It’s been a while since I wrote something, it’s been hectic. So, we have a couple of clients that we help with social media and online advertising at Solution Space, and some of them have been constantly asking us to boost some of their posts in the hope that they will get more mileage out of their social media content.
This kind of enthusiasm is great especially considering that most people do not set aside a budget for paid promos, however we have both realized that boosting posts isn’t getting them the results they wanted. So, I commissioned my team to go and figure out what’s going on. We unfortunately came to a sad conclusion that BOOSTING is DEAD! Here are some simple reasons why we say this plus some ideas of what you would rather do instead.
What is boosting a post on Facebook
A boosted post is a type of paid advertising on Facebook. When you boost a post, you pay to show a post you already have on your Facebook page to a larger audience than it would naturally (organically) reach. Boosted posts are created by clicking on the “boost post” button on your page’s posts, and you pay Facebook for this post to be seen by more people. Most businesses still boost posts because it’s simple (the boost button is right there below your post), its cheap (you can spend as little as a $1), and you get more likes and engagement on your post. However, what most people don’t know is you can get the same benefits from Facebook Ads plus a lot.
Example of how to boost a post
What’s NOT good about boosting posts on Facebook
Boosting is simple and quick, yes, but it’s not the best way to spend your advertising bucks on Facebook and here are a few reasons why.
You have limited goal settings
With a boosted post you only have three goal options: get more website visitors, get more engagement, and get more messages. While these may be goals for some businesses, these exclude in my opinion some of the most important advertising goals for a business, which are, generating leads, driving sales, and getting people buy (conversions).
Limited Targeting & Control Reduces Relevance
When you boost a post, you choose your target audience, your max budget, how long you want the boost to last and that’s it! You don’t have the ability to create custom audiences, you can’t create a lookalike audience, nor do you have control of when the ad is shown or the ability to add a link to a specific page on your website. With such limited targeting and control, your boosted posts aren’t reaching the most relevant audiences.
Poor tracking
With a boosted post, you will be able to view limited tracking metrics in Facebook. Depending on the generic goal you select for your boosted post, you can see things like post engagement, link clicks, number of people reached, & cost per action. Knowing this information is important; however, this is just a small portion of the data you could be looking at.
What you would rather do instead of boosting
I would recommend you use that budget for Facebook Ads instead.
What are Facebook Ads
A Facebook Ad, also known as a Facebook Link Ad is created in Facebook Ads Manager (or in Ad Center). Ads differ from boosted posts as they are created specifically as ads and do not show up on your Facebook page’s timeline, rather they appear on pages of targeted audiences based on their interests and past social interactions on Facebook. Facebook Ads have many advertising objectives to help you reach your specific business goals and the audiences you care about most. Where a boosted post may initially optimize for page likes, comments and shares or overall brand awareness, Facebook ads can optimize for App Installs, website conversions, video views, shop orders and more. In simple terms if you have seen an ad following you around on Facebook and Instagram after visiting that businesses website- that’s a Facebook ad!
Example of a Facebook Ad
What’s amazing about Facebook ads
We have implemented Facebook ads for some of our clients and they loved them. Here are some reasons why we think you should also consider moving that boosting budget to Facebook Ads.
Amazing goal settings
When you create an ad in Ads Manager you can select from eleven different goal options, and you can customize these goals by telling Facebook what exactly that goal means for your business. The full ads system in Ads Manager lets you choose objectives such as Store Traffic, Conversions, and Lead Generation. For example, you may select conversions as your advertising goal. From there, you can then specify that a conversion to your business is a completed purchase or a submitted lead form or view on a specific content piece. Whatever it is, you can set the guidelines, which helps Facebook’s algorithms to more appropriately target the right audience based on your more specific goals.
Great tracking and reporting
Every marketer’s nightmare when it comes to social media is proving to the finance guys how many sales were generated by a social media campaign. Likes, clicks and engagement, which you get from boosted posts, don’t mean much for the bottom line. On the other hand, if you use Facebook Ads in combination with the Facebook Pixel, you track every action that results from your ads, you can even see how many people ended up sending inquiries or buying because of your ads. You can even see how much revenue was generated by your ads.
You have access to advanced targeting capabilities
When you create an ad to advertise a specific benefit of your business or targeted for a specific audience or type of customer, you are making the ad more relevant. As every effective advertiser knows, the more relevant an ad is for its audience, the better it is. You should use advertising to reach customers who will act, not just people who like what your business does. With Facebook ads, you can use more advanced tools to create overlapping audience types, Lookalike Audiences and more.
You maintain creative control
With Facebook ads created through Ads Manager, you can design ads that fit your goals. You can create carousel ads, add specific descriptions, and add a call-to-action button that will drive more of your audience to act. These are only a few of the creative and formatting options available in Ads Manager that aren’t available when boosting a post from your Page.
You can choose different ad placements
When you boost a post, you’ll be able to check or uncheck whether you want to place your ad in Instagram in addition to Facebook mobile and desktop News Feed. With Facebook ads, you get the added benefit of choosing placements in Facebook News Feed side ads, Messenger ads, Instagram Stories, Instant Articles and Audience Network.
So, there you have it, boosting is dead and is being replaced by Facebook link ads. I encourage you to try them and you need some help, the team at Solution Space will gladly give you hand. Get in touch with the Solution Space team on: https://www.solutionspace.co.za/contact-us/