Should You Pay to Promote that Post?
We’ve talked in the past about the difference between organic reach and paid reach. But how do you know when it is an appropriate time to promote or boost a post?
Whether you’re posting to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, you’ll have the option of boosting or promoting, but what that means will differ slightly from platform to platform. And while it is valuable to boost or promote a post in certain circumstances, it could end up being a waste of money if it’s not the right time. Additionally, it can be discouraging to pay for a boosted post only to miss out on the exposure you were expecting you would get.
Why pay to boost a post?
Social media platforms are free — it doesn’t cost anything to post and get your message out there in front of your followers. Why would you pay money for something that’s free?
Well, because reaching people is harder than it’s been in the past. And it’s likely going to keep getting harder. Social media companies are aware that brands are using their platforms to push for-profit endeavors. And they know that everyday users aren’t on social media to be bombarded with business content — they want entertainment and enjoyment.
While nobody knows exactly how the algorithms work for these social media platforms, it’s clear that priority is going to users’ friends and family members. Content from pages is getting buried. So in order to compete, brands have to pay to have their content shown up in more feeds.
Got it. So is that the same as paying for an ad?
Nope. The Facebook Ads Manager is a completely different beast. Graphics and copy for Facebook Ads are uploaded through the ads manager and have both more creative freedom and specific targeting capabilities. When you’re boosting a post, you are simply paying a small fee to increase the reach of a regular post — in other words, you’re paying for it to show up in a guaranteed number of feeds.
Is every post worth boosting?
Absolutely not. Far from it. Just because you’re paying to boost doesn’t mean you’re going to get the results you want. And even if you want a post to get out there in front of thousands (or even tens of thousands) of social media users, they might not pay any attention to the post if it just isn’t interesting.
That’s why it’s usually a smart idea to post an already high-performing post — something that your followers have been reacting favorably toward with likes and comments. You know the type of post — something that already has a fairly successful organic reach. This is an indication that this post appeals to people, and while it might seem counterintuitive to pay to push something that’s already doing well, the increased exposure for your post might be exactly what it needs to go from fairly successful to viral. If the paid boost puts it in front of 1,000 users and they engage with it, your post will show up in even more feeds after that.
Who sees my boosted post?
When you pay to boost your post, you’ll be able to choose how long the boost will last and how many people you hope to reach. While it might sound like a great idea to expose it to a big, broad audience, consider narrowing your exposure as much as possible. It’s better that 1,000 people who are really interested see your post than 500,000 people who aren’t interested in it at all. You’ll be able to select the demographics of people who see your post, including age, gender, location, and interests.
The same concept goes for the duration of your boost — it might seem like a great idea to boost your post for a long period of time, but after several days, you’ll likely notice that interest in your post is waning. For this reason, it’s not always a great idea to boost something for any longer than a week.
What can I expect once I boost my post?
You’ll probably see some engagement from people who don’t typically engage with your posts. Organic reach will often hit the same people — those who are active followers and always like or comment on your posts. But once a post is boosted, it’s going to go to people who wouldn’t normally see your content. And assuming your content is good, they’ll be inclined to engage. You will also likely get additional followers who were not even aware of your brand’s presence on social media. Boosting a post is a great way to grow a following.
Don’t pay to boost a post and then stop paying attention to it. Take care to watch what comments are coming in so you can monitor them, and take a hard look at the analytics afterward to determine whether your boost reached the people you hoped it would and whether they took actions such as visiting your profile or clicking on your website.
My post wasn’t successful. What should I do?
That’s okay! Don’t be afraid to experiment — a post that fizzled out when boosted on Facebook might do really well on Instagram. Take a different tone next time to see whether your response is better. For example, maybe your Facebook followers like seeing videos a lot more than they like seeing website links. On the other hand, they could be overwhelmed by video and much prefer seeing plain text. You can also try targeting different demographics and interests with the next post you boost.
And don’t forget that if you want more creative options when it comes to your paid content on Facebook, you can always consider running ads — but that’s a topic for another time!