If you’re a small business owner with a Facebook Page, then you’ve probably seen that little “promote” or “boost” button on your posts. You’ve probably been tempted to click that button, but aren’t exactly sure how it works or if it’s worth your money.
If you’re unsure where to start, here’s our comprehensive pros and cons list on Facebook Boosting to help you make the best decision for your business.
Pros to Facebook Boosting
They can help your posts perform better.
Unfortunately, organic facebook posts don’t perform as well as they used to. Facebook’s current algorithm only allows less than 10 percent of your followers to see the posts your publish. To put so much work and thought into your posts and only have a handful of people see them is such a bummer!
With the Facebook Boost feature, you can be sure that your business’s posts have more reach and are more effective. By boosting the posts, you can place them higher on your followers’ timelines, so you have more of a chance of having your content seen. This will increase your engagement and help your posts succeed.
They can make it easier for you to reach your audience.
In the past, Facebook boosts had limiting target audience preferences. You only had so much control over who was going to see your content. But not anymore! In the recent past, Facebook expanded the target audience features. You can now target your current followers and friends.
Alongside targeting your followers, you can be more exclusive with the behaviors, demographics and geography of your ideal consumer. This helps to get your posts out to the people who want to see them!
They’re easy to make.
If you’re a small business owner, chances are you don’t have the time to learn how to use a fancy Business Manager ad platform. However, boosting your posts is obviously very important to you. That’s where Facebook Boosts come into play.
Boosts allow you to promote content that you’ve already posted to your Facebook page by simply clicking a button. All of the payment and targeting options are on the same page, and you’re able to see post performance info even after the promotion is done. It doesn’t get much more user friendly than that!
Cons to Facebook Boosting
There’s limited targeting options.
When browsing around the Facebook Boost platform, you’ll see three targeting options that include: People who like your Page (aka all your followers), people who like your Page and their friends, and people you can choose through targeting.
Although you have the ability to choose specific interests, the targeting options on the third choice are extremely limited. For example, you can’t use detailed targeting to reach people who are interested in both Item A and Item B. You also can’t include or excude any of your Page followers. So, even though Facebook Boost leads you to believe you have extensive targeting options, you really don’t.
You have no control over ad placements.
When you use Facebook Boosts, you don’t have the option of choosing where you want the ads to be placed. The default option is both Desktop and Mobile News Feeds. This sounds great in theory, but could have some major downfalls in the long run.
Here’s why: Facebook automates a lot for you in boosts. Their algorithms will usually try to accomplish your ad objective in the cheapest way possible, even if it might bring worse overall campaign results.
For example, Facebook boost tends to automatically use the majority of your budget on mobile news feeds because it’s the cheapest. However, a majority of your leads could be waiting on Desktop News Feeds, and boosts don’t give you the option to pick just one.
They require marketing expertise.
You can’t just punch in any demographics into a Facebook Boost ad and expect it to perform well. Many people pour money into Facebook Boosts only to see them flop, or not get the results they were expecting.
There are hundreds of reasons that these ads could go wrong, including: poor ad images, subpar ad copy, no call-to-actions, etc. These are all necessary components of a successful Facebook advertisement. The average small business owner probably doesn’t know how to do these, however, an expert digital marketer does.
The final verdict:
Yes, the Facebook Boost feature can help small businesses easily create ads to promote their posts to a larger audience. However, it comes with a lot of target audience limitations and a marketing learning curve. It would be a shame to pour so much money into a marketing tool, that doesn’t get you the maximum results you deserve!
Luckily, at Tintero Creative, there’s a team of experts who can help you create effective Facebook Ads, that get you the results you want. Contact us today, to learn more about these services.