Facebook Ads vs. Boosted Posts: What’s the Difference?

On-page search engine optimization is a key factor in getting your website to appear on the first page of search results. But it’s more than just dropping keywords into your site. It’s about framing the keywords for the user experience and for search engines.

Let’s Break Down How Facebook Ads and Boosted Posts are Different

Facebook is increasingly becoming a pay-to-play enterprise for businesses. While making regular posts is still an essential part of business, Facebook’s algorithms prioritize people over brands. That’s where Ads and Boosted Posts come in. Both Facebook Ads and Boosted Posts are forms of paid advertising on Facebook-they enable your brand to bypass the News Feed algorithms and secure visibility among audiences you can’t possibly have reached organically. 

Boosted Posts

Boosted posts essentially are organic posts you have made to your business page timeline. You have an option to “boost” the engagement that post will have by putting some money behind it. When you chose this option, you can add some simple targeting such as location radius and special interests. This post will then be served up higher in the News Feed of your business page followers and other people as you’ve defined. Typically boosted posts are best for brand awareness, keeping your brand top of mind when someone needs your product or services.

Boosted Posts are best used for: 

• Increasing engagement on posts already seeing good engagement
• Increasing brand awareness
• Promoting events posted on your page

Pro: It’s super quick and easy and keeps your brand in front of your target audience.

Cons: You are limited to News Feed placement, and get very little details about the post’s performance.

Facebook Ads

Facebook ads are created in the Facebook Business Ads Manager, do not appear on your business page timeline, and are meant to be part of a larger campaign strategy with a clear objective and conversion actions. When creating ads, Facebook walks you through three detailed steps for each ad which aid you in outlining your ad structure.

Facebook Ads are best used when:

• You have a specific objective for your campaign
• You want detailed targeting capabilities
• You need more creative control over your ads and/or want to use different ad types
• You want your ad to appear on Instagram and/or the Audience Network
• You want detailed information about how people are interacting with your ads
• You have time to consistently monitor and tweak your ads based on performance

Pros: You can create very elaborate campaigns to deliver tailored messages to your target audience with deep analytics to measure success. The ability to remarket in Facebook ads is also a HUGE benefit to serve ads to people who you know have already shown interest in your business or product.

Cons: It takes time and skill creating a successful Facebook ad campaign with the ever-changing landscape of Facebook ads targeting and placements, deciphering the analytics, and adjusting the campaign throughout the duration.

The Bottom Line

Both Boosted Posts and Facebook Ads campaigns have their place in building business and revenue for a company, and we regularly use both strategies for our clients. But it’s essential to establish your goals and develop a long-term strategy before deciding how to invest in social media marketing, or you might end up with a lot of wasted ad spend. 

Don’t Get in Over Your Head

Need help determining which is best for your business? Get in touch with our digital marketing team. We’ll help steer you in the right direction!