When a social media post starts gaining traction, you’ll often receive prompts from the platform encouraging you to reach a wider audience by boosting the post. A word of advice: Don’t do it. It’s a waste of your precious ad budget and probably won’t achieve anything other than some extra likes on your post.
What is a Boosted Post?
Boosting a post is a common feature across social media platforms, originating with Facebook. Before the introduction of Ads Manager, Business Pages only had one way of advertising; boosting posts. There were no campaigns or objectives other than increasing your reach and engagement. At that time it was beneficial, as Business Pages were favoured by the algorithm, and boosting could provide an extra visibility boost.
To quote Meta, “A boosted post is an ad you create from an existing post you published on your Facebook Page or Instagram account.” It’s the simplest way to have your post reach more people on the platform. On the surface it sounds good – you’re getting more eyes on your content. However, the simplicity of boosting posts is where problems arise.
Why Boosting Posts is very, very bad
Boosting posts lacks the customisation and targeting options that a traditional Meta campaign offers. With boosting, you have limited control over how the ad runs and how its success is measured. It’s much harder to track where your money is going, assess whether the campaign was effective, or determine who actually saw your post.
What is the difference between Boosted Posts and Promoted Posts?
Don’t be fooled by different terms – “boosted,” “promoted” and “amplify” mean essentially the same thing across all social media platforms. Regardless of the name, these features offer the same limited capabilities.
What to do instead of Boosting Posts?
If you’re aiming to increase reach and engagement with your target audience, the better approach is to run a traditional Meta campaign with an Engagement or Reach objective. This method gives you full control over how your budget is spent, offers more audience targeting options and allows you to customise details like ad placements.
You don’t need to start from scratch, either. The ‘Use Existing Post’ feature lets you promote an already-published post within a structured campaign. This way, you can rotate new posts into your campaign or turn off posts that have run their course. This approach also makes it easier to monitor performance, manage your budget and maintain overall control.
If you’re looking for expert help with your social media advertising, you’ve come to the right place. Contact our team to find out how we can help grow your business online.
When a social media post starts gaining traction, you’ll often receive prompts from the platform encouraging you to reach a wider audience by boosting the post. A [...]
In our last article, we explored the rise of zero-click searches and its impact on how we find information online. This shift in user behaviour has also [...]
One of our biggest takeaways from State of Social 2024 was the evolution of zero-click searches and the impact it will have on the way we do [...]
Have you noticed a drop in engagement on your brand’s Instagram posts? Likes not flowing as much as what they used to? The good news is you’re [...]
Did you know that after approximately 4 exposures to your ad, your conversions can drop by almost half? As Meta increasingly emphasises broad targeting, the effectiveness of [...]
This year has been challenging for both businesses and consumers, with rising cost-of-living pressures leading to shifts in retail habits. During these quieter times, it’s crucial to [...]
When it comes to protecting your intellectual property (IP), it’s essential to understand the distinctions between copyright and trade marks, as each serves a unique purpose in safeguarding your creative and business assets.
If you’ve recently created a paid campaign on Facebook (or Meta as it’s now known), you’ve probably noticed the platform is trying to skew you towards using [...]
The results from our Audience Intelligence Reports for Q2 have incited some interesting conversations amongst our team. For those of you who don’t know, our quarterly Audience [...]
If you’ve been following our tips to improve your website and social media accessibility, you will have seen us harp on about the importance of image alt [...]
When a social media post starts gaining traction, you’ll often receive prompts from the platform encouraging you to reach a wider audience by boosting the post. A [...]
In our last article, we explored the rise of zero-click searches and its impact on how we find information online. This shift in user behaviour has also [...]
One of our biggest takeaways from State of Social 2024 was the evolution of zero-click searches and the impact it will have on the way we do [...]
Have you noticed a drop in engagement on your brand’s Instagram posts? Likes not flowing as much as what they used to? The good news is you’re [...]
Did you know that after approximately 4 exposures to your ad, your conversions can drop by almost half? As Meta increasingly emphasises broad targeting, the effectiveness of [...]
This year has been challenging for both businesses and consumers, with rising cost-of-living pressures leading to shifts in retail habits. During these quieter times, it’s crucial to [...]
When it comes to protecting your intellectual property (IP), it’s essential to understand the distinctions between copyright and trade marks, as each serves a unique purpose in safeguarding your creative and business assets.
If you’ve recently created a paid campaign on Facebook (or Meta as it’s now known), you’ve probably noticed the platform is trying to skew you towards using [...]
The results from our Audience Intelligence Reports for Q2 have incited some interesting conversations amongst our team. For those of you who don’t know, our quarterly Audience [...]
If you’ve been following our tips to improve your website and social media accessibility, you will have seen us harp on about the importance of image alt [...]
