I've got my pet project called Strategy Wars. It's a (free) newsletter where each week I'm pitting 2 companies/strategies/ideas against each other and the readers get to vote for their winner... and then I give out the playbook of that company. I think it's cool. But then again, I came up with the idea... soo....
But I digress.
The last issue was about paid vs organic advertising and I deep-dove about a dozen reports from Hubspot and Meta, consulted with other agency friends, and came up with actual numbers for 2025 for paid lead gen AND approximately what level of activity you would need to actually get leads organically.
I thought you guys might like it.
So check it out:
There are only a few ways to sell stuff online, right? One-to-one via a booked call or appointment... one-to-many via presentation or webinar... or a product listing/shelf space in retail.
I did NOT look at what it costs to get people to physically show up in person these days (like if you were doing a live local presentation) but I'm guessing the webinar registration numbers ARE fairly accurate for the same thing.
On the other hand, here's what the social companies THEMSELVES say the data shows to be "successful" in generating leads from their platforms:
For those of you who consistently posting and asking about marketing/generating leads online... well... here's the harsh reality: if you don't have the budget (or the margin) for the paid route above, you'll have to go the massive activity route for organic. But some of these numbers are blowing my mind. In "part 2" of this issue I went into the numbers of organic reach and Facebook has throttled your personal account back to 2.2%!!!
Meaning, 2 out of 100 people you're friends with even SEE your post (let alone read it/engage with it). That number is 1.9% for Business Pages.
Not that we didn't know this already but Meta is a pay-to-play platform.
The chances of going viral and getting attention there are getting slimmer by the day.
BUT the light at the end of the tunnel for Facebook is local groups. They are still performing insanely well. If you have the ability to create a local group of your potential customers -- you might turn those numbers around.
LinkedIn on the other hand has a 12% organic reach still... but it's weird. To get UP to 12%, you must do a certain amount of activity (comments/likes/shares/reposts/etc) for the platform to reward you with extra eyeballs. I don't know what the hard numbers on activity need to be to get there -- couldn't find that data -- but it looks to be a minimum of "30 comments per day"
Is my post supposed to be doom and gloom?
Absolutely not.
It's to give you an edge, a real understanding of what it takes to get leads and sales online.
That way you can PLAN your strategy and activity and go from there.
Hope it helps
But I digress.
The last issue was about paid vs organic advertising and I deep-dove about a dozen reports from Hubspot and Meta, consulted with other agency friends, and came up with actual numbers for 2025 for paid lead gen AND approximately what level of activity you would need to actually get leads organically.
I thought you guys might like it.
So check it out:
- Average Cost Per Lead (CPL) -- The average across several industries
- Google Ads: $53
- Facebook Ads: $19.68
- LinkedIn Ads: $75+
- TikTok Ads: $10–$25
- Cost Per Webinar Registrant
- Google Ads: $55–$120
- Facebook Ads: $30–$80
- LinkedIn Ads: $75–$200
- TikTok Ads: $20–$50
- Cost Per Booked Call
- Facebook Ads: $150–$350+ (B2B offers, coaching, high-ticket services)
- Google Ads: $300–$1,200 (law firms, finance, plastic surgery, specialized industries)
- LinkedIn Ads: $500+ per booked call (high-level B2B services, agency, branding, etc.)
- E-Commerce ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
- Google Shopping: 2.3x–4.1x
- Facebook/Instagram: 1.5x–3x
- TikTok Ads: 2x–5x
- Amazon Ads: 4x–6x (but Amazon fees eat up a lot of margin)
There are only a few ways to sell stuff online, right? One-to-one via a booked call or appointment... one-to-many via presentation or webinar... or a product listing/shelf space in retail.
I did NOT look at what it costs to get people to physically show up in person these days (like if you were doing a live local presentation) but I'm guessing the webinar registration numbers ARE fairly accurate for the same thing.
On the other hand, here's what the social companies THEMSELVES say the data shows to be "successful" in generating leads from their platforms:
- Content Volume Needed to Win (Per Week):
- Twitter/X: 3–5 posts per day
- LinkedIn: 5–7 posts per week
- Instagram: 3–5 feed posts, 5+ stories per day
- TikTok: 1–3 posts per day
- YouTube: 1 video per week minimum (preferably 2–3)
- SEO Blogging: 2–4 high-quality posts per month
- Time Required to See Results
- SEO: 6–12 months
- LinkedIn Authority Growth: 3–6 months
- YouTube Growth: 9–18 months
- Organic Social (TikTok, Instagram, Twitter/X): 3–6 months if posting daily
For those of you who consistently posting and asking about marketing/generating leads online... well... here's the harsh reality: if you don't have the budget (or the margin) for the paid route above, you'll have to go the massive activity route for organic. But some of these numbers are blowing my mind. In "part 2" of this issue I went into the numbers of organic reach and Facebook has throttled your personal account back to 2.2%!!!
Meaning, 2 out of 100 people you're friends with even SEE your post (let alone read it/engage with it). That number is 1.9% for Business Pages.
Not that we didn't know this already but Meta is a pay-to-play platform.
The chances of going viral and getting attention there are getting slimmer by the day.
BUT the light at the end of the tunnel for Facebook is local groups. They are still performing insanely well. If you have the ability to create a local group of your potential customers -- you might turn those numbers around.
LinkedIn on the other hand has a 12% organic reach still... but it's weird. To get UP to 12%, you must do a certain amount of activity (comments/likes/shares/reposts/etc) for the platform to reward you with extra eyeballs. I don't know what the hard numbers on activity need to be to get there -- couldn't find that data -- but it looks to be a minimum of "30 comments per day"
Is my post supposed to be doom and gloom?
Absolutely not.
It's to give you an edge, a real understanding of what it takes to get leads and sales online.
That way you can PLAN your strategy and activity and go from there.
Hope it helps
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