This is probably the most common question I get about Facebook: is it worth Boosting a post in Facebook or is it a waste of money?
Boosting a post is one of the easiest ways to use Facebook advertising. Jon Loomer refers to it as “the gateway drug of Facebook advertising.”
Facebook puts the button right under each post on your page – you don’t even have to go into the Ads Manager to use it. If you’ve never run a Facebook ad campaign, Boosted posts are a great place to test the waters.
What exactly is a Boosted post? It’s when you take a post you’ve made to your Facebook Page and pay for Facebook to show it to more people.
Why would you want to do this?
First of all, not everyone who has liked your page will see all your posts. Consider this: if you’re like the average Facebook user you have 100 or more Friends and have liked dozens, if not hundreds, of Pages. If every post made by every person or Page showed up in your Newsfeed you would probably feel overwhelmed and perhaps annoyed at how much crap there is.
This is why Facebook filters your Newsfeed – they want to ensure you are seeing content that interests you so you keep coming back.
How do you know what gets shown to your fans?
People who have Liked, Commented or Shared one of your pages posts recently are more likely to see a post than someone who hasn’t. People who tend to engage with the type of content you shared are more likely to see your posts. And a post that gets lots of Likes, Comments and Shares is more likely to show up in other people’s Newsfeeds.
[bctt tweet=”If you’ve never run a Facebook ad campaign, Boosted posts are a great place to test the waters.”]
Therefore, if your Page’s engagement is already down, even fewer people will see your future posts. It can be challenging to gain back your followers. Paying to Boost a post is a quick way to increase engagement and remind people why they Liked your page in the first place.
If you’ve been away on vacation or off sick and have neglected your Facebook page, Boosting a couple of posts can be a quick and relatively inexpensive way to remind your Fans that you’re here. I often find that my overall engagement increases after a few strategically placed boosted posts.
When you Boost a post you can choose to target just your fans, your fans and their friends or you can target a specific demographic. If you’ve created a Custom Audience in the Ad Manager or Power Editor you have the option of targeting that audience.
Generally I wouldn’t target just my fans … if I’m paying I’d like the chance to get in front of a larger audience. However, if you were running a promotion that is just for the people who’ve liked your page as a reward for connecting on Facebook, you might do that.
Targeting your fans and their friends is a smart use of your Facebook advertising dollars as it allows you to take advantage of “social proof”. If you see your friend has liked a post you’re more likely to pay attention. And you may gain more Likes to your page as a result.
The other time it makes sense to Boost a post is when you are already getting tons of engagement. While it may seem counter-intuitive to pay to get engagement when you’re already getting organic engagement, it’s really a secret power tip.
If you’re getting engagement you know this is content your audience likes. By paying to show the post to more people you’re more likely to gain attention and maybe more Page likes.
Finally, if I’ve created some great content – like a blog post – that I really want to be seen by a larger audience, I may Boost that as well.
If you’ve been wanted to try Facebook advertising but have been putting it off because you’re worried about the cost or are not sure how to get started try Boosting a couple of posts. Set the budget for $5 or $10 and pay attention to your stats. You may get hooked on this marketing tool.
Need help with Facebook Advertising? I train entrepreneurs to get the best results with the lowest cost for their Facebook advertising. I also manage Facebook advertising campaigns for clients. Let’s schedule a time to chat about how I can help you get new clients using Facebook Ads. Schedule a free consultation.
