Let’s talk about Facebook. More specifically, the option on Facebook to “boost” your business’s post. The little blue button is always calling your name to give it a push, so you can magically gain new shares, likes, and comments. I’m here to tell you, HALT! Before you go pushing that button and putting money toward your social media marketing, make sure you have all your bases covered with this easy Facebook boost checklist.
Before we start our checklist, let’s discuss exactly what is the Facebook post boost and what it does.
Boosted posts from your Facebook page can be status updates, photos, videos, and offers. The boosted term means that it will appear higher and more frequently in your followers’ (or your chosen target audience’s) Facebook News Feed, so more people will likely see your ‘Sponsored’ post. Facebook has also teamed up with Instagram, so boosted posts may also appear on their platform as well.
If you’re wondering if people can still see your posts even if you don’t boost them, the answer is yes. Straight from the horse’s mouth (Facebook’s website) it says, “Boosting your post simply increases the likelihood that your audience will see your post in their News Feeds.” The keyword in this sentence is likelihood and is also the reason you should use this checklist before you boost.
- What are your goals for your business’s Facebook page?
Are you looking to engage with your current fans and promote brand awareness or drive new traffic to your website? Questions like these need to be addressed, so you can use the proper tools on Facebook. You need to figure out who you want to reach and what action you want them to take.
For example, if you were wanting to push a post to just your followers for engagement, your best option would be an audience of ‘people you choose through targeting’ and selecting your ‘community’ – not just people who like your page and their friends. If you were to choose followers and their friends, you could potentially be wasting your dollars on an uninterested audience.
If you were wanting to increase traffic on your website, I still recommend using the ‘people you choose through targeting’ option. This option lets you select what audience you want to reach with many targeting variables, such as location, age, gender, and many different interests.
- How much money are you wanting to spend on Facebook boosting?
Make sure you have a set budget on what you are going to spend on Facebook boosting. Otherwise, it’s easy to continue to push the little blue boosting button without seeing any real results from the people you want to reach.
Things to Keep in Mind Regarding Your Budget:
- You can spread your budget out over a maximum of seven days.
- It’s unnecessary (and expensive!) to boost every single thing your business posts. Remember, to first let your posts develop organically on their own. If it’s share-worthy and likeable content, it will reach the right people on its own. Once that wave of engagement slows and the post has high stats with your followers (also known as a unicorn post — check out our previous blog post to learn more about these), then it’s time to bring in the big guns of boosting.
- Make sure to only boost original content of your page. There is nothing wrong with sharing other page’s content on your page. However, it’s really not economically smart to pay (through boosting) for another page’s content to be promoted.
- When are you planning on boosting?
Check out your Facebook Insights to see when your followers have the highest engagement (certain days AND times of day) and use that time for your page to boost a post, if that is your chosen target audience.
Another aspect of timing your boost is knowing when to wait it out. Remember, slow and steady wins the race… or in your case increases engagement! Facebook may be telling you “Boost Your Post!” or “This post is doing better than 90% of your other posts, you should boost.” That doesn’t mean it’s the right time to boost though. Why pay for a post when it will reach people naturally? Once the post goes down in organic reach (organic reach = everyone in your circle and your fans’ circle), then it is time to utilize Facebook boost and improve that post’s visibility. Here’s an example of how waiting is the best strategy for some posts:
Facebook thinks you should boost this post because it is doing well and reaching quite the audience. However, this particular page chose not to boost yet, so the post could flourish organically.
This screenshot was taken the next day WITHOUT a boost. There is nearly a 12 fold increase in the post’s reach, done without any money invested. It’s the perfect example of creating shareable content for your followers and letting the post run its natural course before boosting.
This screenshot was taken after boosting and has double the previous organic reach. Boosting can be very successful for small businesses when there is a method to the madness.
Other tips worth thinking about before boosting:
- First impressions are important. This may be the first interaction a person has with you on social media, make it a good one with high-quality images/videos and something that shows your true, genuine brand.
- Facebook has a 20% Text Rule with boosted posts. If you have never boosted before, you more than likely haven’t ran into this problem with your organic posts. What this means is that before you spend a plethora of time creating a poster/flyer picture, make sure the image only has 20% of text in it. Otherwise, you may not be able to boost it.
Although Facebook boosting seems easy as pushing a button, there are many different variables that you need to think about when making decisions for your small business. Boosting can be effective, if you have a plan and goals in mind beforehand. Check yourself, before you boost yourself!