Facebook & Instagram Ads for NYC Businesses That Want to Be Seen, Not Scrolled Past
People aren't searching for you on Facebook and Instagram, they're scrolling past you. That means the ad has to earn attention before it earns a click. We build creative and targeting that works for how New Yorkers actually use these platforms.
Why Social Ads Work Differently Here
New Yorkers move fast and scroll faster. A generic stock-photo ad gets ignored in half a second. What works is creative that feels native to the platform, targeting that's dialed into the right zip codes and demographics, and offers that give someone a real reason to stop.
Facebook and Instagram ads operate on interruption, not intent. Someone searching Google has already decided they want something. Someone scrolling Instagram hasn't, which means the ad itself has to do more work: stop the scroll, communicate value in under two seconds, and give a clear next step. That's a fundamentally different discipline than search advertising, and campaigns that treat it the same way (repurposing a Google ad's messaging directly onto Instagram) consistently underperform.
What You Get
- Full account setup or audit of what's already running
- Custom creative built for your business, not templates
- Monthly reporting tied to actual leads and sales, not just impressions
- A team that treats vanity metrics like the distraction they are
What We Build
Audience targeting
based on location, interests, and behavior, not just broad demographics. Meta's targeting tools allow for genuinely granular audience building, by neighborhood, by interest category, by behavior pattern, and most small business campaigns barely scratch the surface of what's available.
Scroll-stopping creative
built for how people actually consume Instagram and Facebook, not repurposed print ads or generic stock photography. Video and short-form content consistently outperforms static images on these platforms, and creative needs to be refreshed regularly since ad fatigue sets in faster on social than on search.
Retargeting campaigns
to bring back people who visited your site but didn't convert. This is often the highest-ROI piece of a social campaign, since you're spending money to reach people who've already shown interest rather than cold audiences.
A/B testing
on creative and copy so spend shifts toward what's actually working, rather than running a single ad set and hoping.
Lead forms and landing pages
built to close the loop, not just generate likes. A campaign that generates engagement but no leads isn't working, regardless of how the vanity metrics look.
What Social Ads Cost in NYC
Facebook and Instagram ad management typically runs in a similar range to Google Ads management, with agencies charging flat monthly fees or a percentage of ad spend. Budgets vary widely by goal: a business focused on local brand awareness and lead generation might run $1,000 to $2,500 a month in total spend and management combined, while more aggressive retargeting and acquisition campaigns can run higher. Visual, product-based businesses (restaurants, retail, med spas) tend to see stronger returns at lower budgets than service businesses without strong visual assets, simply because the platform rewards visual creative.