Social media promotion is a moving target. It’s easy to make a great, engaging post and share it on Facebook. It might even be possible to create momentum with a series of posts, but sadly, the algorithms that Facebook uses don’t treat all posts alike. Chances are, only a fraction of your followers will see any of your posts, and no one outside your circle of followers will see any of them.
The loss of “organic reach” started in 2018 when Facebook execs began to prioritize personal posts over business and marketing posts in users’ newsfeeds. One marketer estimated that only 10 percent of business posts are seen by their audience, and many others estimate it to be even less.
Simply being active on Facebook is not a strategy any longer, and without some support, your hard work will go unnoticed. At StructureM, we help our clients find their customers online through a targeted social media strategy that includes Facebook ads and boosted Facebook posts.
Boosting Facebook posts is the easiest and most affordable way to broadcast your message. Here’s all you need to know about boosting Facebook posts:
How Boosting a Facebook Post Works
The “boost post” button is one of the first things you see when you post from your business page. In the past, your everyday post would have gone to your entire audience, but as we mentioned above, that’s not the case anymore. Boosting a Facebook post allows any post you choose to be distributed in the newsfeed to anyone you want, based on the parameters you set.
Why You Should Boost Your Facebook Posts
Boosting Facebook posts is one of the most affordable online marketing options available today. Facebook post boosting allows you to use your own budget, no matter how small or how large of an amount you want to spend. If you are hosting an event, running a limited-time offer, or you want to generate buzz for new web content or a major project, boosting a Facebook post to your ideal customers is an efficient approach to get the word out. You might also try boosting a well-branded post that encourages them to click through to your website or simply builds brand awareness through repetition in your service area.
How to Boost a Facebook Post
Create a post or choose an existing post and hit the “Boost Post” button. If you’re not seeing the button, you are not using a business page, and you’ll want to check out our tutorial on branded social media pages to get up to speed.
The dashboard that appears will ask a series of questions. First, choose an objective – either increase engagement, send people to your website, or whatever option you want people to choose. Next, you’ll want to choose an audience. You can set preferences based on gender, age, and location as well as demographics such as education, financial, relationship status, interests and behaviors. You can exclude people from your post as well. The list is long for each demographic category, but each is worth investigating to hone your target. Keep in mind that you can boost the same post more than once for the same or different audiences, so experimenting with various audience demographics is worth a try. As you wade through this process, be sure to keep in mind who you want to engage and what you want them to do.
Next, you’ll want to choose Automatic Placements, a recommended option. That way, Facebook can run your boosted post in the best places to optimize your budget. From there, you’ll want to set your duration and budget. Here, we advise you not to spend a lot or run your post for a long duration. It’s best to do several short experiments to find your best niche audience rather than blanket a large number of people. Let the number of people reached per day be your guide.
Before finalizing your boosted post, be sure to preview it to see how it will look on desktop and mobile platforms. This is especially important if you’re using multiple photos or a video, which can be cropped or arranged differently on different platforms.
Finally, you’ll need to set up a Facebook ads account with your credit card or PayPal account information. Once that’s done, you can finalize your boosted post.
Boosting Best Practices
Not every post is ideal for boosting, and not every audience should receive the same message. That’s why it’s important to create and choose your posts with an outcome in mind. The best posts for boosting include high-quality, branded photos or video and a short and direct message. Avoid using company acronyms or industry jargon. Posts that are already performing well or that have gotten numerous shares are often a good bet for boosting, so long as they promote your company in a professional way.
As with any advertising, you need to understand who you are targeting, what your goals are, and why people should care about your message. Check Facebook analytics to find out which posts are effective and which ones need a different approach. Until you dial in your target audience and see the highest levels of engagement, be ready to experiment by posting various times of day, changing up your messaging and testing other variables. Track your progress, and remember that repetition is key to brand recognition, so pitching similar messages to the same audience should produce an increase in engagement.
Facebook is a great place to reach not only your followers, but also potential new customers. With effective planning, tracking, and a minimal budget, you should be able to improve your visibility and brand awareness. If you’re looking for a more robust campaign that will drive sales, a Facebook ad campaign is much better than boosted Facebook posts. StructureM provides clients with a proven strategy for digital marketing that helps contractors increase sales. Contact us today for a consultation.
