Boost Post vs Facebook Ads: Which One to Choose for Your Business

Boosting a post on Facebook can be a quick and easy way to increase visibility, but it's not always the most effective way to reach your target audience. With a boost, you can pay to promote a post to people who are more likely to see it, but you're limited to the existing audience of the post.

Facebook Ads, on the other hand, allow you to create a targeted ad campaign that reaches a wider audience. According to Facebook's own statistics, ads can reach up to 98% of all Facebook users, compared to just 2% for boosted posts.

Boosting a post is a more straightforward process, but it's also more expensive per click. In contrast, Facebook Ads offer a more flexible pricing model that can help you stay within your budget.

Boost posts are a way to pay to promote a Facebook post to a larger audience, increasing its visibility and reach. They can be created from any Facebook post, including photos, videos, and links.

Boost posts use Facebook's automated targeting system, which selects the best audience for your post based on factors like demographics, interests, and behaviors. This means you don't need to have a large following or be a marketing expert to get started.

Boost posts are a cost-effective option, with a minimum spend of just $5, and can be paused or stopped at any time.

Boost posts are a way to increase the visibility of your LinkedIn posts.

You can pay a little and get a lot more views with LinkedIn post boosting, as seen in the example "Pay a little, get a lot (more views)".

Boost posts are a straightforward process: create, schedule, publish, engage, measure, and win.

Facebook Ads are a type of paid advertising on the Facebook platform. They allow businesses to target specific audiences and promote their products or services.

These ads can be in the form of images, videos, or even carousels, and can be displayed in the News Feed, right column, or even on mobile devices.

Facebook Ads have a cost-per-click (CPC) model, meaning businesses pay each time a user clicks on their ad.

Boosted posts are the easiest and most user-friendly way to start advertising on social platforms. You can boost any post directly from your Facebook page, without having to go through Facebook Ads Manager.

Boosted posts offer more flexibility than you might think, with three distinct goals to choose from: Link Clicks, Post Engagements, and Messages. These goals can help you maximize clicks, likes, reactions, comments, and shares on your post itself, or even generate Facebook or Instagram Messenger inquiries to your account.

Boosted posts also let you set a total budget and timeframe, with the daily budget calculated automatically from there. However, you're not able to adjust your budget delivery or set cost controls on your budgeting.

Here are the benefits and drawbacks of boosted posts:

Boosted posts are a simple way to get your content in front of more people, but like any advertising strategy, they have their pros and cons.

One of the main advantages of boosted posts is that they're easy to use - you can boost any post directly from your Facebook page without having to go through Facebook Ads Manager.

Boosting a post allows you to add a call-to-action (CTA) to your existing post, which can help increase your click-through-rate.

Boosted posts offer limited advertising objectives, including post engagement, thruplays (for video posts), profile visits, link clicks, and messaging conversations started.

You can also choose from three distinct goals when boosting a post: Link Clicks, Post Engagements, or Messages.

Boosted posts let you set a total budget and timeframe, with the daily budget calculated automatically from there.

However, boosted posts have limited ad placement choices, with options only available in Instagram, Facebook mobile feed, and Facebook desktop feed.

Boosted posts also have limited creative control, as you're restricted to using the post's original design, copy, and CTA buttons.

Here are the key differences between boosted posts and social ads:

Facebook Ads offer a highly targeted approach to reach your desired audience, with options to target specific demographics, interests, and behaviors.

One of the biggest pros of Facebook Ads is the ability to set a daily budget, allowing you to control how much you spend on your ad campaign.

According to the article, Facebook Ads can be more cost-effective than traditional advertising methods, with a cost per click (CPC) that's significantly lower than Google Ads.

However, Facebook Ads also have their drawbacks, including the risk of ad fatigue, where users become desensitized to your ads and stop engaging with them.

The article notes that Facebook Ads require ongoing optimization to ensure they remain effective, which can be time-consuming and require a significant amount of effort.

Despite these challenges, many businesses have found success with Facebook Ads, including increasing brand awareness and driving website traffic.

A key con of Facebook Ads is the lack of transparency in their algorithm, making it difficult to predict how your ads will perform.

On the other hand, Facebook Ads offer a range of ad formats, including image, video, and carousel ads, which can help keep your content fresh and engaging.

For more insights, see: Facebook Ads Cost per Click

To set up a Boosted Post on Facebook, you must first select or draft the post you wish to boost. You can then follow the steps outlined in Facebook's instructions.

