Which is Better: Facebook Boosted Posts or Facebook Ads?

In Facebook, you have two options to advertise: boosted posts and Facebook ads. At first glance, they might seem similar, but they are very different in nature. The big question is which is more effective: Facebook Boosted Posts or Facebook Ads? Is there even a clear answer to that question? In this blog article, we will answer that and differentiate the two.

Facebook Boosted Posts

In 2014, Facebook posts from pages suffered significant decline in organic reach because the Newsfeeds space became more competitive for marketers. Facebook had to manage this by showing only relevant posts to users instead of showing all the content available. A quick way to get more reach is by “boosting” posts. Facebook Boosted Posts are regular Facebook posts which have been “boosted” by advertisers of the page by investing a certain amount of money to it. 

To boost a post, simply click “Boost Post” under the selected post, set the budget and the target audience, and the duration of your advertisement. Your post will now be shown to the audience you selected and will run for the period you set.

Facebook Ads

Another way to invest your advertising budget on Facebook are Facebook Ads. Facebook ads are advertisements that can appear in different sections inside and outside of the Facebook website. It is more robust in the sense that advertisers can customize its content, audience, budget, and bidding strategies. Individual ads can be part of broader ad campaigns. 

Learn how to Leverage Facebook Ads here.

The Difference

Although both are paid advertisements on Facebook, they are very different in a lot of aspects. First, boosted posts are one-off advertisements while Facebook Ads are robust and continuous campaigns. Boosted posts are individual advertisements, while Facebook Ads can be organised as campaigns with different audiences, budget, and content within it. 

Second, Facebook Ads have several advertising goal options while boosted posts only drive awareness. In Facebook Ads Manager, you can choose your desired advertising goal, whether it be awareness, consideration, or conversion. If you’ve noticed, these three goals are related to your advertising funnel sections. This makes Facebook Ads appealing to advertisers who want to set-up funnel-based campaigns. On the other hand, boosted posts initially drive awareness; what the users will take action after is not certain. Boosted posts mainly increase your post’s reach as well as encourage engagement, but you do not have the option to add a special call-to-action.

Third, they are different on the level of control, with one having advantage over the other. If you’ve guessed, Facebook Ads offer more control over the content, audience, goal, budget and many more. A very important aspect of an advertisement is targetting. Facebook Ads offers a very powerful targeting set-up where you can choose your audience beyond its demographics. You can be as in-depth as targeting mobile users, those in a relationship, those who have purchased something, and many other targeting options; the list is endless! You can also control how your advertisement would appear: as an image ad, a carousel, a video, a slideshow, a lead-generating form, or as a collection of products. These are features you cannot control in boosted posts.

Fourth, boosted posts maximise your page’s engagement. Because boosted posts are designed to drive awareness, it leverages on engagement. It encourages your audience to remain and take action on your page, therefore strengthening your page’s key performance indexes (KPIs). This translates to a stronger brand awareness and authority. So if you want to grow your Facebook following and have strong engagement with your followers, boosted posts are for you.

Fifth, Facebook Ads enable you to retarget. Retargeting is one very powerful way to drive conversions. Because it’s more efficient to market to lapsed customers than to completely new people, retargeting becomes an attractive tool for advertisers who want to easily get conversions. Retargeting also gives the audience the impression that the ads are personalised. Facebook Ads offers many retargeting options. With the power of the Facebook pixel, your ad account can keep track of those who visited your website, add a product to their cart, or purchased. These are the people you want to retarget with your middle and bottom funnel campaigns.

The Bottomline

So which is more effective, Facebook Ads, or boosted posts? Our answer is that it depends on what you want to happen to your advertisement. If you want to drive more brand awareness, then boosted posts are for you. But if you want to bring people to your website or take a different action, then you should go for Facebook Ads. However, we highly recommend that you use them both so you not only build a strong presence on social media; you also encourage people to go to your website and take action; a perfect combo for a successful Facebook advertising strategy. 
Do you need help with managing your paid advertisements on Facebook? Whether it be boosting posts or running a Facebook Ad campaign, we can help you with either. Just BOOK AN APPOINTMENT with us, FREE of charge! A full 30-minute consultation just for you. We’re excited to run a successful campaign for you! We work on no long term contracts & have hundreds of reviews from happy clients you can read through. Pricing currently starts from just $99 a week! Let’s chat.