Many years ago, advertisers relied on billboards, print, and other traditional channels to get their message across. With the focus pivoting to online advertising, social media advertising is almost expected in order to remain competitive.
If businesses decide to advertise on social media, it’s crucial to understand your advertising goals before starting any campaigns on social media platforms like Facebook. We’ve put together a quick guide explaining boosted posts and Facebook Ads and the different ways you can utilize them in your business.
Boosted Posts
A boosted post is most likely the simplest way to advertise on Facebook. A boosted post is any post you have placed on your Facebook page organically, which you later apply money to. When you boost a post, it shows up in your audience’s news feed as an ad. Facebook allows boosted posts to also be shown on Instagram. If you’d like to reach audiences on multiple social media platforms with one single action, boosted posts may be a good place to start.
In order to create a boosted post for either Facebook or Facebook + Instagram, it must be completed through the Facebook platform. Facebook has created a blue button at the bottom of each post that says “Boost”. This takes you to the Creator Studio, where you’re able to determine what kind of people you want to reach and where, how much you’d like to spend, and how long you’d like your post to be boosted for. Using boosted posts allows you to reach a broader audience than you would organically, but it’s limited in terms of goals. You can only choose to increase engagement with your page or direct messages.
Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads are a bit more complicated but offer more customization features than boosted posts. The key difference between Facebook Ads and boosted posts is that in terms of setup, Facebook Ads must be created in the Facebook Ad Manager.
In the Facebook Ad Manager, you’re able to create highly specific advertising campaigns with specific objectives, audiences, placements, formats, and creatives.
Ads are meant to reach new and relevant audiences to create awareness for products or services. With Ads, you’re also able to use the same organic post in different campaigns, to better measure the performance across different audiences.
Should I Use Boosted Posts or Facebook Ads?
Advertising on Facebook through boosted posts or Facebook Ads are both effective and worthwhile strategies to explore. Ultimately, the decision should be based on your end goals and objectives. If you want to highlight a one-off post to a smaller audience, boosted posts might be the best option. If you’re interested in setting up a more long-term ad campaign with specific objectives, a Facebook Ad might be more worth your while.
It’s important to understand the purpose of your advertisement and the long term goal before investing money in either boosted posts or Facebook Ads.
If you’re interested in learning more about Facebook’s advertising options, creating a strategy that would best serve your business needs, or need help managing and optimizing current campaigns, give us a shout.