The Strategy Behind Boosting Facebook Posts

When you’re looking to market your business on Facebook, there are two options to consider: Facebook ads or boosted posts. Without a marketing background or familiarity with the platform, the choice can be frustrating. In this article, we will talk about the difference between a Facebook ad and a boosted post, how boosting works, and how to take a strategic approach. 

The difference In Facebook Boosting And Facebook Ads

Boosted posts are the simplest form of advertising that Facebook offers. There are several big differences in Facebook’s advertising options, but the biggest one is that a boosted post lives on your Facebook page first as an organic post while an ad only exists while it’s spending money. The other main differences are the amount of targeting offered and the place that you manage the money being spent. Ads are made and managed in the Ads Manager while boosted posts are mainly managed on from your profile in the Ad Center.

Here’s an easy cheat sheet when making the decision between a Facebook Ad and a Boosted Facebook Post.

Facebook boost post

Below, we’ve outlined some tips and tricks to help you maximize the effectiveness of your boosting strategy. 

How It Works

Once you’ve made the decision to advertise with a boosted post, typically used for some form of brand awareness, it’s time to put money behind an organic post that is already getting engagement on its own. If Facebook knows that your audience has responded well to the post, they’re literally more likely to share it with the audience that you select over a competitor’s boosted post. You can thank the algorithm for that. 

Unlike an Ads Manager ad, when you boost a Facebook post, it’s simply extending the reach of the post. The point is to show your post to a larger number of users that are likely to engage with its content (somewhat based on your organic engagement). Boosted posts are seen by more users, or seen more often by users who will likely engage with its content. 

Setting A Strategic Goal

Before you decide to boost a post, it’s important to determine what your goals are. Generally, you would boost a post if you want to gain brand awareness or want to increase your engagement. 

For example, if you wanted to drive users to your website, the best option is to optimize for website traffic. We recommend creating a boost (another form of Facebook ad) with an existing Facebook post. All you have to do is select “use existing post” in Facebook Ads Manager once you have created your campaign and ad set. 

Selecting The Right Audience

Next, you need to decide who you want to see your boosted post. Based on your goal, you have the ability to target anyone on Facebook through a number of targeting options, including:

  • Audience (fans and or friends of fans)
  • People in your local area
  • Location
  • Age
  • Gender, and
  • Interests

The best feature to essentially check your work is the audience meter. The meter tells you the size of the potential audience that you’ve selected. Pro tip: stay in the green.

Facebook boost post meter

When Should You Boost?

Once you’ve posted something, organized your targeting, and arranged a budget, you’ll be eager to boost right away. Don’t do it—here’s why: Boosting immediately will not only hurt the post’s organic reach, but it will also hurt your strategy. We recommend allowing a post to develop on its own for at least 24 hours before boosting. This gives you enough time to see what types of posts are doing better than others by looking at the organic results (likes, comments, and shares with $0 behind the post). Like we said earlier, organic results play into how Facebook shows your boosted post, so it’s best to let posts gain traction on their own before boosting. And if it doesn’t, then look at why. It’s probably not resonating with your audience… good thing you waited. 

What To Boost

Now that you know how boosting works, how to make sure you have a good audience, and when to boost, let’s talk content. Generally, an ad with a high-quality image performs well. However, an HD video outperforms static images any day of the week. You want to choose content that’s eye-catching and engaging as this boost (advertisement) could be the first introduction a person has with your brand. 

In order to determine if a certain post has performed well enough to boost, we suggest looking at the post’s results. In laymen’s terms, the posts that have the most engagement usually boost most efficiently. This means that they resonate with your audience and spend at a normal rate–more on spending some other time. 

To sum up a good boosting strategy:

  • Make sure a boost is the right way to go
  • Know your audience
  • Be in the green on your audience meter
  • Let a post sit for at least 24 hours before putting money behind it
  • Look at your post from the eyes of someone who has never seen your brand. They should be able to tell:
    • What you want them to do
    • What you’re promoting
    • How to find your product or service
  • Analyze your boosting results to improve next time

May the algorithm be ever in your favor.  


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