Social media has transformed the way businesses connect with their customers, becoming one of the most influential and effective channels for engagement and growth in recent years. It can be difficult to decide which social media advertising approach is ideal for your business given the abundance of possibilities available. Therefore, deciphering which marketing strategy is most suitable for their business needs is the best place to start.
Establishing social media channels has become a crucial first step for businesses today. To be successful, businesses must maintain a robust social media presence since it has become essential in today's competitive landscape. To reach your audience, you must be present on several platforms, and this comes with the responsibility of investing time in creating worthwhile content, particularly when relying on organic reach. When considering paid advertising, businesses should dedicate time to decide on their unique advertising goals before they start promoting on any social media platform, (be it Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn) for the simple reason that while certain goals can be reached by boosting a post, others can be accomplished by launching a paid campaign.
The differences between a boosted post and a paid campaign
Boosted post
A boosted post is a type of social media advertising where businesses can pay to increase the reach of their existing organic posts on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. They’re typically used to promote a specific post to a broader audience than would otherwise be reached organically. This is the simplest way through which businesses can increase their visibility and engagement and, ultimately, lead to conversions. When you boost a post on Facebook and Instagram, it’ll show up in the placements you selected as an advert. You can choose a post that has already been shared to a page's timeline and boost it to your specific audience, using a maximum budget and for a select duration. It’s important to note that boosting posts on a platform is particularly suited for smaller businesses or business owners with limited technical expertise in the area, who may not have a dedicated digital marketing professional within the team. They can increase the visibility of their content with a straightforward approach without navigating the complexities of varied advertising campaigns.
Paid campaign
Similarly to boosting, paid social media campaigns push business messaging on the social media platforms’ newsfeeds, timelines, or the stories of users who may not already follow the brand. However, this type of advertising offers more advanced customisation solutions. Paid campaigns can be optimised for website conversions, video views and more, as well as displayed in various formats such as video, image, or carousel ads, and can target specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviours. Therefore these diverse campaigns require the need for a specific digital marketing skill set as well as a more advanced advertising skill set as they allow you to maintain creative control over your advert and give you the possibility of using advanced targeting capabilities.
What will work best for you? Understanding the difference between the two is crucial as it will help to better assess which approach is best for a business’s marketing needs.
Customisation and flexibility
While boosted posts have limited customisation options, paid social media campaigns offer more flexibility in terms of format, placement, and targeting options. With paid advertising, businesses can create ads from scratch or use existing content. They can also be displayed in various formats. Paid campaigns also provide more specific targeting options, allowing businesses to reach the most relevant audience possible.
Budget
Boosted posts allow businesses to select a specified budget for their post and provide a range of options for how long they’ll be boosted for. They are generally less expensive than paid social media campaigns, making them a good option for businesses with restricted budgets. Paid social media campaigns, on the other hand, while costing more, can give you more budget control with the opportunity to bid on ad placement and performance tracking.
Reach
While boosted posts can reach a broader audience than organic posts, they’re still limited to the platform’s user base. Paid social media campaigns, on the other hand, have the potential to reach a wider audience, as they can be displayed to users who may not follow the business’s account or engage with its posts regularly.
Conversion Rates
Given that paid campaigns provide businesses more control over the targeting and messaging of the ad, they usually have a higher conversion rate than boosted posts. Paid campaigns can be tailored to target particular demographics and encourage specific actions, like purchasing something or visiting a website.
Measurement
When running a paid campaign there may be various ads with multiple ad creatives/headlines that one would like to test, therefore it gives the user the opportunity and flexibility to assess the performance of campaigns and analyse results on a wider level which is easier than when compared to boosting a post. By obtaining such detailed insights, you can make better and more informed decisions depending on the results that came from running the campaign.
At the end of the day, the goals, budget, and target market of your business all play a role in selecting the best advertising strategy for you. Boosted posts are a fantastic choice for companies looking to expand the audience for their current organic efforts while pushing for more interaction and brand recognition, particularly when working with a limited budget. With a larger budget available and the right effort placed in paid campaigns, businesses can maximise greater targeting possibilities, customisation options, and conversion rate potential.
Ultimately, it could be beneficial to test both approaches and compare their performance to determine which one is the best fit for your business. Both boosted posts and paid social media ads can be effective ways to reach and engage with your target audience on social media. However, you must keep in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to using these channels for promotion and that testing the opportunities available is the only key to success.
Overall, depending on what a business's social media strategy is, it must fit in with the rest of the marketing strategy for your brand, especially with other social media platforms such as Google, YouTube etc, everything must be aligned to reach a desired goal. One must continuously determine how successful a campaign was by tracking their efforts, therefore having a bird’s eye view of social media analytics will help put things into perspective and make adjustments accordingly. However, by understanding the differences between these two marketing options (boosting a post versus a paid campaign) while considering your business’s goals and budget, you can determine which social media advertising approach is the best fit for your business.
This article was written by Petra Gatt, Senior Digital Marketing and Business Development Executive.
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