Never Fall For the ”Boost Post” Trap on Facebook
One of the biggest mistakes we see made when it comes to social media marketing is businesses falling into the "Boost post" trap on Facebook.
Facebook has made it easier than ever to start reaching more people than ever with a conveniently placed little blue button at the bottom of your business' posts that simply says "Boost post."
What could possibly be wrong with that? Well, a lot. Let's break this down issue by issue.
You Have Less Targeting Options
One of the greatest benefits of running paid advertisements on Facebook is how specific you can be with your targeting!
Not only can you search for interests, behaviors, and demographics, you can also receive suggestions from Facebook on which other interests to target. So helpful!
However, when you "boost" a post, you're not able to benefit from any of that.
The targeting options within the post boosting interface are significantly less than what's available through Ads Manager.
When you're spending money on ads, you want to make sure you're reaching the right people with the right message. If you aren't, you may as well light your money on fire.
You’re Wasting Money
When it comes to marketing, one phrase rings true: "Specific is terrific!"
The more specific your target audience, the more specific you can make your messaging and offer because you know exactly who you're speaking to.
You can understand the intrinsic and external motivators of that audience, making your offer that much more compelling.
When boosting posts, your targeting options are limited, which leads to your message being shown to many people who don't have an interest in buying from you.
This leads to a lot of frustration with your advertising efforts after losing money with no return.
The Targeting Doesn’t Matter
After speaking to numerous current and past clients, we've heard one common theme after discussing their past boosted post advertising efforts:
"I was getting likes and comments from people who didn't live anywhere near my targeting selections. It was so weird!"
We don't have an exact explanation for this, but after hearing it from dozens of clients and testing it for ourselves, we can confirm that you'll be reaching people outside of your targeting selections if you boost your posts.
So What Should You Do Instead?
We've talked a lot about what not to do in this so far, but there's hope!
Let's discuss what you should be doing instead:
Using Facebook Ads Manager!
Here are some key reasons why using Facebook Ads Manager is a must for any paid digital marketing efforts you make on Facebook:
Advanced Targeting Options
Facebook Ads Manager is going to be your go-to for any paid advertising you run on Facebook.
With Ads Manager, you have more advanced targeting that gives you the ability to be laser-focused with your targeting. Not only that, you'll be able to receive suggestions for targeting options within Ads manager to help you build out your full targeting.
Your Ads Will Show to the Right People
When boosting posts, your posts tend to show to people outside of your targeting regardless of what you've selected. With Ads Manager, this rarely happens.
We won't say it never happens, but it's very rare that your ads show to the wrong people.
This helps you to get a higher return on your investment from your digital marketing efforts because you're showing the right message to the right people at the right time!
Track Important Metrics
With Ads Manager, you have a full reporting dashboard that allows you to track key metrics and optimize based on your analytics.
If you're A/B testing, you can review all of the key metrics for your ads to make informed optimization decisions to ensure you're budget is spent as effectively as possible.
Important metrics like conversion cost, click-through-rate, and leads can be tracked and monitored to know which ads are performing the best for your business. You can shut off the losers, and allocate more of your budget to the winners!
Partner Access
If you get to the point where you want to hire an agency partner or freelancer to help you run ads to get the highest return on your investment, Facebook Ads Manager gives you the opportunity to give access to partners within the platform!
This makes it extremely simple for people to come in and work on the back end of your social media accounts to create high-performing ads on behalf of your business to help you bring in new customers.
Summary
If you're a business owner that's been boosting posts on Facebook, you're not alone. We've all had high hopes for that button to be the answer to all of our social media problems.
Now that you're armed with this information, you can make an informed decision to transition away from boosting posts, and into Facebook Ads Manager.
If you aren't sure how to make this transition, give us a call or send us an email, and we'll help you with the transition!
We're here to help you make sense of digital marketing and find successful strategies that will bring you in new customers.
Schedule an appointment with us here: https://www.entrustmarketingwa.com/schedule-appointment
Contact Us: https://www.entrustmarketingwa.com/contact-us
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