When it comes to advertising on Facebook, two terms often come up: Facebook Post Boost and Facebook Ads. While both are effective ways to reach a larger audience on the platform, they serve different purposes and offer unique advantages depending on your marketing goals. If you’re unsure whether to use FB post boost or create FB ads, this article will help clarify the difference between Facebook post boost and ads.
What is Facebook Post Boost?
A Facebook Post Boost is essentially a simplified version of Facebook advertising. It allows you to “boost” an existing post on your business page so that it reaches a larger audience. When you boost a post, Facebook allows you to set a budget, select your audience, and choose how long you want the post to be promoted. The main purpose of a post boost is to increase the visibility of content that you’ve already shared organically.
Example:
Let’s say you’ve just posted a picture announcing a sale at your store, but it’s only reaching your current followers. If you want that post to be seen by a broader audience, you can use the FB post boost feature to extend its reach to people outside your existing followers. You can target specific demographics, interests, or geographic areas to ensure the post reaches potential customers.
What Are Facebook Ads?
Facebook Ads is a more advanced advertising tool that gives businesses greater flexibility and control. Unlike boosting a single post, creating a Facebook ad involves using Facebook’s Ads Manager, where you can design an ad campaign from scratch. You can choose from multiple ad formats, set detailed objectives (like driving traffic to a website or generating leads), and use advanced targeting options.
Example:
If your business is launching a new product and you want to run a marketing campaign to drive sales, you can create a FB ad campaign using Ads Manager. In this campaign, you can run a carousel ad that showcases various products with clickable links to your website or eCommerce store. You can also track the performance of these ads, measure conversions, and adjust your strategy based on real-time data.
Key Differences Between Facebook Post Boost & Facebook Ads
Now that we’ve defined each option, let’s dive into the key differences between FB post boost and FB ads.
1. Ad Objective & Purpose
- Facebook Post Boost: The main objective of boosting a post is to increase the visibility of an existing post and engage more people. You can use this feature when you want to get more likes, shares, comments, or reactions to a specific piece of content. It’s ideal for improving engagement, building brand awareness, or promoting a time-sensitive post.
- Facebook Ads: With FB ads, the objectives are much more diverse. You can choose from objectives like website traffic, conversions, app installs, lead generation, and more. FB ads are more versatile, allowing you to create campaigns designed to meet specific business goals beyond just engagement.
Example:
If you want to promote a blog post and get more reactions, shares, or comments, boosting a post is a simple and effective way to do that. However, if your goal is to drive traffic to the blog on your website or generate sign-ups for a newsletter, creating a Facebook ad with a specific call-to-action (CTA) is the better option.
2. Audience Targeting
- Facebook Post Boost: When you boost a post, the targeting options are more basic. You can target based on location, age, gender, and a few broad interest categories. While this is effective for general targeting, it doesn’t allow for in-depth segmentation of audiences.
- Facebook Ads: Facebook Ads Manager gives you much more control over audience targeting. You can create custom audiences based on website visitors, email lists, or even people who have interacted with your page in specific ways. You can also use Lookalike Audiences to find new people who are similar to your existing customers. Ads Manager allows for granular targeting based on behaviors, demographics, and even interests within niche markets.
Example:
For a local restaurant promoting a new dish, boosting a post to reach people in your city may be sufficient. However, if you’re an eCommerce store targeting customers who have abandoned their carts, you’ll need the advanced targeting that Facebook Ads provides, using retargeting ads to encourage those users to complete their purchase.
3. Ad Format
- Facebook Post Boost: Boosting a post only allows you to promote an existing post that you’ve already shared on your page. This post can be a text update, photo, video, or link. The format options are limited because you’re promoting content that already exists on your timeline.
- Facebook Ads: With FB ads, you have a wide variety of ad formats to choose from. In addition to regular posts, you can create carousel ads, slideshow ads, video ads, and more. You can also add more interactive elements like call-to-action buttons (e.g., “Shop Now”, “Learn More”) and lead forms.
Example:
If you want to boost a video post about a product, the FB post boost is a simple solution. However, if you want to showcase multiple products in a carousel format or add a specific “Buy Now” button, creating a Facebook ad is the better choice.
4. Ad Placement
- Facebook Post Boost: Boosted posts can appear in the Facebook News Feed, Instagram Feed, or Messenger. However, the placement options are fairly limited, and you don’t get full control over where your ad appears.
- Facebook Ads: In Ads Manager, you can choose where your ad will be placed. You have options like Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories, Messenger, Audience Network, and even specific placements like mobile or desktop feeds. This level of customization allows you to optimize your ads for the platforms that work best for your audience.
Example:
If you want your ad to be shown across Facebook and Instagram Stories, you’ll need to create a campaign in Facebook Ads Manager. Boosting a post doesn’t give you the same flexibility when it comes to ad placement.
5. Budget & Reporting
- Facebook Post Boost: Boosted posts allow you to set a basic budget and choose how long you want the post to be promoted. However, the reporting options are limited to simple metrics like reach, impressions, and post engagement.
- Facebook Ads: When you create an ad through Ads Manager, you have complete control over the budget, whether you want to set a daily budget or a lifetime budget for your campaign. You also get access to more detailed reporting metrics like cost per click (CPC), cost per thousand impressions (CPM), conversion tracking, and return on ad spend (ROAS). This helps you make informed decisions about optimizing your campaign.
Example:
If you’re running a small promotion and just want more people to see your post, a boosted post with a $10 budget might suffice. However, if you’re running an eCommerce campaign, you’ll want the detailed insights and conversion tracking that Facebook Ads provides to measure your ROI.
Conclusion
In summary, the main difference between Facebook post boost and ads lies in the complexity, customization, and objectives. FB post boost is an easy-to-use tool for promoting existing content to a wider audience and increasing engagement. It’s simple, quick, and effective for general brand awareness or promoting specific posts. On the other hand, FB ads offer more flexibility, allowing you to set specific marketing objectives, target niche audiences, and use a variety of ad formats across multiple platforms.
If your goal is simply to get more eyes on a post and increase interaction, boosting the post might be all you need. However, if you’re looking to run targeted campaigns with specific objectives—such as driving website traffic, collecting leads, or increasing sales—then Facebook Ads will give you more control and better results.