Sponsored Ads v Boosted Posts

What you need to know!

We’ve all seen them, Sponsored Ads and most of us with businesses have Boosted some of our own posts. Here we will explain what the difference is and help you understand what Posts you should be boosting and when you should be considering a Sponsored Ad.

Organic reach for posts are falling and in fact, as low as 2% in some instances, so obviously dedicating and marketing budget to Facebook advertising is important especially if you are wanting your posts to be visible to your own followers and to reach new audiences.

Social Media Boosted Posts

A simple explanation for a boosted post is that it is the same as any type of post you make on your business page, except in this instance you pay a fee to make it appear higher on your existing audience’s news feed and to friends of your current audience. This depends on what you select when setting up the boost ie: demographic, age etc. With Boosted posts you are essentially paying Facebook to deliver your post to a wider audience than it would reach organically (for free – non boosted post).

Social Media Sponsored Ads

When you engage a sponsored ad, the post is more like a traditional ad and you can choose way more demographics, right down to the nitty-gritty like interests and habits of the type of person you want to reach. These sponsored ads show up in user’s news feeds like any other post, but, they will NOT appear on your business page.

What’s more effective?

Just like anything it depends on what you are trying to achieve. Boosted posts are a great way to engage a user via likes, shares and comments. These posts appear as an organic post i.e.: views can’t tell if it has or hasn’t been boosted. So, these types of posts have more of a natural feel, not a “sales” feel.

Sponsored Ads are a great way to generate more actionable clicks, this is because you can customise a sponsored ad way more than a Boosted Post. The objectives could be to achieve website click-throughs, or store visits, to selecting a highly specific audience, you can achieve all of this with a sponsored ad.

However, with a Sponsored Ad comes more options to set it up which means it is more complicated. This can all be done through your Facebook Ads Manager or Facebook Power Editor or if you prefer help, we can set an ad up for you (charges apply).

When should I create a Sponsored Ad?

Because sponsored ads offer more flexibility with budgets and targeting, it has much broader use. When you want to generate more leads for your business, showcase a new service or product, drive traffic to your website or simply drive purchases.

When should I Boost a post?

When you want to maximise its visibility on your timeline, remember boosted posts ONLY show up in your News Feed. So, will only be seen by people who already like your page and friends of anyone who has either engaged with your page directly (such as commenting on it).

If you want to increase customer loyalty, promote an event that is likely to appeal to your followers or share user-generated content.

So, there you have it, if you are choosing to run with boosted posts, then you probably won’t need much help but if you are choosing sponsored ads, then you may need help. If you decide that you need a hand setting up a Sponsored Ad, we can help!

Find out more about our Social Media Management services.