Many online ads marketers will say not to use Facebook Post boosting because it wastes money. Well, I disagree.
I began running Facebook ads when Facebook first started to offer ads and while my expertise is not in Facebook ads, I have years of experience using Facebook ads as part of my online marketing strategies, for both myself and for my clients.
Let’s start, what is the difference between a Facebook Ad and Boosting a post?
The quick answer, the platform.
When you boost a post, you’re actually running a Facebook ad, it’s to a post on your page, whereas ads are usually not visible in your feed. Boosting posts is Facebook’s way of providing an entry-level vehicle for new users. Ads Manager is for those serious ads users, which will hopefully one day be you because those types of ads are important to business too.
But today we talk about boosted posts and why and how you can start using them to grow your business.
Why I Boost Posts:
- It’s both quicker and easier to boost a post than it is to set up an ad in Ads Manager.
- Boosting posts allows for your feed posts to be seen by a wider audience, more comments and engagement = more relevance.
- It’s an easy way to get your blog posts more attention on Facebook.
- Boosting helps to drive traffic to your website.
- Allows you to get more eyes on your Video Posts.
- Boosts work well for local businesses trying to increase visibility in their local market.
- Facebook has improved the audience options when boosting a post to allow for more audience targeting then before.
- Great way to learn about running ads if you are in the “growing your audience” phase of your business.
Like I said before many ad experts will tell you that you are wasting money on boosting your posts. And I don’t think that.
If you want exposure in your local business and you want to get more eyes on your offers, boosting posts can do that without you having to learn Facebook ads manager and all the nuances of ads before you can start running ads.
As with everything strategy matters. Not all situations will benefit from being a boosted a post, there are some limitations. We’ll go over those.
Overall, boosting is great to get you started.
With all the recent changes in Facebook, organic reach on business pages has been significantly affected.
This is really not good for pages like local businesses that have smaller audiences than many national businesses, because lower organic reach in an already small audience sometimes equates to practically no reach!
For those just starting out with a very small audience, low organic reach is even worse.
And not all posts need to be turned into a formal ad, they just need to get a little push out into the Facebook world.
Think of your boost strategy in that way – giving the post a little push out into the Facebook world.
What to Boost
Ideas for boosted posts:
- Boost your blog posts – to drive traffic to your website and content.
- Boost client testimonials and review posts.
- Boost Events you created on Facebook (and my favorite tip: create a Facebook Event for all in-person or online events).
- Video posts – boost the videos that have a lot of engagement.
- Posts that are getting a lot of comments or likes on your page organically, boost those for extra attention.
What boosted posts are not for (Next steps in Ads Manager):
- Formal Ads are better for strategic goals like launching a program or selling products.
- Highly targeted lead generation ads to collect potential customer information in exchange for a download or special offer (not an option on the boost platform)
- Retargeting warm and hot audiences into a buying opportunity.
- Optimizing delivery to landing page conversions.
- Long-term ads like to your opt-in or free offer that is meant to build brand awareness over time. Longer terms ads are better managed by setting them up in Ads Manager but are not necessarily more complicated than a boosted post.
- A/B testing ads. (testing images, copy, audiences)
- Ads for your funnels that continually run, or run for launches.
Once you boost your posts and get the hang of that you will begin to learn the Facebook Ad language and navigate the back end a little. Then when you hop into Ads Manager its easier to understand and navigate.
Becoming familiar with boosting posts is an easier transition into more complicated/detailed ads, and you become familiar with the platform, terminology, and strategy eventually incorporating Ads Manager.
And for now, while you boost posts, use Ads Manager to read the results. This will help you become familiar with Ads Manager and on to your next level of Facebook Advertising.
Know What Metrics to Monitor
In the Boosted Post’s analytics you will see the following information:
Impressions = how many times your ad was seen (sometimes by the same people).
People Reached (Reach) = how many people see your ad.
Engagement = Likes, Comments, and Shares.
Clicks = photo views and link clicks.
Responses (For Events) = how many people marked themselves as going or interested or not going.
By clicking on the information under the post you will get more detailed information on the analytics. You can see your boosted posts in Ads Manager, as well.
What do I look for in these numbers?
The reach tells me my ad is delivering.
My clicks divided by Impressions tells me the percentage of people clicking through to the link or event.
Engagement and Clicks are key. This tells me if people like what they are seeing. Say the reach is high and engagement is zero, I know that content is not resonating with people seeing it. It could be your audience you are targeting, or it could be that content is not the content your audience wants to see.
How do I assess? I look at multiple things and then decide what to change and try next time.
It is a little of a guessing game, so start with what you think it could be. Eventually as your audience grows you’ll know better what they respond to.
Maybe I need to change the title, maybe that topic is just not popular. Maybe the images did not resonate. Over time you will see the popular/most engaged posts. It’s all about putting your post out there, and testing until you find the sweet spot of what people respond to. I always recommend picking your most popular and engaging posts and boosting those.
How do you know what to change? You don’t until you test all sorts of things and come across something people like. Over time you’ll know the types of photos your audience engages with most. Test images from stock photos to your everyday life from your phone photos. Not sure if the content is the problem? Try testing a few different topics. Not sure if it is the copy and your headings? Test different types of headings (attention-grabbing, disruptive, funny etc…) What are others successful within your industry doing?
In Ads Manager analytics
All ads, whether boosted or created in Ads manager, reside in Ads manager. Here are the metrics in ads manager that I look at:
Impressions = the number of times your ad was on screen (in relation to Reach, this number will be higher than reach, because it includes times your ad was on screen to the same person).
Cost per Result = how much you had to spend to get a result – likes, event response, clicks on a message, link clicks, video views, whatever you set up your ad result to be (this is determined by ad type).
Relevance = How relevant this ad was to the people who clicked on it. This is determined by algorithms, but if this number is low, it’s because you are getting clicks but not conversions which means you aren’t convincing people enough to take action (the result you chose for your ad – likes, event responses, messages, link clicks are the actions you want people to take).
If you would like more information on boosting posts and how to do it, check out my Facebook Live on Facebook Boosted Posts>>> https://www.facebook.com/smartmarketingsquad/videos/277267843124148/
I also created a video on how to boost a post over in my Facebook Group if you are a member of that group you can find the video here >> https://www.facebook.com/groups/668777343328447/permalink/935483403324505/
Not a Member? Join us!! I provide how-to videos, online marketing tips for local businesses marketing online, and more! https://www.facebook.com/groups/668777343328447/
