Local Ads, Plain English
The 5 numbers to check every week in your ad account. And the ones you can ignore.
Kristine · SPARK · Morris County, NJ · October 27, 2026 · About a 5 minute read
Ads Manager shows you dozens of numbers. You need about five. Check them once a week and you'll know more about your ads than most owners ever do.
The five that matter
- 01
Amount spent.
Is the budget going out the way you planned?
- 02
Results.
Calls, messages, form fills, or bookings. Whatever you told Meta to find.
- 03
Cost per result.
Spend divided by results. Watch the trend, not one day.
- 04
Frequency.
How often the same person sees your ad. When it climbs high, people are getting tired of it and it's time for fresh creative.
- 05
New customers.
Not in Ads Manager at all. Count them yourself. This is the only number that pays the bills.
The ones you can mostly ignore
Reach, impressions, and likes feel good and tell you very little on their own. A post with lots of likes and no calls is still a post with no calls.
Make it a habit
Pick one day, write the five numbers down, and compare them to last week. After a month you'll spot patterns on your own. And if the numbers stop making sense, you'll know it's time to ask why.
