Boosted posts and Facebook ads: what’s the big deal?

Getting to grips with Boosted posts and Facebook ads

Do you ever find yourself questioning your, often somewhat unstable, relationship with Facebook? On the one hand you are a loving user, giving your business page lots of appreciation and attention. On the other hand, sometimes Facebook tries to be too accommodating and you don’t have a clue what it wants from you – should you use boosted posts and Facebook ads or not?

Facebook is an extremely intelligent social networking tool. This is great, but it means it can also get a bit complicated if you don’t understand what it is suggesting. Using a Facebook company page is a great way to boost your digital presence and to increase your relationship with your clients. However it can be quite time-consuming to get the ball rolling and to get people interested in what you have to say. This is where boosted posts and Facebook ads come into play.

What is a boosted post?

If you’re an ice cream van driver, your goal is to sell as many ice creams as possible at a price that will make you profit whilst enticing customers. However, if you only ever pitch your van outside a pet store from 1-5pm every day, it’ll be hard for you to reach new customers. Your Facebook page works in a similar way. It is great to have those 50 likes on your page, but those 50 people might not want to engage with you every day, (or eat ice cream whilst looking for a new cat bed). Boosting a Facebook post allows you to target a much wider audience than the one you currently have and generate fresh engagement.

Expand your digital network with boosted posts and Facebook ads

You choose what location you would like your new audience to be from, how old they should be, and what their hobbies and interests are. You then select how long you would like the post to be boosted for and how much money you are willing to contribute to the post. It’s important to get a balance right between being too niche and too broad. Think of who would actually benefit from seeing your post, particularly if you work with local businesses or clients. You can boost any existing Facebook post you may have, or create a new one. Boosting original content works well, so if you write a weekly blog, why not use that?

Ok, so what is a Facebook advert?

A Facebook advert works to advertise your page as a whole. You can choose your campaign goal to help Facebook work in the most cost-effective way for you using the Advert Manager. E.g. Your campaign objective could be ‘Boost your Page’ or ‘Send people to your website’. As you do with a boosted post, you decide who you target and when. Then you design your advert. Make sure you have an eye-catching image that really reflects your company’s best skills. You have very little text with your advert, (90 characters) so keep it short and sweet.

Here’s an ad we ran before:

Expand your business audience with Facebook ads

You can also boost your posts using the Advert Manager tool, allowing you to do everything in one place whilst monitoring your progress. Just to be complicated, a boosted post is regarded as another form of advert by Facebook.

Is it worth the money?

The downside to getting quicker results will always be the cost. Facebook are not outlandish with their requests, but they do set budget limits. For instance, an advert has to be scheduled for £5 a day minimum. However if you don’t attract much interest, you won’t have to pay the full amount. A great tip when using the advert manager is to change the pay option to ‘pay per like’, rather than the automated ‘pay per impression’. That way you really are only paying for results. You can also set an account spend limit budget to help you monitor your online spending. Remember everything is in your control. Your advert could run for five hours or five weeks, you decide.

Although paying for these services may initially put you off, remember that you are paying for results. Boosting posts and Facebook ads are a quicker way of creating interest online, and in the long run, can help you generate more business and hence profits, particularly if you are a new business.

Stuck on social media? If you need help with a digital marketing strategy or want to learn how to grow engagement online, get in contact with us at hello@notgreedy.media, or call us on: 07950 426 614, and we can create a personalised plan that is right for your business.