Should You Boost Content on Facebook?
Tips for small businesses to give Facebook content a boost and reach more customers
As a small business owner, there are a variety of approaches you can take to attract new customers. Using social media to spread organic word-of-mouth is an important tool to drive brand awareness and get new customers in the door — and paid media has become more and more of a lever for small businesses to increase their exposure and get new customers. In addition to having a compelling organic content strategy, you can take an extra step by boosting content on Facebook to get your message in front of the right audience.
What do we mean by “boosting content”?
Boosted posts are a way to reach new people who are likely interested in your business but aren’t currently your fans on Facebook. When you boost a Facebook post, you have the potential to reach more people and entice current fans and potential new customers to visit your business.
When you create posts on your Facebook business Page, there’s a blue “Boost Post” button that pops up on the right hand side on some posts after you hit publish. You can choose to boost a post, or in other words, turn organic content into paid content, by hitting that button to reach both a wide and targeted audience and attract new customers. Note: This is different than creating a Facebook Ad. When you hit that “Boost Post” button, you’ll see options for putting money behind a post to reach a targeted audience at a specified time.
“Boosting a post may help you get more people to like, share and comment on the posts you create. Boosted posts are also a way to reach new people who are likely interested in your content but don’t currently follow you on Facebook. Your boosted post can include a call-to-action button so that you can drive people to take other actions you care about, like booking an appointment, signing up for a newsletter, getting in touch with your business and more.” — Facebook
Before you boost a post on Facebook, check out these tips to ensure you’re setting yourself up for success:
Get your Facebook page and posting strategy in order
First, it’s essential that you build up your presence on Facebook before boosting any content in order to get the most for your money. Consider the following questions:
- Are you posting regularly on your Facebook page?
- Is that content getting engagement?
- Are the majority of your followers liking, sharing, and commenting on your posts?
- Are you doing anything to increase your number of followers?
The answer to all of these questions should be, “yes,” before you begin boosting content. This is true because when you boost content, your post will reach people who don’t currently like or follow your page. Once they see your boosted content, they might navigate to your page to take a look at your other content. If these new visitors come to your page, you’ll want to make sure it’s telling your story and that it has other great content they can take a look at once they land there. That way, they’ll be able understand what you business is all about — and they’ll be more likely to give your business a visit.
Choose the post you will boost wisely
Next, think about high-quality content you’d like to feature. Typically, a good post to put some money behind is for an event, special, discount, or promotion. You’ll need a great photo, video, or graphic to use for this post in order to engage customers — any image you use for Facebook will need to be less than 20% text. If you need to explain more about the promotion in addition to the image, include that information within the copy of the post.
Pro Tip: Before you boost, publish your post on Facebook and give it some time to get some organic reach and engagement. Boosted posts tend to perform better if they have garnered organic engagement first.
Set goals for the results you want
It’s important before you boost a post to understand who you’re trying to reach and why. Are you putting money behind this post to bring more customers into your business? Is this a campaign for brand awareness? Are you looking to gain more followers? Once you nail down what you’re trying to achieve with the campaign, that will help inform your copy, the audience you’re trying to target, and how long you want to run the campaign.
Target to your ideal audience
The next step is to get it in front of the right audience — as many of your ideal customers as possible. Boosting a post will ensure that your post reaches potential customers outside of your current network (who don’t currently follow you) and more of the right people in your community to bring them in your door, so think about who exactly you’re trying to reach.
- Are you a hotel in Washington, D.C. looking to attract customers outside of the beltway area? Then, you can target your boosted post away from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, specifically.
- Are you a restaurant in Houston specifically trying to reach Houston residents? You can do that, too!
“You can define a new audience based on things like location, interests and more. You can also create a custom audience based on contacts you already have or a lookalike audience based on people who’ve already shown interest in your business Page.” — Facebook
Plus, targeting the post effectively will maximize the number of impressions you’ll get — some people will see the content again and again, keeping your business top-of-mind with consumers who are likely to spend money with your business.
Don’t overdo it
Don’t inundate your audience — neither those inside nor outside your network want to be overwhelmed with promotional content. You’ll reach new audiences and engage your followers by posting high-quality, varied organic content. Use boosted posts to give that extra push to get quality posts in front of a wider audience and to get more eyes on your brand. Even 1–2 boosted posts a month can create successful results.
Track results
To review the performance of your boosted post, go to your Business page on Facebook, navigate to the Facebook Insights tab, then select “Promotions” on the left-hand side. Here, you can see the extent of the reach of your post, any meaningful actions (link clicks, video views) on the part of potential new fans and customers, and money spent. With these insights, you can strategize — analyzing what worked and what didn’t to go confidently into your next campaign.
