In the world of marketing, staying ahead of the curve is key to reaching your target audience effectively. As businesses strive to make their presence felt online, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and other Meta-owned properties have become indispensable tools. With constant algorithm changes and dwindling reach, paid ads are seen as a way to regain control, but whether to boost or run a campaign is often confusing, leaving marketers unsure of which approach to take.
Boosted ads have been around for a while, but business owners have often been advised against using them, with warnings that they are a waste of money – but often with little explanation as to why. In this blog, we are going to take a closer look at these two strategies, delving into when and why it makes sense to use them and when to be cautious.
So, let’s start this exploration into the world of boosted ads and ad campaigns together to figure out which one aligns better with your marketing goals.
Boosted ads start their life as posts on your Facebook or Instagram account. You will notice after posting a button that appears encouraging you to “boost.” When this is taken up you now have converted your post into a boosted ad.
It can be hard to know which post to boost, and a trap for many business owners and marketers is Meta’s enticements to boost. You will often see a preview of a post that is performing well, with encouragement to boost. In the pros and cons that follow we’ll share more on why a good post is not always a good ad, and it all really depends on your objectives.
Boosting a post can be worthwhile for the following reasons:
Firstly, it enhances engagement with your audience, effectively generating likes, shares, and comments that breathe life into your content.
Secondly, the process is refreshingly straightforward, guiding you through a user-friendly sequence of steps to effortlessly expand your post’s reach.
Lastly, speed is on your side when you decide to boost a post, as you can initiate this powerful feature within mere minutes of publishing your content.
These advantages collectively make post-boosting an enticing strategy for those looking to maximise their impact and connection with their online community.
One key reason why boosting posts may not be the most effective strategy is that content often lacks a specific objective when created. Boosting tends to default to awareness goals, resulting in more views and likes but often without a clear, tangible outcome.
For instance, when boosting a post, you are promoted to select a goal, like profile visits, website visits, or messages. While profile visits and website visits can be suitable for raising awareness or driving traffic to your site, they may not align well with the post’s content. Messages can work if your content encourages interaction.
To optimise the effectiveness of boosting, it is advisable to create posts with boosting objectives in mind from the start.
Another reason to approach post-boosting cautiously is the limited targeting options. Boosted posts are simplified ads designed for convenience and accessibility. However, this simplicity can lead to overspending over time, as clients often find out they’ve wasted money on ads when they continuously boost posts without more precise targeting options.
An ad campaign is unique. It’s created for a specific project, targeting a defined demographic based on interests and browsing habits.
The Meta Business Suite presents a comprehensive array of advanced targeting options that empower businesses to finely tune their advertising efforts. Within this suite, marketers are afforded the ability to define their target audience with an exceptional level of precision. This precision is made possible through the utilisation of an extensive range of criteria, including detailed demographics, interests, and behavioural insights.
With these tools at their disposal, marketers can curate campaigns that reach the exact individuals they seek to engage with. For instance, they can segment their audience based on age, location, gender, and various other demographics, ensuring that their message resonates with the right people.
Furthermore, the suite enables the creation of custom audience segments. This feature is especially valuable as it allows businesses to tailor their campaigns to specific subsets of their audience, whether it’s a group of previous customers, website visitors, or individuals who have interacted with previous ad campaigns.
Ad campaigns also allow for testing and deep insights, meaning you can create more versions of your ad, or target different audiences, and through optimisation steps use learnings to achieve a more cost-effective result over time.
By providing measurable results, creating ad campaigns can help businesses to optimise their advertising strategy and achieve their marketing goals.
Constructing ad campaigns can prove to be a rather confusing process, characterised by its technical intricacies, encompassing numerous steps that demand a comprehensive understanding to execute an effective campaign.
Furthermore, the ever-evolving nature of the Ads Manager platform adds another layer of complexity, as it regularly undergoes updates and improvements, necessitating a continuous learning curve to stay adept at navigating its features.
This dynamic environment can be time-consuming, as one must invest significant effort in staying up to date with the latest changes and optimising campaigns accordingly. It’s worth noting that this level of dedication might not always yield commensurate results, particularly if your primary goal is to achieve a swift surge in engagement rather than a more sustained marketing effort, making the process potentially less efficient in such cases.
In conclusion, choosing between boosting ads and creating ad campaigns on Meta platforms depends on your goals and resources. Boosted ads are simpler but may lack clear objectives and precise targeting. Ad campaigns offer more control and precision but can be complex and require ongoing learning. Your choice should align with your specific needs and the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
Wise Up Marketing offers one-on-one training and group workshops to assist in this process. Prioritising data-driven insights in your marketing strategies is essential. This overview of boosting posts aims to provide insight and inspire you to explore Ads Manager and broaden your marketing horizons.
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