Boost This Up

Facebook continues to be one of the most popular social media sites, and an increasing number of varied demographics are spending an increasing amount of time on the site. As such, Facebook offers certain tools to businesses to maximize exposure on social media.

One of those tools is boosting posts, an easy and effective way to gain more exposure of the content. A boosted post is similar to a normal post from a business Facebook page. For a fee, the post is “boosted” higher up in the audience’s news feeds, guaranteeing a certain level of visibility that might not happen with the organic reach of a regular post.

Each boosted post has its own budget, so it is important to choose content that is engaging. Boosting is ideal for promoting a business’s products or services, encouraging traffic to the business’s website, or generating greater awareness of a special event or campaign.

Boosting posts allows a business to choose its audience, budget, and duration. For audience, Facebook offers three options: people who already like the business’s page, to ensure more followers see the post; people who already like the business’s page plus their friends, thus broadening the reach; or people chosen via specific targeting, allowing for a brand new audience. The last option has multiple layers of targeting, such as location, age, gender, interests, and even other pages the audience likes.

For budget, a business can spend as little or as much as it wants. Facebook provides an estimate on the post’s reach depending on the chosen budget, so a business can effectively see the difference between spending $5 and $50.

For duration, a post can be boosted for one to seven days, as designated by the business and its goals.

Once those specifications are made, the post is submitted to Facebook for approval; the post is typically reviewed within a half hour. It is a good idea to follow Facebook’s ad guidelines during the post’s creation to ensure approval.

Lastly, a business can see Facebook analytics regarding the post. This includes organic reach, boosted reach, interaction with the post (likes, comments, shares), and new page likes.

As Facebook continues to grow in numbers and develop its business marketing avenues, the social media site can be a great resource for reaching a business’s target audience.