If you have ever managed a Business Page on Facebook, you will have no doubt seen the “Boost” post feature. The blue button at the bottom right corner of every post… Yes! That one.
Think about those times when you’ve written the best Facebook post of your life — feels perfect! It’s valuable, on-brand, perhaps informative; that perfect mix between aspirational and commercial encapturing all those emotional triggers of your target audience.
Then you post it. You wait. And…..
Crickets…
Nothing happens. Little to no likes, a few comments and overall disappointing results.
In 2020, it is imperative for you and your business to have a Facebook engagement to drive business, especially after the global COVID pandemic which saw well-established business being forced to shut!
It is highly likely that you find yourself salivating over that blue “Boost Post” button on your Facebook dashboard. And we don’t blame you!
Facebook ads and algorithms are dense and very little-mastered. It’s a world of the perceived dark web, constantly changing guidelines, and bad UX design. And you think the guys running the Facebook show don’t know that? They sure do!
A boosted post is a super quick and easy approach to promoting your post or offer, or to get your message in front of more users. Although these sound like great reasons to go in on the boost some more considerations need to be made.
“It has always worked for me”, I hear you say as you consider reading no further — add to “I can’t stop, my business relies on it.”
There’s absolutely NO denying that boosting a post can seem and feel like a winner, especially if you get a giant surge of likes, comments & shares.
However, before you consider hitting your next boost post; ask yourself these very simple questions:
If you can’t address those questions, we have a problem! How can you differentiate between traffic that visited your site from Facebook organically and traffic which only came from the paid promotion?
And if you can’t make this differentiation, how do you know if the boost was successfully effective and what the ROAS (Return on Ad spend) was?
Quite simply, you probably can’t!
This problem is twofold:
So let’s cut straight to the crunch…
We spoke to Co-Founder Sid Pierucci and these are the three major reasons why pressing that ‘BOOST’ button is a No-No at Defiant Digital.
1. There’s No Way to Split-Test Your Campaign
You’ve jeopardized all possibilities of improving your campaign over time… which is pretty disheartening, isn’t it?
Well, you simply have no real data. If your boosted post is a bust, you have no real analytics to assess and learn from. Most likely, you’ll keep making the same mistakes over and over again, and you might not ever become aware of what those mistakes actually are.
2. The Audience Targeting Options Are Very Limited
On Facebook ads, manager, audience targeting (found at the ad-set level) is arguably the most important part of your Facebook ad campaigns. Even with the best copywriting and creative, if you don’t present your ad to people who don’t necessarily resonate with it, you’re missing an opportunity to deliver your message to an audience who has a higher chance of converting into fans and paying customers.
3. It Diverts Your Attention From Your Marketing Goals
Is there a reason why you want more people to see your Facebook post? What is the marketing goal you trying to accomplish?
The Facebook boosted post dashboard makes it seem like your campaign can achieve several different goals. I mean, after all, it prompts you to select a call to action for your post right? — Learn More, Shop Now, Subscribe, etc. Surely these buttons are the way to optimize your campaign, right?
No! Not at all! Not even a tiny bit!
The boosted post feature doesn’t isn’t designed to let you optimise for specific marketing goals. Boosted posts are only optimised for engagement They’ll get you likes, comments, and shares. And that’s an OK marketing
goal sometimes…
But is that your goal?
In 2020, with the competitiveness of businesses and brands commencing to throw the big bucks into the Facebook platform post COVID19, it’s time for smaller businesses to make every $1 work like $10.
And what’s the quickest way to do that, you may ask…
Well, begin by refraining from boosting your posts.
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