{"id":1365,"date":"2019-08-09T15:56:43","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T22:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autolikes.com\/blog\/?p=1365"},"modified":"2019-08-08T02:37:46","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T09:37:46","slug":"alternative-facebook-boost-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/autolikes.com\/blog\/2019\/08\/alternative-facebook-boost-post","title":{"rendered":"Is There an Alternative to Facebook’s Boost Post?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may have heard of boosting posts on Facebook. Scratch that; if you manage a Facebook page, I guarantee you’ve heard of it. Facebook pushes it pretty relentlessly; they want you to boost your posts so you can get more exposure, more engagement, and more followers.<\/p>\n

You may also have heard that the boost post feature is, well, a little less than stellar.<\/em> It’s easy, and it gets you some results, so what’s the problem?<\/p>\n

The Issue with Boosting Posts<\/h3>\n

Boosting posts on Facebook is basically the introductory level, easy mode version of running Facebook ads. Clicking the boost post button basically just creates a Facebook ad out of that post, with the “post engagement” objective, and lets you set a budget. \u00a0If you want to dig into it, you can set some targeting options, budgetary options, and a bit more, but that’s about it.<\/p>\n

\"Boost<\/p>\n

The problem is that boosting posts is an introductory level product. It’s simple, it’s limited, and it’s easy. It’s made to allow you to give Facebook money without telling you how much further your money could go working for you.<\/p>\n

Everything boosting a post does is something you can do with Facebook ads, except you can do it better. You’re not limited to post engagement objectives, you’re not limited to post-style news feed placements, you’re not restricted in scheduling or budgeting options, you have access to a trillion more targeting factors, and on and on.<\/p>\n

Boosting posts is better than nothing. The trouble is, that’s about where it stops.<\/p>\n

Specific Differences Between Boosting and Ads<\/h3>\n

It’s all well and good for me to tell you that there’s a difference between boosting and promoting posts, but what are the specific differences between the two?<\/p>\n

First of all, the biggest difference is the interface<\/strong>. Boosting posts is done through your Facebook Page or at the post itself. You just set a few settings and click a few buttons, and your post starts to run as an ad automatically. To promote a post as a Facebook ad, you need to actually go to the Facebook Ads Manager, which can be a dauntingly complicated interface if you’re not used to it.<\/p>\n

Another major difference is the structure<\/strong> of your ads. With boosted posts, you’re basically creating one campaign with a single post in it. With promoting posts as ads, you can build out a more robust campaign with multiple ad sets and ads to target different groups and run split tests.<\/p>\n

\"Boost<\/p>\n

In fact, with boosted posts, you’re limited to a single one at any given time. If you want to boost a new post you just made, you have to close down the one you’re currently running. With full-on advertisements, you can promote as many as you want and have the money to pay for.<\/p>\n

This brings up one of the most important differences<\/a> between the two. When you boost a post, that’s it; you have one boosted post, one ad, and you hope it does well. With ads you create, you can split that post into half a dozen or more posts you promote to different audiences with different targeting. If some are underperforming, you can kill them off and replace them. If some are doing well, you can expand your budget. You have a ton of additional flexibility.<\/p>\n

Boosting posts limits the kind of targeting options you can use as well. You can only use interest targeting, and you don’t have access to advanced demographics or to behavioral targeting options. You can target broad “fans and friends of fans”<\/em> audiences, but not much beyond that. You aren’t able to choose placement or device targeting. You also can’t use custom audiences. Of course, when creating ads from scratch, you get access to all of this and more.<\/p>\n

Boosted posts are limited to specific durations. Promoted posts can be run indefinitely and with varying schedules with much more granularity.<\/p>\n

When you use a boosted post, you’re basically running an ad looking for engagement. Is post engagement what you wanted to get out of that post? It doesn’t matter! If you wanted to, say, run ads to drive people to your store, to encourage clicks to your website, or to bolster conversions, you have to use the actual ads system.<\/p>\n

Which Option Should You Choose?<\/h3>\n

Boosting posts is just simply making Facebook ads, so the question you have to ask is, which method should you use?<\/p>\n

As a marketer, I always consider the more robust options to be the better options. When you have more you can do, you don’t have to worry about the system restricting you. There will always be ways to optimize and improve on your ads to get a little more bang for your buck.<\/p>\n

\"Facebook<\/p>\n

That said, boosting posts is a good option<\/a> when you don’t have the time to learn ads, the money to hire someone to manage your ads, or the interest in doing deep investment in Facebook ads. Small businesses often benefit from a simple fire-and-forget ad system, whereas larger businesses get a lot more benefit out of the ability to segment discrete audiences and custom-target individual advertisements.<\/p>\n

How to Get Started with Facebook Ads<\/h3>\n

On the plus side, if you’ve boosted posts before, you already have the very basic introduction to Facebook ads. They aren’t good or well-optimized ads, but you know the basics about Facebook’s content approval system and budget settings. Now it’s time to dive into the deep end<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Creating<\/p>\n

Start by developing an ad strategy. <\/strong>Don’t worry, this sounds more daunting than it actually is. You know most of the information for it already, you just have to put it into words. Answer these questions:<\/p>\n