Why You Should Never Boost a Facebook Post?
Written by: Hrishikesh Pardeshi, Founder at Flexiple, buildd & Remote Tools.
Last updated: Jul 01, 2024
Boosting a Facebook post is often not recommended due to its limitations in targeting, control, and cost-effectiveness. Boosted posts can quickly increase visibility and engagement but offer basic targeting options and less control over ad placements and bidding strategies compared to Facebook Ads Manager.
This often results in higher costs and lower-quality engagement. Boosted posts focus on short-term metrics like likes and comments, which may not translate into meaningful business outcomes. For more effective and strategic advertising, using Facebook Ads Manager with its advanced targeting, customization, and analytical tools is a better option.
Table of Contents
- What Happens When You Boost a Post on Facebook?
- What are the Drawbacks of Boosting Facebook Posts?
- How Does Boosting Facebook Post Limit Audience Targeting?
- Why Facebook Post Boosting Offers Less Control Over Ad Campaigns?
- Is Boosting a Facebook Post Cost-Effective?
- What Are the Alternatives to Boosting a Facebook Post?
- What Are Common Misconceptions About Boosting Facebook Posts?
- FAQs On Why You Should Never Boost a Facebook Post
What Happens When You Boost a Post on Facebook?
Boosting a post on Facebook is a simplified form of advertising where you pay to increase the visibility of a post to a larger audience. When you boost a post, Facebook's algorithm pushes your content to more users, beyond your current followers, based on your selected budget and duration. The boost post feature primary goal is to enhance engagement, such as likes, comments, and shares of promote post, by reaching a broader audience.
When you boost a post, you start by selecting a post that has already been published on your Facebook page. You then set a budget, which determines how many people Facebook will show your post to, and choose the duration for how long the boost will run. the Facebook boost post button allows you to target specific audiences and demographics based on age, location, interests, and more, though these options are relatively limited compared to other advertising methods on the platform.
Immediate Visibility
Boosting a post can provide immediate visibility, making it an attractive option for those looking to quickly increase the reach of ad account for a specific post button piece of content. This is particularly useful for time-sensitive promotions or announcements where immediate attention is desired. However, this visibility comes at a cost, both financially and in terms of control over how your ad dollars are spent.
Engagement Metrics
The primary metrics for a boosted post include reach, impressions, and engagement (likes, comments, shares). While these metrics can give a superficial sense of success, they don't necessarily translate to meaningful business outcomes, such as conversions or sales. It's important to understand that the engagement from boosted posts is often lower quality, as the targeting parameters are not as refined as those available in Facebook's Ads Manager.
What are the Drawbacks of Boosting Facebook Posts?
The drawbacks of boosting Facebook posts include limited targeting options, higher costs, and lower quality engagement. Boosted posts offer basic targeting options compared to the more advanced capabilities of Facebook Ads Manager, leading to less effective audience engagement.
Additionally, boosting a post can result in higher costs due to less control over ad placements and bidding strategies. The engagement metrics, such as likes, comments post likes, and shares, while seemingly impressive, often do not translate into meaningful business outcomes like conversions or sales. Therefore, the engagement from boosted posts tends to be lower quality as the targeting parameters are not as refined as those available in Facebook's Ads Manager.
Limited Targeting Options
One of the main drawbacks of boosting a post is the limited targeting options. While you can choose broad demographics such as age, location, and interests, the targeting capabilities are not as sophisticated as those available in Facebook Ads Manager. This lack of precision means that your boosted posts may not reach the most relevant audience, leading to wasted ad spend and lower engagement quality.
Less Control Over Ad Campaigns
Boosting posts provides less control over ad campaigns compared to using Facebook Ads Manager. With boosted posts, you cannot customize your ad placements, bidding strategies, or ad formats to the same extent. This lack of control can result in suboptimal ad performance and reduced return on investment (ROI). For businesses with specific advertising goals, the limited control can be a significant disadvantage.
Superficial Engagement Metrics
Boosted posts often generate superficial engagement metrics, such as likes and comments, which do not necessarily translate into meaningful business outcomes like conversions or sales. The engagement from boosted posts is typically less targeted and less likely to lead to valuable interactions or customer actions. This can give a false sense of success for boost post, distracting from more effective advertising strategies.
Higher Costs
Boosting posts can be more expensive than running targeted ad campaigns through Ads Manager. Since boosted posts have less precise targeting and control, you may end up spending more money to run ads that reach an audience that is not as relevant to your business. This inefficiency can lead to higher costs and lower ROI, making boosting posts a less cost-effective option for advertising.
