding of your conversions data. But, on a totally rudimentary level; (which is where the OP is starting from); it is best for him to utilize Occam's Razor and keep it simple. The core of his conversion data will stem from the mathematics. Once he's got the core worked out, THEN (and only then) should he start to factor in the abstract data sets.

(of course, IMHO)

..and at this point, I'm going to agree to disagree on this topic, my friend
PLP
tecHead

Sorry tecHead, but people are going to lose a lot of money (and many already have) if they follow your logic. Of course math doesn't lie. But it doesn't always reveal the truth either. Especially if there are too many missing variables. If you made it past elementary math, then you know that every variable must be given - OR the surrounding evidence must be such that the variables can be figured out.

In the case provided above, 2 conversions out of 4 impressions is a simple enough math equation, if we were talking simply about doing a math problem. But the conversation was not about math, it was about conversions and future spending. Thus there were way too many missing variables to really give an accurate conversion rate.

- Unless of course you're getting ready to launch a product over at clickbank - then the 2 out of 4 conversions could easily be 50%

Raise your budget, and try changing your bids

From what I understand Thomas is right you need to spend more to see what the actual conversions are. I haven't done PPC yet but am just studying it and from what I read everywhere is that you don't have to spend alot but you have to spend more than what you are to see what the conversions are. I can't remember the numbers though.