How To Boost A Facebook Post

Effective social media marketing is not all about the number of shares, likes, and comments you can get from your followers. Sometimes it’s also about harnessing the power of that platform and reaching towards new audiences - and the way businesses do that is through Facebook advertising and boosting their posts.

The Facebook Boost Post button is a one-click trick to beating a lull in organic traffic, but is it as easy as simply clicking and letting it all happen on its own? Of course not. Boosting a Facebook post is only effective if you target the right people at the right time.

Let’s take a closer look at how Facebook Boosting works and how you can use it to benefit your business.

The Benefits Of Facebook

Facebook is the largest social media network by a mile. It has the largest number of monthly active users (2.74 billion) and it reaches a multitude of generational demographics from the youngest to the oldest digital users. The reach potential is huge - and yet organic reach through Facebook is being ousted by baby photos, engagement announcements, and daily updates; down to a worrying 5.2% effectiveness.

A boosted post on Facebook takes that potential and frames it in a way that puts your post in the line of sight of the right people. It is also a quick and easy way to create an ad, complete with analytics and a performance review, and it can even extend to Instagram for those trialling the two platforms together.

But a boosted post is NOT the same as a Facebook ad. This is a common misconception that can become confusing for new users of Facebook and online ad campaigns. Despite the two being very similar, the way they use budgeting and investments, and the way the two can be targeted and utilised is very different. Facebook ads are, by and large, more complex and advanced. Facebook boosted posts are simpler, can be created on a whim, and support a growth in audience.

How Do Facebook Boosted Posts Work?

A boosted post looks exactly the same as a regular post, but with a couple of additional features: namely the addition of a Call-to-Action button, and the implementation of backend analytics so that you can see how your post is performing.

The way the budgeting works is simple - the more you spend on boosting a post, the more people it will reach. You can spend anything from £1 to upwards of £100 depending on your intended reach, and best of all, it’s all completely under your control.

Getting Started...

If you’ve already got an active Facebook business profile, then the following steps will guide you through the process of boosting a post to reach a larger captive audience. If you don’t yet have a Facebook for Business profile then you will need this to get started, as this is what will link your profile to a bank account for debiting the cost of your post boosting activity and will also provide users with that crucial website link and various CTAs.

Once on your Facebook business page, select the post you want to boost and click the blue ‘Boost Post’ button - which should show in the bottom right-hand side of the post box.  

Step One

You will then be asked to select a goal for your boosted post. This goal relates to the results you want to get from the post, with options including:

• Get more messages
• Get more engagement
• Get more website visitors
• Get more leads
• Get more calls

TOP TIP: Choose the goal which most closely relates to the way in which your Facebook followers use your profile and interact with your brand. If you typically use Facebook as an engagement platform but rarely use it to drive leads or book calls, don’t try to change your strategy now - instead, focus on what you already do well, and enhance that even more.

Step Two

Now it’s time to brand your action with the right CTA. Luckily, Facebook gives you a few options to choose from to keep you on the right track, with options including:

• Book Now
• Learn More
• Sign Up
• Shop Now
• Send A Message

This is the single phrase that will tell your audience what you want them to do and how their journey continues from the boosted post, so make sure it is relevant and ties in with the content of the post.

Step Three

Time to pick your audience. This could be an audience of existing followers, people who like your page and their connections, or an entirely new group of people who are not already linked to your Facebook business page - it all depends on how you want to use your post for the benefit of your business, and who you want to draw attention to. For example, there is no point in encouraging existing followers to like your page through a boosted post because they already do - but these people could benefit from being encouraged further into your sales funnel. Meanwhile, completely new prospective followers will benefit from an informative ‘Learn More’ style of ad.

Use both the broader categories and those that are more targeted to narrow down your audience, considering your target gender, location, age, lifestyle, financial status, family life, and more. Some of these will be more focussed than others for your business - for example if you operate in a certain area, location will be important.

Step Four

Select the duration of your boosted post and how long you would like it to remain active, then set your budget! The budget slider will let you know exactly how many people will likely be reached by your boosted post. You can also set the exact time that you want your boosted post to go live on people’s Facebook feeds for optimum effectiveness.

And there you have it. Your boosted post is ready to go live! Double check the preview and, if you’re happy with what you’ve created, hit confirm and see what happens. Use analytics to assess the impact and success of your post and use that insight to adjust the audience and other features for future posts.

For more support and guidance on creating an effective Facebook boost strategy, get in touch!