Meta and Google Ads Measured by Results, Not by How Fast the Budget Runs Out

At Kyon Studio, I also ran digital ads for client brands on Meta and Google. The principle was simple: ads are measured by their results, not by how fast the budget runs out. The client brands are anonymized in this case study.

The challenge: small budgets that have to work hard

Local brands rarely have big ad budgets, so every rupiah needs a clear purpose. Ads without a firm objective usually buy impressions, not customers. Ads also can't stand alone. They have to run alongside organic content, so people who see an ad find the same account and message when they look further.

What I did

Meta campaigns split by objective

Every Meta Ads campaign was built for one clear objective and named after that objective and its period: engagement for interactions, awareness optimized for ThruPlays on video, and traffic leading to WhatsApp conversations. That way, each campaign's cost per result can be compared fairly.

Creatives tested, bids optimized

Budgets were aimed at specific audiences. Creatives were compared with A/B testing, a feature Meta provides for comparing ad versions in a controlled way (About A/B testing), and bid strategies were adjusted based on the results. For campaigns leading to WhatsApp, the number watched was the cost per conversation started.

Google Ads Performance Max split by intent

On Google Ads, I used Performance Max, a campaign type that reaches Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps from one campaign. Its asset groups were split by intent: people looking for a store nearby, people opening Maps, and people sent to the website.

Results

Splitting by intent showed up straight away in the data. The Local Store asset group brought in the most conversions:

Conversions per Performance Max asset group(conversions)

• Local Store1,018
• Maps353
• Traffic 1287
• Other asset groups281

On Meta, the largest engagement campaign produced 904,913 post engagements at Rp9 per engagement, while the video awareness campaigns cost Rp19 to Rp31 per ThruPlay.

Meta Ads campaigns, split by objective

21

Cost per engagement on the largest engagement campaign

Rp9

Conversion rate of the Local Store asset group

4.4%

What I learned

Efficient ads start with a clear structure: one campaign, one objective, one number to watch. From there, decisions to add or cut budget come from data, not gut feeling. These ads also ran alongside the organic content I directed, covered in Directing Social Content for 10+ Brands So Each One Keeps Its Own Voice.