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A quick search on the internet will throw up many articles that tell you that Facebook boost posts are a total waste of money! That boosting posts through Facebook do not result in anything worthwhile. But, if you dig deeper into boost posts, you will find that there are certain strategies objectives that work very well for boosted posts. In this article, I’m going to talk about how you can get your money’s worth when boosting Facebook posts.
This post is part of the series of “Social media marketing strategy for small businesses”.
What are boosted posts on Facebook?
Boosted posts are ads that are created out of an existing post on your Facebook page. It is best to select a post that has some organic engagement already, as this prompts more people to engage with it. The boosted post will be shown to people whom you select through targeting.
The basic difference between Facebook boosted posts and Facebook/Instagram ads are that Facebook/Instagram ads can be created out of any creative you want; you don’t have to select one from your profile. In addition, Facebook/Instagram ads allow greater control over targeting and objective, while providing more detailed insights.
Boosting a post is a simple task. Facebook will show you the ‘boost’ button on all the posts that are eligible for boosting. After that, you will be provided with options to pick an objective and select the audience. You can choose to boost the post to your followers, your follower’s friends or detailed targeting based on interest. Note that you can only boost to your followers once you cross 100 followers.
After you select the audience, pick your budget and the boost duration. Pick a budget that is affordable like ₹100 per day. Usually, a boosted post should not run for more than 3-7 days.
Boosting the correct post with the correct objective
Facebook wants to make it easier for you the boost your post, so it will suggest an automatic goal selection. While this can be handy for new users, I strongly recommend that you take control and decide your objective. So, as a first step, change the goal of the boost post.
There are two options to pick from – more engagement and messages.
More engagement goal – This goal will result in more likes, comments, video views and shares of that particular post. From the people you select through targeting, Facebook will show your boosted post to those people who are likely to engage more with it. As I said previously, you can boost to a new audience based on interests or your existing follower list. In my experience, the best strategy for this goal is to boost to your own audience. Here’s why.
Once you boost the post, you will get more engagement on the post. In order for this engagement to result in sales, your post should be seen by an audience that is already warm i.e. your followers. Remember that Facebook’s organic reach is less than 5%. This means that your warm audience is not seeing all your posts. But, every time your followers engage with your post, they will see your next few posts in their feed. So boosting a post to your followers helps you to increase your reach to your followers. And the objective of more engagement will help those followers engage with you who are really interested in your business. This is a great way to re-engage your followers and nudge them towards sales.
Messages goal – The messages goal will show your boosted post to those people who are likely to send you a message. This goal works best for posts that require a conversation. For e.g. a limited time offer that needs to be claimed by supplying some information to you or a customisation request for your product. These posts have a clear reason for someone to send you a message. So, out of the people that Facebook targets, the people who are interested in the outcome are more likely to message you. Selecting the right post to boost for this objective will improve your lead quality.
All is not lost if your Facebook boost post did not work the first time. Boosted posts can be an affordable and easy way to increase your reach and bring in more leads. With this new information about selecting the right post, audience and objective, your boost post quality will improve.
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