Short-Term Focus
Boosted posts are often used for short-term visibility and engagement, but they do not contribute to long-term advertising strategies or sustained business growth. The temporary nature of boosted posts means that they may not align with broader marketing goals or provide lasting benefits. Investing in more strategic advertising approaches beyond boost posts can yield better long-term results and more sustainable growth.
How Does Boosting Facebook Post Limit Audience Targeting?
Boosting Facebook posts significantly limits your audience targeting capabilities, which can reduce the effectiveness of your advertising efforts. The simplified targeting options available when boosting a post restrict your ability to reach the most relevant and valuable audience segments.
Basic Targeting Parameters
When you boost a post, you can select basic targeting parameters such as age, gender, location, and interests. While these options provide some level of customization, they are far less detailed and sophisticated compared to the targeting capabilities available in Facebook Ads Manager. The basic parameters do not allow for the nuanced targeting that is often necessary to reach highly specific audience segments.
Lack of Custom Audiences
One of the most significant limitations of boosting posts is the inability to create and use custom audiences. In Facebook Ads Manager, you can create custom audiences based on website visitors, customer lists, video views or engagement with your previous content. These custom audiences allow for highly targeted and effective ad campaigns. Boosted posts, however, do not offer this feature, limiting your ability to retarget engaged users or reach more people, who have already shown interest in your business.
No Lookalike Audiences
Lookalike audiences are another powerful targeting feature available in Facebook Ads Manager but not in boosted posts. Lookalike audiences enable you to reach new people who are similar to your existing customers or engaged users. This can significantly enhance the relevance and effectiveness of your ads. The absence of lookalike audiences in boosted posts means you miss out on the opportunity to expand your reach to highly relevant potential customers.
Inability to Exclude Audiences
Excluding certain audience segments is crucial for refining your ad targeting and avoiding wasted ad spend. In Facebook Ads Manager, you can exclude specific demographics, interests, or behaviors to ensure your ads are shown only to the most relevant audiences. Boosted posts do not provide this level of control, making it challenging to prevent your ads from reaching irrelevant or uninterested users.
Simplified Interest Targeting
Interest targeting in boosted posts is often too broad and simplistic to be effective. While you can select general interests, you cannot narrow down to the more specific and granular interest categories available in Ads Manager. This broad targeting can result in your ads being shown to users who may not have a genuine interest in your product or service, reducing the overall effectiveness of your campaign.
Why Facebook Post Boosting Offers Less Control Over Ad Campaigns?
Facebook post boosting offers less control over ad campaigns because it provides only basic targeting options and limited customization features compared to Facebook Ads Manager. When you boost a post, you can target specific demographics based on age, location, and interests, but these options are relatively limited. You have less control over ad placements, meaning you cannot choose where your ad appears across Facebook's various platforms and networks.
Additionally, boosted posts offer simplified bidding strategies, which means you have less flexibility in managing your ad spend and optimizing for specific objectives. This lack of control can result in higher costs and lower-quality engagement, making it harder to achieve meaningful business outcomes such as conversions or sales.
Limited Ad Placement Options
When you boost a post, you have limited options for ad placements. Facebook decides where to show your boosted post, typically prioritizing placements within the News Feed, Instagram Feed, and Stories. In contrast, Facebook Ads Manager allows you to customize your ad placements, choosing from options such as Facebook Marketplace, Audience Network, Messenger, and more. This flexibility in placement can help you reach your target audience more effectively and optimize ad performance.
Simplified Bidding Strategies
Boosted posts come with simplified bidding strategies in ad manager, which can limit your ability to control ad spend and maximize ROI. In Ads Manager, you can choose from various bidding strategies such as cost per click (CPC), cost per impression (CPM), and cost per conversion, allowing you to align your ad spend with your specific business goals. Boosted posts, however, typically operate on a basic daily or lifetime budget, without the ability to fine-tune bidding strategies.
Restricted Ad Formats
Boosting a post confines you to using the existing post format, which may not be the most effective for your advertising goals. In Ads Manager, you can choose from a variety of ad formats, including carousel ads, slideshow ads, and collection ads, each designed to achieve different objectives. This flexibility allows you to create more engaging and impactful ads tailored to your campaign needs. Boosted posts lack this versatility, potentially limiting their effectiveness.
Inadequate Campaign Objectives
Boosted posts are primarily designed to increase engagement metrics such as likes, comments, and shares per promoted post. While this can be useful for brand awareness, it may not align with other critical business objectives such as driving website traffic, generating leads, or increasing sales. Facebook Ads Manager offers a range of campaign objectives, from awareness and consideration to conversion, enabling you to tailor your ad campaigns to specific goals and track their performance more accurately.
