Meta Ads Agency: Facebook and Instagram Ads That Bring Leads at a Known Cost
We find out what your market responds to on small test budgets, then scale only the ads that bring leads — and show you the numbers for every campaign.
A Meta Ads agency runs Facebook and Instagram ads for leads, not reach. Before steady spending, demand hypotheses run in ads on small budgets, usually for a month or two, and only the winners get a working budget. For a US tax firm, Meta ads started 42 conversations, and the firm made its first three sales ever to people who came from ads. Your ad budget is separate from our fee; for testing, we recommend at least €500 a month.
What we do on Meta (Facebook and Instagram)
Our Facebook marketing services cover the whole path, from "who is this for?" to "this lead became a client." If you want a paid social agency that is accountable for leads rather than impressions, here is what that work looks like.
Audience research and segments
We break your audience into segments by the job they hire you for (the Jobs To Be Done method): what situation they are in, what they want to change, what stops them, how they choose. Ads are written for a segment, not for "everyone aged 25–55".
Demand hypotheses
Each segment becomes a hypothesis written as a short job story: when I am in this situation, I want this outcome, so that I get this effect. A hypothesis gets its own offer and creative, so the market tests the idea, not our taste.
Creatives and ad copy
Images, videos and texts for each hypothesis, written in your voice. We test them against each other and keep the combinations that bring leads.
Campaigns for leads and for followers
Lead campaigns bring inquiries now; follower campaigns grow the audience that buys later. We set up and manage both in Meta Ads Manager, optimize on results and scale what wins.
Retargeting and lookalike audiences
Retargeting shows ads again to people who have already engaged with you. Lookalike audiences find people who resemble your existing clients and leads.
Analytics for every campaign
Tracking from click to deal, cost per lead and unit economics by channel. The first report comes after 30 days, then every month on the 10th.
Lead handling
A CRM for leads, AI chatbots that qualify inquiries, and automatic booking of consultations, so a lead does not go cold while it waits for a reply.
Ads are managed as part of our Growth plan, together with strategy, content and analytics.
How we test demand before scaling the budget
We don't start by picking one ad and pouring the budget into it. Tests come first: content shows which topics and formats your audience engages with, then demand hypotheses run in ads on small budgets — usually for a month or two after the ads launch. The first leads come in during these tests; steady advertising with a working budget follows only what the market responded to. Here is how it went for a tax and accounting firm in Florida that had never sold to cold prospects before.
Segment the audience.
Ten segments, each analyzed on 18 points: jobs, pains, objections and how they choose.
Write the hypotheses.
Fourteen demand hypotheses came out of that table.
Test them with ads.
Eight went on lead ads, each with its own code word in the creative: the ad invites people to send that word in a direct message, so most conversations show which hypothesis brought them.
Keep what works, then scale.
Seven of the eight got a response. Within a month or two of the tests starting, it was clear what the market responds to — before the full funnel was even built.
In our tests, one hypothesis usually gets $50–500 and runs from a few days to a couple of weeks. A test ends with a verdict from the media buyer and the producer — worked, failed or ambiguous — measured against the project's goal. These are exploratory tests: they show a direction and the order of magnitude of what a lead costs in your niche, not statistics. That is exactly what you need before committing a bigger budget.
how Meta ads started 42 conversations for a US tax firm →Results from real campaigns
Published numbers from our own projects and tests, not industry averages.
| Project | Market | Period | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax and accounting firm serving Russian-speaking businesses | US (Jacksonville, Florida) | June – October 2025, off-season | 42 conversations with potential clients started from Meta ads; the firm's first 3 sales ever to people who came from ads; followers grew from 401 to over 1,000 |
| Nutritionist, weight loss | Russian-speaking audience | April 2025 | $230 on Instagram post promotion (a follower campaign) → 2,827 clicks at $0.08, reach of 125,281, 873 new followers at $0.26, 12 leads at $19 |
| All niches, open data | 18 niches | 2020–2026, updated September 2026 | 774 hypotheses tested on $34,757 in total; median cost per lead $9.46 across the 296 tests that recorded one; median cost per subscriber $1.98 |
These are the numbers of specific projects in specific months, not a promise for yours. Traffic prices change from year to year and differ by niche, country and offer. Most of the accounting and tax tests in our open data (12 of 13) come from the same Florida project — you can see them hypothesis by hypothesis.
