Facebook recently reported that ad spending is down on their platform. And while some may see that as a reason not to pursue ads, we see it as an awesome opportunity to get your content in front of more people with less competition! Now is the time to start boosting social media posts and advertising on social platforms to reach a greater audience. Posting effective social ads requires some skill and know-how. Here are tips from our experience about how to build a clearly defined ad audience and place social ads that produce results. This is the first of two posts in a series about Best Practices for Facebook advertising. Tune in via our social or newsletter for part #2 coming in June!
Boosting Social Media Posts
If you are new to Facebook Ads, boosting social media posts is a great way to start and become familiar with the process. Boosting means that you are paying Facebook to show one of the posts on your wall to more people. Boosting an existing post is a simple way to increase your reach and engagement, and target your ideal audience. Whether you are promoting a book, virtual event, fundraiser, or something else, boosting social media posts helps you gain traction by showing your post to more people. Here’s how to make that happen:
1. Create a “Boost-Worthy” Post
A boost-worthy post is relevant to your target audience and their current situation. When you create a post that you intend to boost, think about what your audience wants, needs, and cares about right now. For example, due to current events over the last year or so, people are more interested in supporting brands when they help a cause they care about.
An even easier option is to identify a boost-worthy post by looking at the content you’ve already published and choosing a post with high engagement. If people have already shown interest in the post you boost, the Facebook algorithm recognizes that and pushes your post to even more people.
To boost a post, it must already be published on your social media feed. Once it’s posted, click the blue “Boost” button. This provides you with the opportunity to define your ad audience and set your budget.
Don’t forget to include your desired CTA (Call To Action), as well as the direct link to the webpage you want people to view. Here’s a BIG TIP: better than sending someone to your homepage, choose a specific webpage in your blog or site that provides more information about the post content you are boosting. You want to send the person directly to what you want them to see or do by making this one click.
2. Define Your Audience and Budget
You pick the audience who is going to see the post once you boost it. You can share your boosted post with people who like your page, people who like your page and their friends, or people you choose through targeting by creating a custom audience for this ad. There are lots of options!
When you create your audience, you can define that audience by gender, age, location, and interests. When choosing your target audience, think about who would be most interested in what you offer. For example, if you are promoting an in-person event in California, it would make sense to choose specific locations, such as California, Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona, or maybe even specific cities or zip codes. On the other hand, if you are having a virtual event that isn’t location-specific, you can choose to target the entire United States. Defining interests is also important when creating your ad audience. Choose relevant keywords for your post and target audience.
Once you’ve customized your audience, Facebook will tell you if it is too broad, too specific, or just right. Make any adjustments as needed.
3. Set a Schedule
The last thing to do when boosting a social media post is to set your schedule. Choose how long you want your boosted post ad to run. Facebook always suggests a minimum of five days for the best results, but you can adjust the duration based on your needs and budget. As you grow or shrink your budget, Facebook tells you your potential reach. Many people think that Facebook immediately reaches all the right people, but in reality, it takes Facebook a week or two for their algorithm to measure responses and fine-tune who sees your boosted posts.
Once you feel good about your post boost ad, click “Boost” and you’re good to go!
Developing an Ad in Business Manager
If you want to create an ad without having to first post it on your feed, you can do that in the Business Manager portal on Facebook. In this portal, you can also see what ads or boosted posts are currently running, as well as their results, such as reactions and engagements. We will cover this in our next newsletter.