We often get questions from our clients on Facebook boosted posts and Facebook ads; what’s the difference and when should I use one or the other? The answer to this question isn’t always an easy one. It really depends on what your goals are for advertising and what audiences you want to reach.
Let’s start with boosted posts.
Boosted Posts
A boosted post is the most basic advertising you can do on Facebook. They are created by allocating a budget to a post already on your Facebook Page in order to get more reach.
Boosting the post allows you to ensure a much larger audience of your choice sees the post in their news feed. Boosted posts are typically used when the goal is to achieve audience engagement such as post Likes, shares and comments.
However, if you’re looking for a more customised promotion option, this is where Facebook ads might work better for you.
Facebook ads
Facebook ads are a more advanced way to advertise on Facebook. Facebook ads allow you to target your content to a much more defined audience in various areas throughout Facebook’s network. When you stop running a Facebook ad, it ceases to exist – unlike a boosted post, which will remain on your Facebook Page.
How do I get access to Facebook ads?
TIP: Follow these steps on a desktop device, as opposed to a mobile device – it will be much easier to follow.
The first thing you’ll need is a Facebook Ad Account. Visit facebook.com/ads/manager and you’ll be guided through the steps for how to set up your Ad Account.
If you’re using Facebook Business Manager, simply navigate to the Ad Account option in your Business Manager Dashboard, click on ‘Add New Ad Accounts’, and click ‘Create a New Ad Account’ (see below).
You’ll be asked for either a credit card or a PayPal account in order to start running your ads, but don’t stress, you won’t get charged anything until you start running your ads – just the same as boosting posts.
How do I create my Facebook ads?
Once you’ve setup your Facebook Ad Account, you can create an ad right from within your Facebook Page, if logged in, by clicking on ‘Create Ads’ just underneath your profile image, or navigate to your Facebook Ad Account and click on ‘Create Ad’ (see below for both options).
Via your Facebook Page:
Via your Facebook Ads Manager dashboard:
On this next video, we’re going to walk you through the steps of creating a Facebook Ad and how to target people more effectively with your marketing messages. But feel free to skip ahead and start experimenting with Facebook ads.
