Boosted Post vs Ads: Which One Is Better for You?

These days, social media is essential for business marketing. Facebook is one of the most popular platforms for promoting businesses. This social network initially launched its Ads platform in 2007. Throughout the years, the ways to advertise on Facebook have improved. These days, business owners use Facebook-boosted posts and Ads to promote their business pages. Find out which one might be best suited for your business here. 

What Are Facebook Boosted Posts and Ads?

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Facebook-boosted posts are posts already created from your page that get boosted to larger audiences. Facebook shows these posts to people outside your followers, which can help you enlarge your content’s reach and improve your page’s metrics. 

As for selecting which post to boost, businesses can choose posts with great engagement to improve their metrics, page traffic, and overall page monetization. 

On the other hand, Facebook Ads is a platform created by Facebook exclusively for advertising. The platform’s goal is to give businesses a way of promoting their products or services through different forms of media. Facebook Advertising is popular among business owners, as it gives businesses the possibility of showcasing their products or services to millions of people around the globe. 

Facebook Ads can be a powerful tool since it provides a variety of options to create ads depending on the business owner’s preferences. 

The Main Differences Between These Strategies

After learning more about these marketing strategies, let’s dive into their main differences.

First, you need to know that despite having differences, they also share some common characteristics:

1. Both strategies let customers know they’re viewing sponsored content.
2. Both allow owners to target their audiences.
3. You can work on both marketing strategies in Facebook partner platforms. 

Now, take a look into some of their primary differences:

1. Facebook Ads are created on the Facebook Ads Manager platform, while boosted posts are set up on Facebook’s front end. 
2. Facebook Boosted posts’ goal is to increase the engagement for a post or to grow a page’s followers. Ads are designed for a specific objective (i.e. lead generation).
3. Depending on what you want, Facebook offers more customization options for ads than for boosted posts. For example, Facebook ads manager allows you to manage headers and descriptions. Boosted posts differ in this option since they automatically take your page’s description and don’t offer customization options.
4. Boosted posts are shown only on Facebook news feeds. Facebook Ads can reach their partners’ platforms. 
5. Facebook Ads allow you to customize their size depending on where they will show up. Boosted posts have one size only, and changing it is not possible. 

Which One Could Be Better for Your Business?

So far, you learned what Facebook Boosted posts and Facebook Ads are, their similarities, and some of their key differences. So it’s time to figure out which one suits your business better.

When to Use Facebook Boosted Posts

If your goal is to reach a wider audience, if you think it would be easier to use an existing post from your Facebook page, or if you would like to get more visitors to your page from a target audience, Boosted posts might be the right fit for you. 

When looking to boost a post, think about those with good, organic interactions. These are the ones that can reach bigger audiences and put your page on their radar. The ultimate goal is not to sell your product or service. Instead, the goal is to allow new customers to get familiarized with what you are offering.

When to Use Facebook Ads

However, if you’re looking for lead generation, higher website or store traffic, or increasing video views, you should consider choosing Facebook Ads. Maybe your main goal isn’t only to make your product or service known but to allow customers to decide if they prefer to try them out. You can keep track of your Facebook ads data in Google Sheets for more in-depth analysis and reporting.

How Do You Set Up Facebook Ads and Boosted Posts?

To create Facebook Boosted posts, follow these steps: 

1. Open your Facebook business page.
2. Click on “Boost post.”
3. From there, you can choose the targeted audience options they list, or you can create your target audience by clicking on “Create new audience.”
4. Choose how much you’d like to pay for the boosted posts (for prices, read below).
5. Choose the amount of time you’d like to boost your post. 
6. Then, choose your preferred payment method and your currency. 
7. Finally, click on “Boost now.”

To create Facebook Ads, you will need to:

1. Have a previously verified payment method
2. Have a Facebook page, or have access to other pages as admin, advertiser, or editor. 
3. Open Facebook Ads Manager. If you wish, you can also download the app on your mobile phone. 
4. Click on “Create Ad.”
5. Then, select your campaign’s objectives. 
6. Establish your campaign’s budget.
7. Customize the targeted audience. 
8. Select the ad’s placement. 
9. Lastly, create your ad. 

