Boosted Facebook posts, the added benefits for your business
By HGB , Aug 21 2017
Social media channels have become a shop front for many successful businesses. Rather than door knocking, customers first visit you online, via your website or Facebook page. You advertise in your shop front window, so why not used boosted Facebook posts?
Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn… the range of social media channels available these days almost outnumbers the range of TV channels we have to choose from. Almost, but not quite!
Which is fortunate, because it requires time and effort – as well as a bit of thinking outside the box – to get your social media channels working properly.
Add to that the speed at which these social channels change and the features which are constantly introduced to them, and it’s a full-time job keeping up with them.
However, the best advice for businesses is rather than get overwhelmed by all the channels out there, focus on the select few where your customers are. For the majority of these businesses, that will be Facebook.
Regularly posting to your Facebook channel is a great way to interact with your customers and, perhaps most importantly, your prospective customers. Your Facebook page is an inside look into your business, your company culture, your products and services on offer, and what makes you different.
But changes to Facebook over the years has meant regular posts don’t always reach your desired audience. Boosted Facebook posts on the other hand can.
What are boosted Facebook posts?
A boosted Facebook post is a post you pay to “boost” out to a select audience of your choosing. It could be for a competition you’re running, a new product or service you’re offering, a big announcement or simply a community notice in a bid to drive people to your website.
It looks much like a normal Facebook post – well written content, a clear call to action, and an enticing image or video.
The difference is that behind the scenes you can boost this post to an audience of certain demographics, locations, ages and interests.
You do need to pay for the privilege of boosting this post but you’re in control of the budget you want to spend. It may be $20 over 7 days or $120 over 14 days – the choice is yours.
What are the benefits?
The benefits of boosting a Facebook post is that you can directly target your desired audience. If you’re a Hamilton business wanting to target potential customers in New Plymouth for example, you can select an audience living and working in Taranaki. If you just want to widen your reach within the Waikato, you could choose an audience living and working in Cambridge.
Boosting a Facebook post puts you in control and lets you choose the audience you wish to see the post.
What are the best posts to boost?
A Facebook post showing your Friday morning coffee round may give your followers an insight into your company culture but it’s not the ideal post to boost. Rather, you’d be better of boosting posts such as:
- When you’re hiring and looking for a new staff member to join your team
- When you’re holding a competition
- When you’re offering a new product or service
The best boosted posts have a strong call to action on them. You want people to visit your website, download a job description, enter a competition, or buy that new product or service.
What does a boosted Facebook post need?
So, what are the essential elements of a successful boosted Facebook post?
- An eye-catching headline
- Well written and interesting copy
- A clear call to action
- An attractive image or intriguing video
Plan your boosted Facebook post just like you would any other marketing or advertising campaign. Have a clear purpose for doing so. Identify what you want to achieve, how you want to achieve it, who you’re targeting and what metrics you will use to measure your success.
Boosted Facebook posts do have their benefits – they just have to have the essential ingredients behind them.