To create a Boosted Post, select the 'boost post' option in the bottom right-hand corner of the page. This will only be available to Facebook business pages.

If you're unable to select 'boost post', it may be because the feature is unavailable for the post you've chosen.

To boost a post, you'll need to choose your audience, which can be done through demographic parameters such as age, location, and gender. Your images and text will be automatically readied by Facebook for you.

However, you still need to make a few decisions yourself, including setting a budget and selecting a time frame for your campaign. You can choose a custom budget or select the recommended budget for your post.

To boost a post, you can also select a specific end date or choose time frames to focus on for a certain period. You can then select your payment method, which can be changed and updated at a later stage if needed.

Broaden your view: Azure Boost

Here are the steps to boost a post on Facebook:

You can also set up a Facebook ad campaign by selecting a goal or objective for your campaign. Your goal can be any of the options listed in Facebook's ad manager, including brand awareness, reach, traffic, engagement, and more.

Here are the options for setting up a Facebook ad campaign:

Boosted posts on Hootsuite can be set up with the added benefit of boosting posts for multiple platforms from one screen. You can also schedule boosted posts in advance and set triggers to boost posts automatically based on organic performance or specific keywords.

Worth a look: Print Tumblr Posts

To set up a Boosted Post on Hootsuite, you'll need to connect your relevant social ad accounts and choose the posts you want to boost. Set your budget, target your audience, and your boosted post is good to go.

If you're not sure where to start, try allocating a set weekly budget to boosted posts and setting the automated triggers to promote your top content. This is a relatively hands-off way to expand your audience and start learning what results you can expect to see from your social ad spend.

Boosted posts work best when you want more engagement from current customers and audience members, especially if your post is already performing well and getting a lot of comments, shares, and likes.

The best posts to boost are ones that "stick" or perform well organically, and if it does, you'll pay less for PPC. If it doesn't perform well, it's probably not worth boosting.

Boosted posts are the best solution when you're looking to hit the easy button on your social ad campaigns, especially if you have limited time, a small team, or are just getting started with social advertising.

Over 80% of new advertisers in Q2 started with simplified products, like boosted posts, according to Sheryl Sandberg in 2016.

You can build an entire social advertising strategy around boosted posts, as long as your advertising goals align with the objectives available.

Boosting a post on Hootsuite is at least as easy as boosting it from the social platforms themselves, with the added benefit that you can boost posts for multiple platforms all from one screen.

You can schedule boosted posts in advance and set triggers to boost posts automatically based on organic performance or specific keywords.

Boosted posts appear in the same dashboard as your organic content, giving you a bird's-eye view of your complete social calendar.

To get started, simply connect your relevant social ad accounts to Hootsuite, choose the posts you want to boost, set your budget, and target your audience.

With Facebook's ad platform, you have a range of options for where your ad will appear.

Boosted posts can appear in your audience's Facebook Feeds, as well as on Instagram. This is a great option if you're looking to reach a wider audience.

You can also choose to have your ads appear on Messenger, which can be a great way to reach people who are already interacting with your brand.

Facebook Ads Manager gives you even more options for ad placement, including Facebook Feed side ads, Messenger ads, and Audience Network.

Some of the more ad placements available through Facebook Ads Manager include Facebook News Feed, Facebook left-right columns, and Instagram stories.

You might enjoy: Facebook and Instagram Advertising

Facebook Ads offers more targeting options than boosted posts, allowing you to target specific audiences based on various parameters.

You can target your ads on specific people or groups of people based on various activities using the Facebook ad manager.

This includes creating a custom audience, a lookalike audience, and a saved audience.

Boosting posts through Hootsuite gives you a birds-eye view of your complete social calendar, with your boosted posts appearing in the same dashboard as your organic content.

You can also schedule boosted posts in advance and set triggers to boost posts automatically based on organic performance or specific keywords.

A 30% fee is tacked on for posts boosted directly within iOS Meta apps, but this fee does not apply when boosting posts through Hootsuite.

Facebook ads are clearly the better option in the majority of areas. They offer more features and flexibility than boosted posts.

Boosted posts, on the other hand, have an edge over Facebook ads in terms of usability. They're a great option when you want to create instant post engagement with your existing audience.

In most cases, Facebook ads are the way to go, offering more benefits than boosted posts.