Less Detailed Analytics
The analytics provided for boosted posts are often less detailed and comprehensive than those available in Ads Manager. Boosted post insights typically focus on basic post engagement and metrics, such as reach and impressions, but lack in-depth data on ad performance, audience behavior, and conversion tracking. Ads Manager offers robust analytics and reporting tools that allow you to measure and optimize your campaigns more effectively, ensuring better use of your ad budget.
Difficulty in A/B Testing
A/B testing, or split testing, is essential for optimizing ad campaigns by comparing different versions of ads to see which performs better. Boosted posts do not support A/B testing, making it challenging to experiment with different ad creatives, targeting options, or bidding strategies. Ads Manager, however, provides robust A/B testing capabilities, enabling you to refine your campaigns and achieve better results.
Is Boosting a Facebook Post Cost-Effective?
Boosting a Facebook post is often not cost-effective due to several factors. It can quickly increase visibility and engagement, but the basic targeting options and limited control over ad placements and bidding strategies usually result in higher costs per engagement. Boosted posts focus on metrics like likes, comments, and shares, which do not necessarily translate into meaningful business outcomes such as conversions or sales.
Additionally, the quality of engagement from boosted posts is often lower, as the targeting parameters are not as refined as those available in Facebook Ads Manager. Therefore, for more strategic and cost-effective advertising, using Facebook Ads Manager with its advanced targeting, customization, and analytical tools is typically a better option.
Superficial Metrics
Boosting a post typically increases superficial metrics such more engagement such as likes and comments. These engagements can boost visibility, but they do not always translate into meaningful business outcomes like sales or lead generation. Consequently, you might end up spending money on interactions target people that do not contribute significantly to your business goals.
Higher Cost Per Result
Due to limited targeting options, boosted posts can result in higher cost per result. Without the ability to fine-tune audience segments, your ads may reach less relevant users, increasing the overall cost of achieving your desired outcomes. In contrast facebook boost post, using Facebook Ads Manager allows for more precise targeting, often resulting in lower costs and more effective ad spend.
Short-Term Gains
Boosting a post is often focused on short-term gains rather than long-term strategy. The temporary increase in visibility and engagement the boost button can be beneficial for immediate needs but does not contribute to sustained growth or long-term business goals. Investing in comprehensive ad campaigns through Ads Manager can provide more sustainable and strategic benefits.
Budget Allocation
Proper budget allocation is crucial for cost-effective advertising. Boosted posts often lack the sophisticated budget management tools available in Ads Manager, making it harder to allocate your budget efficiently across different campaigns and objectives. Ads Manager allows for better control over budget distribution, helping you optimize spending and maximize ROI.
Opportunity Cost
The simplicity and convenience of boosting posts might come at the expense of missing out on more effective advertising strategies. By relying on boosted posts, you might neglect the benefits of using Ads Manager, where more sophisticated tools and options can lead to better performance and cost efficiency. The opportunity cost of the boost post option not utilizing these advanced features can result in missed opportunities for higher ROI and more impactful campaigns.
What Are the Alternatives to Boosting a Facebook Post?
Using Facebook Ads Manager, running sponsored content, and utilizing organic social media strategies are effective alternatives to boosting a Facebook post. Facebook Ads Manager provides advanced targeting options, detailed analytics, and greater control over your ad campaigns.
Running sponsored content allows you to collaborate with influencers or popular pages to reach a more targeted and engaged audience. Additionally, building a strong organic presence through consistent, high-quality content and engaging with your audience can drive engagement without the need for paid boosts. These alternatives offer more strategic and cost-effective ways to build brand awareness and achieve meaningful business outcomes.
Facebook Ads Manager
Facebook Ads Manager provides a comprehensive platform for creating, managing, and analyzing ad campaigns. It offers a wide range of targeting options, including custom audiences and lookalike audiences, allowing you to reach the most relevant users. Ads Manager also supports various ad formats, from carousel ads to video ads, enabling you to tailor your campaigns to specific goals. The detailed analytics and reporting tools help you track performance and optimize your campaigns for better results.
A/B Testing
A/B testing, or split testing, is a powerful method for optimizing ad performance. By testing different versions of your ads, you can identify which elements work best and refine your campaigns accordingly. Facebook Ads Manager supports A/B testing, allowing you to experiment with different creatives, targeting options, and bidding strategies. This iterative process can lead to more effective ads and higher ROI.
