If you’ve been around us for a while (or any marketer) you’ve probably heard us warn you against clicking the “boost post” button underneath a post of yours on Facebook.

And while we still believe that holds true today, we would like to add in one thing: It can never hurt to test it. Testing something like a boosted post vs. another type of objective will help you get a clear idea of how effective the boost really is.

That being said, one of the biggest pitfalls of a boosted post is that Facebook makes it WAY too easy to click a button, spend some money and forget about it. For many business owners, it’s a quick way to advertise their business to a large pool of people, BUT in by no means is it the most efficient and cost effective way!

Facebook created the “boosted post” option as a way to be less intimidating to small business owners who felt overwhelmed by the full Ads Manager system and all the options it offers. However, simpler isn’t always better!

Let us say that one more time – simpler isn’t always better!

It takes time to find what works with your audience and what portrays your business goals and objectives accurately across the web. 

The simplicity you achieve through the boosted post option comes at the cost of losing significant customization that the Ads Manager has to offer! Below we outline some of the benefits of using Facebook Ads Manager versus boosting posts.

Benefits of Using Facebook Ads over the Boosted Post

1. Large Variety of Customization Options in Ads Manager

As mentioned before, Facebook ads may be more complex (than the boosted post) but MUCH more customizable to your business goals. You can choose from a variety of preset objectives, decide where you want your ads to be placed, choose specific times to run ads, the list goes on f-o-r-e-v-e-r. The boosted post option keeps all of this limited so that you aren’t overwhelmed. 

For example, in the image below you can see that the boosted post only allows us to choose from 3 objectives: Website visits, Engagement and Messages.

What if you want to run a conversion campaign or do some sort of lead generation? This isn’t possible with a boosted post.

2. Opportunity To Easily Create Ad Variations And Split Tests

When you start using Facebook to run ads for your business, do you expect to hit a home run with one ad and one audience? Highly unlikely.

It’s SO important to test out different variations of images, copy, headlines, audiences and even objectives before finding what works. By using Facebook Ads Manager, you’re able to test these different variations quite easily. With the boosted post, you are only able to boost a single post at a time allowing no option to test different variations of the same post.

Let’s say you wanted to test two different headlines against each other. Using the boosted post option, you’d have to create two separate posts and boost them individually. They would be in two separate campaigns, making split testing MUCH more difficult than it needs to be! If you wanted to test five different headlines, you’d have to create and post 5 different times and then boost them all individually. Can you say time consuming?!

The Ads Manager makes split testing so much easier in that you can do all of the above in just a few clicks and also have better organization among each spilt test performed. You can keep everything under one campaign, allowing you the ability to analyze the data much easier!

Pro Tip: If you need help deciding which campaign to run, check out our blog post where we cover each different type of campaign in detail!

And remember: what works well for one businesses won’t necessarily work for yours, so test, test and TEST again!

3. More Control Over Your Business Objectives Online

Simply put: Facebook’s Ads Manager gives you more control over your business.

Before you begin running a campaign, you will want to know exactly what objective you are trying to achieve. If it is anything outside of the three options the boosted post gives you, then you know boosting will not give you the desired outcome. Knowing your objective beforehand is essential to running a proper Facebook campaign! 

If you want to easily create duplicates of campaigns, ad sets or ads, Facebook Ads Manager is your best friend. If you really quickly need to determine how well an ad is performing, you’ll head right to the Ads Manager. Ever want to set-up certain rules or a manual bid? Facebook Ads Manager is the only way.

The Ads Manager gives you the most control over your campaigns and ultimately your business. It allows you to optimize when things are running well, scale when appropriate and kill anything that is underperforming.

We highly recommend getting familiar with Facebook Ads Manager. If you want to grow your business through Facebook and Instagram, this is the best way!

While it may seem overwhelming in the beginning, there are a ton of free resources that can help you learn the ins and outs of the platform!

Pro Tip: Join our free 5 day challenge and learn how to book your DREAM client on Facebook + Instagram in just 5 days.

Facebook Blueprint is another great, solid way to get a firm understanding of how the Ads Manager works.

Furthermore, if you’re ready to dive head first into the Facebook world you can learn more about our Happily Ever Growth – Signature Course! 

Have any questions or comments about boosting posts vs using the Facebook Ads Manager to run ads? Leave them below and we’ll get back to you!

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