Many people consider Boosted Posts and Facebook Ads the same and think that they’ll get equal results, however today I’m going to explain to you exactly why that isn’t the case…

Boosting a post right from the page interface is very easy so you could be inclined to go straight for the big Boost Post button instead of considering Facebook Ads. If you are one of them, you may be harming your business because Boost Post lacks most of the advanced options that are available in Facebook Ads.

So, I have written this post to clear your concept about both of them either you are promoting your business through Facebook or planning to do so. Let’s first read the difference between Boost Post and Facebook Ads.

Boost Post is the one in which you simply promote a post from your page to reach a wider audience. It may work sometimes if used wisely, still, there are fewer campaign objectives and options as compared to Facebook Ads. Also, the boosted posts just appear in the user’s newsfeed, nowhere else.

While using Facebook Ads, you may achieve much more as compared to Boost Post, such as brand awareness, leads, sales, and video views. Facebook Ads Manager has a plethora of extended features that are not available in Boost Posts. Most importantly, they can appear on several places Facebook desktop and mobile newsfeed, Audience Network, Facebook right column, Instagram, Messenger, and many others.Β 

What should I use, Boosted Posts or Facebook Ads?

Let’s first have a look at some important factors and features…

Audience

We’ll just add some summarized points here as if we go in detail, we’ll end up writing a book.

  • Audience size is smaller in Boost Post as compared to Facebook Ads.
  • In Facebook Ads, you can add your target audience based on their language and connection type while Boost Post lacks these options.
  • Boost Post is all about engagement while Facebook Ads are all about leads, sales, brand awareness, and many more.

Marketing Objectives

Secondly, there are around 17 different marketing objectives and none of them is available for post boosting. If you are just boosting the posts, you are actually targeting the audience for engagement purpose only.

Ads Placement

The third point to consider is the Ad Placement. If boosting the post, you’ll get three placement options while Facebook Ads give you over a dozen placement options for your ads.

Budget and Scheduling

Budget and Schedule Management is also an important part of any advertising campaign and Facebook Ads has a detailed budget and scheduling mechanism that gives you full control over your campaigns. With Boost Posts, all you can do is just define a budget and duration of the paid advertisement, nothing else.

So, which should I run?

Facebook Ads, and that too from Facebook Ad Manager. It gives you a plethora of wonderful features and a wider audience and targeting options. With Boost Post, you’ll get nothing, instead, you’ll be wasting your money. Still, if you want to boost a specific post, do it through Facebook Ad Manager.

Conclusion

Boosted Posts are easier for sure, but they have fewer options and are not that effective. On the other hand, Facebook Ads, while more complex and time-consuming to set up and manage, are totally worth it.

There is however a clear winner; Facebook Ads allow you to design and run your campaigns with full control by choosing the right campaign objectives and defining specific goals.