Facebook Boosting vs. Facebook Advertising, What’s the Difference?

Facebook boosting vs. Facebook advertising, what’s the difference? This question comes up frequently in both client and sales meetings. It can be tricky to differentiate if you don’t work in the digital advertising realm daily, so we’re here to break it down for you.

The Similarities

To really break down what’s different about boosting in comparison to advertising, it can be helpful to understand what exactly is similar about the two. Whether you are boosting a Facebook post or running a Facebook ad through ads manager, when seen by your target audience, it will show up with the words “sponsored” on it, examples are illustrated below:

Boosted post:

Facebook ad:

So what’s the big difference? Boosting is much more user-friendly and many of our clients, when we first meet them in sales meetings, think that they’re running Facebook ads themselves just by boosting posts. 

The Differences

Facebook ads are created in the “Ads Manager” through business.facebook.com. While boosted posts are considered “advertisements” through Facebook’s platform, ads created through ads manager offer more advanced customization solutions, and in turn, a higher on average ROAS for our clients. Boosted posts also offer optimizations for the following: page likes, comments, shares, and overall brand awareness. Facebook ads set up through the ads manager offer optimizations such as: app installs, website conversions, video views, shop orders, purchases, and more.

Facebook ads set up through the ads manager also offer these customized solutions that boosted posts don’t:

  • The option to optimize for different ad placements. What does this mean? This means that you can choose whether you want your ad to show up in only Instagram stories or the Facebook News Feed, for example. The option to choose ad placements allows you more control as an advanced advertiser to really maximize the ads that are working and minimize wasted ad spend.
  • Choose specific ad objectives. Boosted posts are great for awareness and engagement, but if you’re looking to optimize for purchases or lead generation, it’s time to get more in-depth with the ads manager for Facebook ads. Facebook ads set up through ads manager allows the options to optimize for several meaningful and trackable events such as purchases, add-to-cart, view content, start messages, and so much more.
  • Have creative control over your ads. When you set up ads through ads manager, you have much more ability to get creative with your ad’s creative (our favorite part). Does a carousel ad work best or a single image? What about a video? Boosted posts don’t allow this level of in-depth testing that Facebook ads set up through the ads manager allow.
  • Utilize advanced targeting capabilities. Boosted posts allow you to target your ad dollars to a degree, but Facebook ads through ads manager allow you to get much more in-depth with things such as lookalike audiences, overlapping audience types, and more.

If all of this sounds like a different language to you but you’d like to test out some social advertising for your business, you’re at the right place! Our ad specialists at Duo Marketing Group exceed in social marketing campaigns and helping our clients reach their goals. To schedule a call with us, click here.

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