Boosting A Post
Versus Advertising
Versus Advertising
Okay, technically it’s all advertising, but the outcomes between boosting a post and creating an advertisement are very different.
What’s The Diff?
A Boosted Post or an Ad? It’s easy to confuse the “Boost Post” function with Ads, because technically they’re both the same. However, a Boosted Post reaches more people to “see the post” while an Advertisement is about getting customers to “take an action” – such as going to the website or watching a video.
Boosted Posts are great with content you want more people to see. These posts can include links to the website, calls-to-action or direct people to Messenger. Ultimately, the main goal is “to be seen”. And Facebook is very happy to spend the money reaching people so they see it.
Ads are more for when you want your customers “to do something” and follow an action. In Ads Manager, a number of Objectives are available as options for what we want people to do when they see our Ad.
In this module, we learn the ins and out of Social Media Ads with all the tools and tricks to Advertising success.
The Most Common Ad Types Are
Traffic
to send people to your website or a landing page
Video Views
to get people to watch your video, or
Conversion Ads
to get people to buy your products online or fill out forms on a website
Facebook Ads
All Facebook Ads Need 3 Things
An Objective
What do you want the advertisement to do?
An Ad Set
Who should see the Ad, when should they see it, and how much should you spend?
Ads For The Ad Set
The image, video, text and links needed in the advertisement
Setting Up An Ad For Traffic
Want more people nationally or internationally to visit your website?
Watch our video for step-by-step instructions for setting up a Facebook Ad for Traffic
Boosting A Post
Like an Ad, But Not Quite
Facebook has evolved into a Pay-To-Play platform. This means if you want people to see your posts, you chances are much better when you boost it for a small advertising spend. But why?
The amount of content being posted to Facebook per second is astonishing. All Facebook users have friends, family and pages they follow and watch. It’s difficult keeping track of every single post from your friends, family and business pages you like. There’s. Just. So. Much.
For the best user experience, Facebook has created a very sophisticated Algorithm (fancy pants maths calculations involving formulas to work this stuff out for them). This Algorithm selects the content you see when you first look at your newsfeed while displaying the kind of advertisements that should interest to you.
If we want our content to get seen by more people, we need to make sure we are helping Facebook deliver a great experience to its users.
This means our content needs to
Be Relevant
No boring stories, tired memes or offensive words. The more useful or relevant your content is, the more users will respond to it by clicking Like or Sharing with their friends. The more interaction your content receives, the more Facebook wants to show it.
Be Original
Sharing posts looks like we don’t have our own thoughts and ideas. Unique content is best. The more you share viral posts without any personal comment to add, the less of the top spots you’ll get on Facebook. So make the content yours.
Build Rapport
Like any good relationship, building trust and getting preferential treatment takes time. Building great rapport with Facebook takes time and effort: not only do you need produce useful, relevant content, but it needs to be posted regularly. But there is a line: too much posting and it’s seen as over posting – or spam. Don’t post regularly, and Facebook thinks we don’t care. In Lesson 4, we will look at how to build and maintain a content plan that keeps us in Facebook’s good books.
Give Facebook Money
It’s not bribery, it’s just called Boosting. When we pay to Boost our content, Facebook bumps it up the newsfeed to reach more people: it’s that simple. But a Boosted Post reaching more people “to be seen” and setting up an Ad are very different. Both still play an important role in promoting our business.
Facebook Split Testing
What Is A Split Test & Why Would You Do It?
It’s hard to know which image and what kind of text works best with each Ad. So rather than putting all of our eggs in one basket – or dollars behind one Ad – we can test our Ads for the best results. This is known as Split Testing and is the best way to trial your Ads. We can Split Test a number of factors in each Ad until we narrow down the best response from our audience. We can test
the image – which is best and most eye catching
the text – which sentence or description receives the best response
the Call To Action – changing the button such as “Shop Now” or “Learn More” can alter results
Set Up A Split Test
Start with focusing on changing just one element. We recommend starting with different images: you can test up to 6 different images in the same Ad Set. Just be aware, this reduces the budget behind each image, not the total budget.
Once you have found the most successful image, then try different copy with different Call-To-Actions. Each audience may respond to different images and Call-To-Actions. You’ll find it very helpful to run a test with each Ad set up.
Watch this video for step-by-step instructions on how to set up a Facebook Split Test Ad.
After 24 hours of pushing your Ad live, return to Ads Manager to check your results for which Ad is working best. Facebook will automatically optimise the best performing Ad, so you can turn off the least successful Ads leading the better ones to continue running.
Watch this video for step-by-step instructions on how to review a split test on Facebook Ads Manager
Read through these sample results for reviewing the outcome of Split Ad testing.
Target Audiences
Facebook collects lots and lots and lots of information about its users and what they like to do online. This information allows you to target the exact group of people or customers you want to connect with thanks to a very special Facebook tool. You can create and save your audiences for better Ad targeting and gain insight into your audiences interests and behaviour on Facebook. This tool is called Facebook Audience Insights and is free to use.
Click the link to access Facebook Audience Insights for yourself.
Watch our video guide on how to use this tool and save your audience
Got A Website? Get A Pixel
Have you browsed online, looked at a few products, then jumped onto Facebook where it seems the products are following you around – appearing on your news feed and in Sponsored Posts? You’re not crazy: they are actually following you. This form of advertising is call Dynamic Retargeting. You can target people who have visited your website through Facebook by showing them special Ads or turning them into a Custom Audience to market to. This is made possible with a little tracker; a special piece of tracking code for your website which Facebook gives to you called The Facebook Pixel. For such a little bit of code, it’s impact is mighty. Setting up your pixel can be technical, so you might need help from your Web Developer – it’s a 10 minute job, tops. And totally worth it.
Homework
Monitor your Facebook Audience Insights for the next week.
Apply you’re newly acquired knowledge to complete one (or more) of the following:
Boost a Facebook Post
Set up a Facebook Ad for Traffic
Perform a Split Test
Install your Facebook Pixel to your website