With a staggering 2.27 billion monthly active users, Facebook has ushered in the new age of advertising. It’s standard fare for every business to have their own Facebook page to engage with their audience and reach new customers. However, while Facebook has become a widely popular advertising tool, many businesses are still confused on best practices for the platform. Specifically, there is much confusion on the difference between Facebook paid ads and boosted posts. On this blog, we set out to help clear up the confusion as we delve into the differences between the two.

Defining the Difference

A boosted post is Facebook’s simplified version of a paid ad. When you create a paid ad, there are a plethora of options to conduct your campaign – targeting, objectives, duration, budget, copy, media type and placement. Whereas when you boost a post, Facebook gives you a limited set of campaign options because the post has already been published to the platform. Essentially, you’re giving the post a little extra push to help it perform better than your brand’s typical organic post that reaches only those who like the page.

Boosted Posts – What Should You Use Them For?

Due to a boosted post’s limited campaign options, you can’t customise your target audience as much as you could with a paid ad. Additionally, the post can only be displayed in the newsfeed, unlike paid ads which have an array of placement options. So, if you’re looking for advanced targeting, it’s best to skip a boosted post altogether and go straight for the paid ad.

However, a boosted post is a good option when you have an existing post for which you want to maximize engagement and visibility on. For example – you’re announcing a grand opening, a product launch, or an event. Boosting these type of posts is a quick way to engage a broader audience. You can also boost posts doing well organically, which means users are engaging with the content without a paid element. If the post is doing well and you have ad spend to spare, boosting is a great way to increase reach, and users are more likely to engage with a post that already has good engagement. Boosted posts also arguably have a better aesthetic appearance. While the post will still say “Sponsored” in the newsfeed, it looks more organic than a paid ad.

Paid Ads – What Should You Use Them For?

Paid ads are more sophisticated and should be used for carefully crafted campaigns so you get the best bang for your buck. Facebook Ad Manager has a multitude of offerings that can be overwhelming, so take your time when making selections. For now, we’ll give you a brief overview:

1. Advanced Targeting: You can target your audience through age, gender, location, device usage, job title, and even relationship status. Additionally, you can customise your audience by creating a ‘lookalike’ audience in which you input data about your current audience, from your website and social media traffic, and Facebook will find more people who fit a similar profile.
2. Placement Options: You’re not limited to just the newsfeed and can place ads in Messenger, Instagram, Instant Articles and the side panel.
3. Objectives: Here you choose your marketing objective whether it be conversions, awareness, engagement, traffic, or reach and Facebook will show your campaign to users who are more likely to commit to that action.

The more sophisticated nature of Facebook paid ads will help you reach more of the people you want rather than just a broad audience. Therefore, they are best for long-term growth.

In conclusion, both boosted posts and paid ads can help grow your audience and have purpose in your spending scope. When you’re deciding between the two, remember to keep your marketing objectives, overall strategy, and budget in mind. If you’re still having a little trouble with the Facebook ad platform, why not have a chat to the Fuse Agency team? We specialise in social media marketing and can help you manage your Facebook promotions and take your business to the next level.