Social media marketing across Canada
Paid social is where a national Canadian budget is most often wasted, usually by targeting the whole country at once. Canada is thinly populated across an enormous area, and an ad set aimed at everyone converts far worse than several aimed at the places your customers actually are.
We build campaigns province by province where that makes sense, because cost per click varies considerably between markets and a budget that looks expensive nationally is often perfectly efficient in a smaller city. Ad copy that works in Toronto frequently does not work in Calgary, and testing that is cheaper than assuming it.
Quebec deserves its own treatment rather than a translated afterthought. French-language ads generally face less competition, which usually means a lower cost per result for anyone willing to do the work properly.
We are honest about when paid social is the wrong spend. For some businesses search advertising or plain organic content returns more, and we would rather say so early than take the budget.
Social Media Marketing in Toronto — Frequently Asked Questions
Budgets, paid versus organic, which platforms and how results are measured — the questions Toronto business owners ask before running social campaigns.
How much should I spend on social media advertising?
Ad budget and management fee are separate. For a Toronto small business, $500 to $2,000 a month in ad spend is a realistic starting range, with management on top. Below about $300 a month the platforms cannot gather enough data to optimise, so the money tends to be wasted rather than merely slow.
What is the difference between this and social media management?
Marketing means paid campaigns with a budget and a conversion target. Management is the day-to-day running of your accounts — posting, replying, community. They are measured differently and priced differently. Many businesses need both. See social media management.
Which platform gives the best return?
It depends entirely on who buys from you. Facebook and Instagram still deliver the best cost per lead for most local consumer businesses in the GTA. LinkedIn costs considerably more per click but converts far better for B2B. TikTok reaches a younger audience cheaply. We would rather run one platform properly than three badly.
How quickly will I see results?
Paid campaigns produce data within days and meaningful results within four to six weeks — the first fortnight is largely the platform learning who responds. That is much faster than organic social or SEO, which is the trade-off: it works quickly and it stops working the day you stop paying.
How do you measure whether it is working?
Cost per lead and cost per sale, not likes or reach. We set up conversion tracking before spending anything, so we can tell you what a customer actually cost. If an agency reports impressions and engagement without tying it to enquiries, they are reporting activity rather than results.
Do you write the ads and make the creative?
Yes — copy, images and video. Creative is the single biggest factor in whether a campaign works, more than targeting or budget. Reusing organic posts as ads is the most common reason campaigns underperform, because a post written for followers is not written to persuade a stranger.
Can you work with my existing ad accounts?
Yes, and we prefer it. Your accounts stay in your name with us added as a partner, so the historical data, the audiences you have built and the pixel history stay yours. Starting a fresh account throws away learning the platform has already done.