Custom Audiences
Using custom audiences is an effective way to target specific user segments. You can create custom audiences based on website visitors, customer lists, or engagement with your previous content. This precise targeting ensures that your ads reach users who are more likely to be interested in your products or services, improving ad performance and cost efficiency.
Lookalike Audiences
Lookalike audiences allow you to reach new users who are similar to your existing customers or engaged users. By leveraging the characteristics of your best-performing audience segments, lookalike audiences can help you expand your reach to highly relevant potential customers. This targeting option is available in Facebook Ads Manager and can significantly enhance the effectiveness organic reach of your campaigns.
Conversion Tracking
Implementing conversion tracking is essential for measuring the success of your ad campaigns. Facebook Ads Manager allows you to track various conversion events, such as purchases, sign-ups, or downloads. By understanding how users interact with your ads and which actions they take, you can optimize your campaigns to drive more conversions and achieve your business objectives.
What Are Common Misconceptions About Boosting Facebook Posts?
There are several common misconceptions about boosting Facebook posts that can lead to suboptimal advertising strategies and outcomes. Understanding these misconceptions can help you make more informed decisions about facebook marketing and choose more effective advertising methods.
Boosting Posts Is the Same as Running Ads
Many people believe that boosting a post is equivalent to running a full-fledged ad campaign on Facebook. However, boosting a post is a simplified form of advertising with limited targeting options and control. While it can increase visibility, it lacks the sophistication and flexibility of ad campaigns created in Facebook Ads Manager. For more effective advertising, it's better to use Ads Manager to create targeted and strategic facebook advertising campaigns.
Boosting Posts Guarantees High-Quality Engagement
Another misconception is that boosting a post will automatically result in high-quality engagement. While boosted posts can generate likes, comments, and shares, this engagement is often less targeted and less likely to lead to meaningful business outcomes. Boosting posts may increase superficial metrics, but it does not guarantee that the interactions will translate into conversions, sales, or long-term customer relationships.
Boosting Is Always Cost-Effective
Many users assume that boosting posts is a cost-effective way to advertise on Facebook. In reality, the limited targeting options and control over ad spend can lead to higher ad costs, and lower ROI. Boosting posts often results in inefficient ad spend, reaching a less relevant audience and generating lower-quality engagement. Using Facebook Ads Manager allows for better budget management and more cost-effective advertising strategies.
Boosting Posts Is the Best Way to Increase Page Likes
Some people believe that boosting posts is the best way to increase page likes and grow their audience. While boosted posts can attract more likes, this method is not always the most efficient or effective. Running targeted ad campaigns through Ads Manager can help you reach users who are more likely to be genuinely interested in your page and become loyal followers. This approach can lead to more sustainable audience growth and higher-quality engagement.
Boosting Posts Is Enough for a Comprehensive Marketing Strategy
Boosting posts is a great tool and often seen as a sufficient marketing strategy on its own. However, relying solely on boosted posts can limit your ability to achieve broader marketing goals. A comprehensive marketing strategy should include a variety of advertising methods, such as targeted ad campaigns, content marketing, email marketing, and social media engagement. Diversifying your marketing efforts can help you create multiple ads that reach a wider audience, drive more conversions, and achieve long-term business success.
FAQs On Why You Should Never Boost a Facebook Post
Why is boosting a Facebook post not recommended?
Boosting a Facebook post is not recommended because it offers limited targeting options, less control over ad campaigns, and often results in higher costs and lower ROI compared to using Facebook Ads Manager.
What are the alternatives to boosting a Facebook post?
Alternatives to boosting a link clicks a full Facebook ad or post include using Facebook Ads Manager for more targeted and controlled ad campaigns, implementing A/B testing, creating custom and lookalike audiences, and using conversion tracking to measure success.
How does boosting a post limit audience targeting?
Boosting a post limits audience targeting by providing only basic targeting options, such as age, location, and interests, without the ability to use custom audiences, lookalike audiences, or exclude specific segments right audience.
Is boosting a Facebook post cost-effective?
Boosting a third Facebook ad campaign or post is often less cost-effective than facebook ad campaigns due to limited targeting and control, leading to higher costs and lower-quality engagement compared to more sophisticated ad campaigns created in Facebook Ads Manager.
What are common misconceptions about boosting Facebook posts?
Common misconceptions about boosting Facebook posts include believing it is the same as running full-fledged ads, guarantees high-quality engagement, is always cost-effective, is the best way to increase page likes, and is sufficient for most business owners without a comprehensive social media marketing strategy.