If you’re a business owner, marketer, or content creator looking to leverage Facebook to boost your reach, it’s tempting to use the straightforward “Boost Post” button on your page. While this might seem like a quick and easy way to promote your content, it’s often an inefficient and costly path that doesn’t deliver the best results. In this guide, we’ll explore why the boost post button may not be the smartest option for your advertising dollars and how to use Facebook’s Ads Manager to run more effective promotions with greater control and better outcomes.
Why the “Boost Post” Button Is Often a Waste of Money
At first glance, the Boost Post feature promises simplicity—click a button, spend some money, and watch your post reach more people. However, this simplicity comes with a significant trade-off:
Limited Objectives to Choose From
One of the most important aspects of running any ad campaign is selecting the right objective. Your objective tells Facebook what you want to accomplish with your ad spend—whether that’s driving website traffic, growing email subscribers, increasing video views, boosting post engagement, or generating direct sales.
When you use the Boost Post button, Facebook automatically sets the objective to “Automatic.” This means Facebook decides what goal it thinks makes the most sense, without your input. Alternatively, you have access to only a very narrow range of objectives, such as “more video views” or “reach people likely to buy.” Here’s the problem: you might want to drive clicks to a YouTube video you shared or collect email signups, but these options simply aren’t available via boosting.
Restricted Audience Targeting Options
Another critical element of successful promotions is targeting the right audience. Boosted Posts offer a handful of suggested audiences but don’t allow you to create custom audiences or lookalike audiences. For example:
- You cannot target people who have engaged with your Facebook or Instagram pages.
- You cannot exclude existing customers.
- You cannot create nuanced audiences based on website visits or previous campaign interactions.
These features are standard in Facebook Ads Manager but are not accessible through the Boost Post interface.
Limited Control Over Placements
Facebook’s advertising network includes placements across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network, such as the Instagram feed, Facebook right column, or Facebook search results.
When boosting a post, placement options are restricted. You may only toggle between broad categories like Facebook or Messenger but cannot handpick specific placements. This lack of control can reduce ad effectiveness and increase wasted spend.
Budgeting and Scheduling Constraints
Boosted Posts require a lifetime budget for a set duration, but you cannot choose a daily budget. This makes pacing your spend less flexible compared to using Ads Manager, where you can optimize spend with daily budgets or advance scheduling.
The Better Alternative: Using Facebook Ads Manager
Luckily, there is a far more powerful and equally straightforward way to promote your Facebook posts—Facebook Ads Manager. With Ads Manager, you get access to full control over your campaigns, including objectives, audiences, budgets, placements, and ad creatives, all in one place.
Step-by-Step Guide to Promote Posts via Ads Manager
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Access Ads Manager:
Go to facebook.com and log into your personal account linked with your Facebook Page. Find “Ads Manager” in the left-side menu (you may need to click “See More” to reveal it). -
Create a New Campaign:
Click on the “Create” button to start a new campaign. Here you will see a complete list of campaign objectives far beyond those available in Boost Post. Choose the objective that aligns with your goals—whether it’s engagement, conversions, website traffic, lead generation, or something else. -
Set Your Audience:
Use the detailed targeting options to create custom or lookalike audiences. Target people based on demographics, interests, behaviors, past engagement, and custom audience data such as website visitors or email lists. -
Select Placements:
Choose automatic placements for Facebook to optimize delivery, or manually select where you want your ads to appear. Target specific areas like Instagram Stories, Facebook feed, Messenger inbox, and more, depending on where your audience spends the most time. -
Budget and Schedule:
Set a daily or lifetime budget that suits your campaign, and decide the start and end dates or run your ad continuously. This flexibility allows you to manage spend more effectively and track performance in real time. -
Choose the Post to Promote:
Instead of creating a new ad from scratch, you can select your existing Facebook post to promote. This means you don’t lose the authenticity of your original content but gain control and optimization benefits from Ads Manager. -
Launch and Monitor:
Once everything is set up, launch your campaign. Monitor your ad’s performance regularly using Ads Manager’s robust analytics tools and tweak targeting, placements, or budgets to improve results over time.
Summary: Why You Should Avoid Boosting and Embrace Ads Manager
- Full Control Over Objectives: Choose exactly what you want to achieve.
- Advanced Audience Targeting: Reach the most relevant people with custom and lookalike audiences.
- Flexible Placements: Place ads where they will perform best.
- Budget Optimization: Use daily budgets and flexible scheduling.
- Effective Use of Existing Posts: Promote your content without having to recreate ads.
By mastering Facebook Ads Manager, you can promote your posts much more effectively than relying on the Boost Post button. It might feel intimidating at first, but the platform is designed to be user-friendly, especially when you follow a clear step-by-step approach.
Ready to take your Facebook promotions to the next level? Start exploring Ads Manager today, and watch your posts reach the right audiences and generate true business results.
For deeper insights, consider exploring tutorials on selecting the right campaign objectives and advanced audience targeting strategies to refine your approach further.
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