Why you should never boost a post
Say it with me: A boosted post is not an ad.
It’s so tempting. You just posted some content on Facebook , when it automatically prompts you to "boost your post”.
The idea of a boosted post is something I get asked all the time when I’m talking to fellow real estate agents or small business owners, those looking to convert their audience into leads. They seem simpler to use and appear a little less intimidating than navigating the back end of Facebook’s Business Manager. Using Facebook Ads, I've closed deals for pennies on the dollar so it is worth exploring. Let's discuss, shall we?I
“If you are only using Boosted Posts, you are not leveraging the full power of what Facebook has to offer. ”
Facebook offers everyone with a business page the opportunity to boost a post, but boosting is much different from an ad and is just not an effective, cost efficient or long-term strategy. Boosting simply takes your post, and allows you to "boost" it in the newsfeed to reach a wider audience. The majority of those extra viewers aren't at all likely to respond to your content in a way that have any sort of significant impact on your business. While it does offer some targeting options, these options are not nearly as robust as they are in Ads Manager, and do not allow for targeting of custom audiences. This leaves you targeting a cold audience every.single.time, which leaves you missing out on SO much opportunity.
Put simply, boosting is vanity advertising, and not the best use of your marketing dollars.
An ad, set up on the back end of Facebook, is absolutely the more robust option of the two and as a marketer, what I strongly recommend. To get those most out of this platform, you.need.a.pixel. (I'll go over this in another post). Setting up ads in Ads Manager allows you to reach your current & ideal customers, through a series of targeting options, retargeting, location and lookalike audiences.
Additionally, you can follow your buyer's journey, run split tests, edit audience placements, create custom conversion tracking and on and on. So yes, in a pinch, if you must boost, boost. But for a long term strategy and to see a return on investment, utilizing all the tools in Facebook’s full ad platform is the way to go.
Looking for someone to help you through this? Let’s chat.
