With a business Facebook page there is a lot of different information out there about what you should be doing, how you should be doing it and what will help with the increasing of interaction on your page. It doesn’t matter if your page is a new page or one that has been around for a while, you will continue to hear new and ‘improved’ ways to increase the presence of your page.
Facebook Post Boosting
One that you are more than likely to have heard about is boosting your page and posts. Facebook themselves are forever sending notifications to you about your business page saying that ‘people are boosting posts similar to yours’ and ‘here is a credit to boost your post’ Boosting of posts is being pushed and you have probably been in a situation where you have boosted a post or two on your page. How did it work for you? Chances are you did not receive the resulted that you wanted. Boosting posts can become costly and with very little return.
There is very limited access and ability when it comes to boosting a Facebook post. It is unlike the Facebook ad manager where you can go in and select the perimeters for your posts and who see’s them. Unfortunately the boosting of a post does not always work how it is meant to which means you are not getting your monies worth.
Facebook optimizes your post based on the objectives that you choose. If you create an add campaign you are able to select whether you would like to attract website clicks or conversions. If you simply boost a post, Facebook will focus on only post likes. You may see that you have a lot of ‘likes’ on your post but the number of likes does not end up reflecting any new followers on your page, clicks through to your website or conversions in sales.
Choosing who sees your post
Boosting a Facebook post also limits you to the type of people that can see your post. You can select either those who already like your page, people who like your page and their friends, or those that you choose through limited targeting. This sounds good right?
Choosing people that already like your page means that your paying money to show your posts to people who are already likely to see them. If your posts are not engaging enough for your followers to like them when they aren’t boosted chances are that boosting will not make much difference.
The same principle applies for when you choose for your followers and their friends to like your page. When boosting a post to followers and their friends, yes your post has the ability to be seen by a lot of people but because you have not been able to target a certain group or market then chances are that those who are seeing your post may not be interested in it at all and will not take any action on it.
When you choose the option of limiting the target market it is still very limited, you can choose people based on their interests but that is about it. You can not narrow it down to different behaviours or add in multiple interest types.
Where your boosted posts are seen
You also can not choose where your boosted posts are advertised. You can select the countries in which you want it to be seen but at the end of the day Facebook decide when and where the posts are seen. They could choose the cheaper areas to show the post, effectively making it look like your post has been successful. They can do this with each of the perimeters that you choose.
What to do?
So the next question is, if you are not suppose to boost a post – what should you do?
Firstly stop boosting posts!
You can create a much more effective advertisement through the Facebook Ads Manager and use the options to select a much more detailed audience to see your ad, choose what you want them to see and where you want them to click through to. It may take a little bit more time to put together – but the results will be a lot better and you will be able to see where your money is going to.
Having an advertising budget for your business is a great thing, use it wisely and effectively moving forward.
If you need help with your Facebook Ads strategy and actions, contact us now kristy@justsocialmedia.com.au