I often ask people if they have ever paid to advertise on Facebook. Most people have done boosted posts, but not many have done Facebook Ads. Utilizing Facebook Ads will almost always get more for your advertising dollars than boosting posts.
The Difference between Boosting Posts and Facebook Ads
- Boosting a post only tells Facebook that you want your post to reach more people. All you want to do is reach them, that’s it. You can target the TYPE of people you want to reach by telling Facebook their age, location, and interests, but, ultimately, all you’re going to do is reach them. Boosting can be great if your goal is to promote brand awareness.
- The key to Facebook Ads is that you can tell Facebook, more specifically, what you want out of your ad. Facebook Ads are managed through Facebook Ads Manager. Facebook Ads Manager is where the magic happens in Facebook advertising. Instead of simply reaching people, you can tell Facebook, “I want people to click to visit my website,” or “I want people to tell me they're interested or going to an event,” or “I want people to watch my video.”
- Facebook will display the details of your ad differently to help you achieve your desired results. They'll put buttons in different places, put titles in bold, and give you more space for different things. Facebook’s system knows how to encourage people to take the action that you want them to take. This is much more effective for your marketing goals then simply reaching more people.
- Hot tip: If you are still boosting posts, take it up a notch by customizing the audience that you boost to. Instead of just boosting your posts to people who are a certain age group or location or have certain interests, you can choose to define your audience by if they've interacted with you or not. Boosting to people who have already interacted with you could really help you get more engagement on your posts. I often get asked, “How do I reach people who don't know about me?” Choosing to boost to people who haven't interacted with you could help you reach an all-new audience.
Wait...there's more.
It just so happens that I am holding a webinar on this very topic for our next Brown Bag Marketing Workshop on April 22 at Noon. I will show you how to get around in the ads manager and talk more about this subject. You do need to register to participate, but I will stream it Live on Facebook for non-participants to watch. Register here.
The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing.
Seth Godin