Nearly all social media platforms offer some means of paying for posts to be seen beyond organic reach—and Facebook is no exception. If you’ve ever seen the “Boost” button to the bottom right of a Facebook post, that is one way of doing so. One question that we’ve heard frequently from clients has to do with Facebook boosting vs. Facebook’s Ads Manager. What’s the difference between the two? What does one have to do with the other? Let’s break it down.
The simple answer
In a phrase or less, the answer is this: Facebook boosting is just another ad option in addition to those you can create in Facebook’s Ads Manager. Therefore, the two are not mutually exclusive—think about boosting as an option under the umbrella of Facebook ads as a whole.
Let’s break it down a little further.
What is a boosted Facebook post?
A boosted Facebook post is a post to your page that you have paid to reach a higher number of Facebook users—beyond the platform’s organic algorithm. A boosted post allows you to target your audience based on a plethora of factors—from age, gender and location to interests, careers and education.
The boosted post will appear as a “Sponsored” post on the news feed of people who see it. When you boost a post, you select three essential factors:
- The audience you want to target
- Your budget for the course of the ad
- The length of time you want to run the ad
So, is a boosted post an ad? Yes. In fact, they appear in Facebook’s Ads manager so that you can track progress for the duration of the campaign. The difference is, they are not created in Ads Manager. Facebook basically gives you a shortcut to promote a post by placing the “Boost” button right there on the post.
What is Facebook’s Ads Manager?
Facebook’s Ads Manager is a platform through which Facebook guides you in creating ads for your page or content. Again, boosted posts are considered an “ad,” and therefore their tracking information appears in the Ads Manager; however, there are more customized types of ads available for creation in Ads Manager beyond boosted posts.
When creating an ad in Ads Manager, Facebook prompts you to choose an objective. Do you want more website views? More page likes? More app installs? From there, you are guided through the process of creating an ad.
One difference when comparing Facebook boosting vs. Facebook’s Ads Manager involves placement. When boosting a post, you can select whether you would like the sponsored post to show up in places like Instagram and Messenger in addition to Facebook Newsfeeds, but the ads you can create in Ads Manager go beyond that. Placements available within Ads Manager include side ads, Instagram stories, Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Suggested Videos—the list goes on.
This theme of specificity within Ads Manager continues in terms of ad formats. Within Ads Manager, you can create carousel ads, single images or videos, collections and more. Further, within those formats you can select various call-to-action buttons, headlines, link text and beyond.
Facebook boosting vs Facebook’s Ads Manager—which should I use?
The answer depends on what you are trying to achieve. Boosted posts are an effective way of encouraging audience engagement and attracting attention to your page (and therefore, your brand). However, if you have more specific goals in mind, then Ads Manager offers a world of opportunities for trying out different formats, placements, further audience customizations and more.
Need help creating and managing your Facebook ads? McNutt & Partners is a full-service advertising and digital marketing agency. Contact us today for your marketing needs! Call 334-521-1010, or visit our contact page.
