When it comes to advertising on Facebook, two of the most common options that businesses use are boosted posts and paid ads. Though they serve a similar purpose and seem identical on the surface, there are some deeper-rooted differences between the two. Understanding these differences can help you make more effective decisions for your marketing strategy and generate more results for your campaigns.
In this blog post, we’ll break down the key differences between boosted posts and paid ads on Facebook. Read on to learn about these two important ad types and how you can use them for your business!
What Are Boosted Posts?
Boosted posts are a simple way to increase the reach of an existing post on your Facebook page. Essentially, you’re taking a post that you’ve already created—whether it’s a status update, photo, or video—and paying the social media platform to deliver it to a wider audience. When you boost a post, you’re paying Facebook to prioritize this post ahead of other organically created content. This can help garner large numbers of impressions, lots of reach, and tons of engagement!
Boosted posts are straightforward to set up. The first order of business is to select the post you’d like to boost. Your content should be creative, attractive, and include a clear call to action to drive conversions. After this is done, you can determine the location and general audience for your ad, so it is only served to customers who are relevant to your business.
Next, you’ll determine a budget and a date range for your ad campaign. Based on these metrics, Facebook will estimate the number of views and clicks your ad may generate. Once approved, this ad will run through a billing account that you’ve set up, and voila – your first ad is completed!
What Are Ad Campaigns?
Ad campaigns, sometimes called Facebook ads, are another way to get your content in front of consumers. These campaigns are built through Facebook’s dedicated advertising software, known as Meta Ads Manager. The advertising process is structured into three key components: campaigns, ad sets, and ads. (If you get lost during this section, don’t worry – just skip down to the next part.)
Think of your overall Facebook advertising strategy as a tree. The trunk of your tree is your ad campaign – it’s the most basic level of Facebook advertising, and it’s where you’ll determine some of the most important information about your paid ads.
Looking up the tree, you’ll see individual branches – in this metaphor, the branches are ad sets. Your main campaign branches off into one or more ad sets, which divides your base campaign into different categories. Each of these ad sets can have different goals, target different groups, and serve a unique purpose in an overall campaign.
Each ad set branch on this “tree” buds out into many different leaves. These “leaves” represent the individual ads under each ad set, further dividing up your overall campaign into smaller and more intricate parts. This metaphorical tree represents the way your Meta ads are created and the way they work in tandem to deliver ads to your customers! To launch a campaign using Meta Ads Manager, you’ll need to set up a campaign, create at least one ad set within it, and include at least one ad under that ad set.
So, What’s the Difference Between Boosted Posts and Ad Campaigns?
We’re sure that you noticed just how complicated the ad campaigns are compared to boosted posts, and that’s where most of the big differences here lie. Boosted posts are designed to be simpler and far easier to set up. This gives busy business owners a chance to dip a toe into the world of Facebook ads without a high learning curve.
However, the simplicity of boosted posts comes with trade-offs. Ad campaigns are more complex and require more setup, but this added customization and control can significantly improve your ad performance. Using full-fledged ads instead of simply boosting posts can give you advanced targeting offerings that are otherwise unavailable as well as far greater control over how and where your ad budget is spent.
In short: boosted posts are quick, simple, and easier to get up and running. They’re a great option for new pages and pages with very limited budgets. Ad campaigns are more complex and involve many more variables but are much easier to fine tune for optimal results.
Should My Business Use Boosted Posts or an Ad Campaign?
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for every business! Both boosted posts and ad campaigns have places in a solid ad strategy, but there are some simple guidelines you can follow to determine which might be best for your given situation.
Newly created pages and businesses with tight budgets can benefit the most from boosted campaigns. These campaigns can be great tools to get a new audience to your page quickly and easily with little time investment required.
If you’re looking to run ads long term, however, or on an established page with a dedicated budget, you can’t go wrong with a fully-developed ad campaign. By leveraging advanced targeting techniques and bidding strategies in Ads Manager, you can maximize your campaign’s effectiveness, even if setup requires more time.
In reality, many businesses simply don’t have the time to manage either type of ad effectively. Others run poorly designed campaigns that cost more and deliver disappointing results. To get the most value for your ad budget, it’s often best to trust your social media marketing efforts to a seasoned agency like Baer Performance Marketing!
With years of experience creating and managing successful ad campaigns, our team knows what it takes to drive real results. Learn more about our many marketing services and reach out to us today for a free marketing consultation!
