Apr
21

The What and How of Facebook Boosted Post

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Facebook offers a number of methods to promote content, whether they are posts, videos, graphics and/or offers. The simplest is the Facebook boosted post, next is a simple ad in the ads manager.  However Facebook provides many options for us to run ads and they can get very complicated.

If you have not done any promotion on Facebook a boosted post is a good place to start, it is the simplest and most common.  Unfortunately as Facebook continues with all the algorithm changes there is definitely an even greater decline in organic reach which increases the need for paid reach increases.

What is a Boosted Post?

A boosted post is a method to get your post in front of more people by paying money to Facebook. You can boost just about any post on your Facebook Page, there will be times when Facebook will not offer the option, but it’s not often.  Basically you use a post that already exists on your Facebook Page and you give it a boost! (Help or encourage (something) to increase or improve.)  In our specific case it is an existing post on our Facebook Page. Remember you cannot boost a post from your personal profile, it must be from your Facebook Business Page.

Why Would you Use Facebook Boosted Post

The main reasons you want to boost a post are;

  • Reach – Organic reach will simply not reach as many people as paid, a hard fact from Facebook.  If you wish to expand your reach out to those who already like your page, friends of those who already like your page or similar audiences this is a great way to make that happen.
  • Visibility – Once a post is boosted it will appear higher up in the newsfeed of your selected audience. You definitely want people to see all the hard work you went through to create a great post! A boosted post is definitely more visible.
  • Engagement – It goes without saying, if you reach lots more people you’ll get more engagement. (Provided the selected post is a good one, more on that later) As your posts gets more likes, comments and shares Facebook will reward you by displaying your boosted post at a lesser cost.  This means you will reach more people for the same budget.

When to Boost a Post;

I find it best to boost posts that have already caught the attention of a few people, the posts that already have a number (even small #’s) of likes, shares or comments.  Where possible boost at the time of day when you know your audience is likely to be on Facebook. Expert advice ranges from boosting only once per week to a couple of times per day.  You will need to decide what is best for your audience. If you have a large number of fans on your page, 10k-100k, go ahead and post once a day or more. If your Facebook page has less than 1k experiment starting with 2 – 3 per week.

What to Boost –

Be sure to have a goal in mind for your boosted post.  Do you want people to stay on your Facebook Page? Would you rather they headed over to your blog to read some of your great content?  Perhaps you want to gather their name and email address. Perhaps you want to send them to an offer, one of your own or an affiliate offer.  Each one of these requires a little different set up.

  • Helpful information is a great way to encourage people to connect and engage.
  • Pick your post with care to ensure it matches with your goal.
  • The image you select is critical.  People scroll through their Facebook Newsfeed quite quickly; therefore you want to have an eye catching image.  An image that makes people stop and take a look. One word of advice, avoid the Facebook blue color, it blends in too much.  People scroll past that color more often than not.

Facebook offers 4 different types of post.

  • Increasing brand awareness – The goal is to have people remember you and return. Facebook will show your post to people who are like products, services and brands similar to your own.  Plus you can control the frequency and to ensure you don’t hit the same people over and over again all in the same week.
  • Increasing brand engagement (Shares, Comments, Likes)
  • Boosting website traffic – this means you are actually sending traffic out of Facebook over to another website
  • Promoting new content or blog posts – We do this on a consistent basis, it really helps to get the word out about all my my new content. (HINT: you can schedule that same content to be posted on a regular basis!)

Select your boosted post with care;

When deciding which post to boost ask yourself the following questions:

  • Is it helpful?
  • Does the image make people stop and look?
  • Will the image stand out in the news-feed?
  • Is there a call to action?  You need to tell people what you want them to do.
  • Does your post text get your point across quickly and clearly?

How to Create a Facebook Boosted Post

  1. #1 Click on the “Boost Post” button
  2. Select the results you want from this boost, click on the circle on the right to select.
  3. Select the audience you wish to target by clicking on the “edit” button.  Make your selections, this time click on the round button on the left.
  4. Add your budget.  I like to start with $3.00 and depending on the expected outcome I may do a bit more, but to start I never go over $10.00.  For a boosted post I like it to run for one to three days
  5. Review all you have entered, if everything looks good go ahead and click that “Boost” button on the bottom right!  Good Luck!

 

Would you love to be boosting posts from your Facebook Business Page, but don’t have one set up yet?  Here’s a great resource to help you set it up right.  Check it out!

Categories : Facebook

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