What's the Difference Between Boosting a Post and Creating a Facebook Ad
When you find yourself in a predicament of what to do: either to boost a post or to create a Facebook ad to maximize advertising for your business, what should you do?
By: Tatiana Cortes
As a business you should already have defined-unique advertising goals – What are you hoping to achieve? Some goals can be reached by boosting a post and other goals can be reached by creating a Facebook ad.
Boosting a Post:
Boosted posts are the posts in your page’s timeline that you can promote by paying money in order to boost it to the audience you choose. This paid-for post will show up in your audience’s Facebook News Feed as an ad. You can also select IG as an ad placement for your boosted post.
It is the simplest way to advertise on Facebook.
They are not created in Ads Manager and do not have the same customization features.
Boosted posts are still considered ads because they require payment to be shared with a wider audience.
There are three essential questions you will need to answer when boosting a post:
Which audience do you want to reach? Pick a target audience of the type of people you want to connect with.
Budget? Exactly how much do you want to spend over the course of your entire campaign.
How long do you want to boost? Once you click “Boost” and your promoted post is approved, people in your target audience will see your ad in their News Feed for the duration you have set.
Facebook Ads:
Facebook Ads are created through Ads manager and offer more advanced customization solutions. It has many advertising objectives to help you reach your specific business goals and the target audiences you care about most.
It is more complex and specific, you also get the added benefit of choosing placements in Facebook News Feed side ads, Messenger ads, Instagram stories, instant articles, and Audience Network.
It is created through Facebook Ads manager and these ads optimize for app installs, website conversions, video views, shop orders, and more.
Facebook Ads and Boosted posts are both considered ads because they both required payment to be shared with a wider audience and when receiving a bill, they are both identified as an ad.
With Facebook ads manager you can:
Use specific objectives: you can choose which campaign type best aligns with your current business goals. These objectives vary from store traffic, conversions, and lead generation.
Maintain creative control: you can specifically design an ad that fits your goals. You can add specific descriptions and add a call-to-action button that will drive more of your audience to take action.
Use advanced targeting capabilities: you can use more advanced tools to create overlapping audience types, lookalike audiences, and more.
It is important to know what you want your business to achieve to know which approach you want to use if boosting your post or creating a Facebook ad.