Who it's for
A good fit if you are
- A small or mid-sized service business: accounting and tax, legal services, health and wellness practices, schools and courses.
- A local service business that needs booked consultations and visits, not likes. A first test shows whether your offer finds demand on Meta.
- A Russian-speaking business in the US selling to its community — and thinking about the English-speaking market next.
- Someone who has tried boosting posts or hiring a freelancer and still can't say what a lead costs. Facebook ads for a small business pay off when someone tracks exactly that.
- Working in the US, Canada, Israel or Europe.
Probably not a fit if
- You want reach and likes. We run ads for leads and sales.
- You can't set aside an ad budget of at least €500 a month for tests.
- You sell mass-market consumer goods or run e-commerce — that's not our focus.
- You need sales this month. Research and tests come first, and our minimum engagement is three months.
Facebook vs Instagram placements: where your clients actually are
Facebook and Instagram ads are managed in Meta Ads Manager. The same campaign can show in the feed, Stories and Reels on both apps, so the real question is not "Facebook or Instagram" but which format your buyer responds to. That's why, whether you're looking for an Instagram ads agency or a Facebook ads agency, you need the same team.
What we look at:
- Who the segment is and where it spends time, from the audience research.
- The format the idea needs: a short video for Reels, a carousel or a static post for the feed, a quick message for Stories.
- Where the conversation should happen: a lead form, a landing page or a direct message.
- The numbers from the first tests. Budget moves toward the ads and audiences that bring leads.
In practice it varies. For the nutritionist, Instagram post promotion brought both followers and leads. For the online 3D school, leads came straight into the school's Instagram direct messages.
What it costs
Two separate costs: our work and your ad budget.
- Our work. Meta ads management is included in the Growth plan and above, together with strategy, content for three social networks (Instagram, Facebook and one more), analytics and lead handling. The Start plan does not include advertising.
- Your ad budget. It is separate from our fee and agreed separately. For testing, we recommend at least €500 a month; for a steady flow of leads, €1,500–3,000 a month in ad spend. We help size it during the consultation.
- Contract. The minimum is three months — the time it takes to research, test and optimize. After that, billing is monthly.
How we work: from the first brief to a managed lead flow
This is our general roadmap. Tests come first: content and format tests in months 2–3, then, once ads launch, demand hypotheses on small budgets — usually for a month or two. Only after that does a working budget go to what worked. The first leads come in during the ad tests, not after them.
Onboarding and launch
- Briefing and audience analysis (JTBD)
- A content strategy for three months
- Account and visual setup
- The first content plan
Goal: channels set up and the first content live.
Growth and engagement
- Regular content
- Format and topic tests
- The first metrics report on day 30
Goal: a first read on which topics and formats your audience engages with.
Lead generation
- Ad creatives and Meta Ads setup and launch, starting with demand hypotheses tested on small budgets
- Then the working budget moves to what worked: A/B tests of audiences and offers
- Retargeting and lookalike audiences
- Analytics from click to deal
Goal: the first leads from the tests, then a steady flow of leads with cost per lead and cost per sale you can see.
Automation
- A CRM for leads
- AI chatbots for qualification
- Automatic consultation booking
- Scaling the combinations that work
Goal: less manual work — leads are qualified and booked automatically.
Who runs your campaigns
Digital Experts has been running since 2017. We take no more than seven projects at a time.
- George Ryzhenko — Co-founder & CEO
- Olesya Ryzhenko — Co-founder & CMO
- Albina Gabdrakhmanova — Media Buyer
Frequently asked questions
Ads are one part of the system. If you also need content, a website and a funnel, see how we run social media and marketing as a whole, or read how we build a lead generation system.
Find out what a lead would cost in your niche
A free 30-minute consultation: we look at your offer, your audience and the ads you have run so far, show what similar tests cost in our open data, and tell you honestly whether Meta ads make sense for you right now.