Facebook Boosting vs. Facebook Advertising: When Should I Use Them?

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Every business needs to come up with their own distinctive advertising goals before they begin to advertise on Facebook. These goals can be achieved by either boosting a post or by coming up with a Facebook ad. For certain campaigns, the choice between an ad and a boosted post will come down to long-term vs. short-term outcomes. Before deciding, it is best for you to understand the difference between the two. 

What is a Boosted Post?

A boosted post is an ad you create from a post or when you post to your page’s timeline. This allows you to apply money in order to boost it to an audience of your liking. For instance, it allows you to decide on interests, age, and gender for your ad targeting. Boosting a post is the easiest way to advertise on Facebook and helps you get more messages, video views, leads, or calls. You might also reach new people who could be interested in your page or business but are not currently following you. Boosted ads are known to improve your brand’s social media engagement metrics and overall social presence. Although boosted posts are different from Facebook ads, they do share the similarity of being considered an ad because they require a budget to be shared with a wider audience. 

If you are looking to get your business more exposure quickly and to reach new audiences, then a boosted post can help you in a moment’s notice. If you are merely trying to promote your Facebook posts, make sure your posts reach the highest number of individuals in your target audience or increase your brand’s awareness among the Facebook community, then boosted posts could be the best strategy for you. When you boost a post, it will show up on your audience’s Facebook feed as an ad. 

The following are reasons to use boosted Facebook posts:

  • Increase audience engagement on your page
  • Develop your brand awareness
  • Increase visibility for your best weekly organic post
  • Grow your audience of page likes
  • Website clicks
  • Local business promotions or giveaways

Boosted posts are meant to create as much engagement as possible to your platform through likes, comments, and shares, as well as increase the number of customer interactions at the lowest cost so you get the most out of what you pay for. Boosting posts might have limited options compared to Facebook posts, but it allows for a fast and mobile-friendly way to increase your customer following. 

What is Facebook Advertising?

Facebook ads are created using Ads Manager and offers more advanced customization solutions. There are a variety of advertising objectives to help you achieve your specific business goals and the audiences that mean the most to you. Facebook ads are known for optimizing app installations, website conversions, video views, shop orders, and more. 

With Facebook advertising you can do a lot more than if you chose to use Facebook boosting.

  • Pick different ad placements. With Facebook ads you have the benefit of choosing placements in Facebook Feed side ads, Messenger ads, Instagram stories, instant articles, and Audience Network.
  • Use certain ad objectives. When you choose an ad objective early on, it will help you stay focused on which campaign type best aligns with your current business goals. The entire ads system in Ads Manager allows you to pick objectives such as store traffic, conversions, and lead generation. You also can design and manage ads through the Ads Manager mobile app. 
  • Keep creative control. By designing an ad through Ads Manager, you can create an add that suits your goals. You can create carousel ads, add certain descriptions, and add a call-to-action button that will motivate more of your audience to take action. 
  • Use advance targeting capabilities. By using Facebook ads, you can use more advanced tools to create overlapping audience types, lookalike audiences, and more. 

Facebook ads are known to have a faster, immediate impact and translate straight to campaign goals for business objectives such as lead captures. On some campaigns, the added functionality of Facebook ads could make them more suitable for your campaign. 

The following are reasons to use Facebook Ads Manager to create Facebook ads:

  • Store traffic
  • Website conversions
  • Lead generation
  • App installations
  • Video views
  • Shop orders

Final Thoughts

It is crucial for every business to know exactly what kind of result they expect from an ad. For instance, if you are looking for audience engagement on your page or to increase your brand awareness, then boosting a post would be the perfect way to increase visibility and expand your audience. On the other hand, if you want to create more advanced ad types and campaigns, then using Ads Manager for Facebook advertising would be the better option.