Pros and Cons of Boosted Posts

When choosing which one works best for your page, take into consideration the pros and cons they have. 

Pros of Boosted Posts

1. They can help your content reach wider audiences on Facebook. 
2. Setting Facebook Boosted posts up is a straightforward, easy process, meaning you don’t need to be an expert to use this strategy. 
3. And given how easy it is to set these posts up, it is also a quicker process in comparison to Facebook ads. 
4. They can be budget-friendly. 
5. They are more likely to be shared by users.

Cons of Boosted Posts

1. One of the most important cons of boosted posts is the limited customization. You can’t customize their size, headings, and descriptions.
2. Another thing you might want to take into consideration is that boosted posts are visible on Facebook only. 
3. Boosted posts offer limited target customization options. 
4. Similarly, boosted posts offer limited campaign objectives.
5. Considering con number 2, it is important to state that you can’t boost a post without a Facebook page. 

Pros and Cons of Facebook Ads

Pros of Facebook Ads

1. Facebook Ads offers eleven campaign objectives.
2. You can customize ads to your liking.
3. Your ads can reach an audience of your choosing, as Facebook Ads offer better, and more effective targeting.
4. They can be up on Facebook’s partner platforms. 
5. They also have more creative options, which allow you to create a carousel ad, or add a call-to-action button. 

Cons of Facebook Ads

1. One of the most important things you might want to know is that, since it offers a wide variety of options, it also requires more time to learn how to use it properly. It is a far more advanced level in comparison to boosted posts.
2. Similarly, setting these ads up might require more time and effort than boosted posts.
3. Chances are that not everyone will feel inclined to share your ad, in contrast to how boosted posts can get more shares. 
4. They have to be created from the beginning, instead of just choosing a post from your page.
5. You might have to do a budget increase, 

The Right Fit for Your Budget

You need to decide on the interests you have in your campaign so that it gets the best results. Either option will require you to spend money on Facebook marketing campaigns, but depending on what you want, you could adjust your marketing budget. 

The average cost-per-click on Facebook Ads is $0.97, and the average cost-per-1,000 views is $14.99. The average cost-per-install is $1.97, and the cost-per-action ranges from $8 to $55. 

Boosted posts have a minimum cost of $1 per day, resulting in a $7 investment weekly.

Ultimately, Do They Work?

Simply put, they do. They are one of the simplest ways to advertise a business online and can translate directly to campaign goals. It’s important to understand what you would like to achieve through the use of Facebook ads and boosted posts, and from then on, you can choose the best fit for your campaign and budget. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Boosted Posts Considered Ads?

Yes, boosted posts are considered ads, since users will see the post with a Sponsored badge attached to it. 

Do Boosted Posts Say Sponsored?

Since these posts are considered ads, they have a badge that lets users know they’re viewing a sponsored post. 

What Is the Difference Between Boosting and Promoting?

The key difference is that to boost a post, all you have to do is choose it from your page’s timeline. Promoting requires you to create what you wish to advertise from scratch.

Why Did Facebook Reject My Boosted Post?

Facebook has three main reasons why they could have rejected your post

1. You’re not following the Facebook Ads guidelines. 
2. You’re promoting censored content. 
3. You’re promoting restricted content. 

How Many Facebook Ads Should I Run at a Time?

You can run multiple ads set at a time, but it is recommended that you run one ad per set to avoid competition between them.

Conclusion

Learning to create and manage ads is vital for a business’s social media presence. Whether you want to use boosted posts vs. ads, you need to set the needs of your campaign. From then on, you can choose the one that suits it better. It is impossible to state that one is better than the other, as both have pros and cons, and ultimately, each of these is what makes the decision. If your need is to make your page grow within Facebook, maybe boosting your posts can be a wise choice. However, if your needs center around targeting a specific audience, Facebook ads might be the one for you.