With all of us struggling to get back on our feet after the nightmare we’re currently living through regarding all things tourism, 2021 is going to be a crucial year for us in terms of clever, cost effective marketing strategies if we want to survive. One of the best budget friendly marketing options currently available is Facebook advertising or boosted posts. We’re going to have a closer look at the two options, explain how they differ and how they can work for your business.
Although the difference is quite significant, they often get confused with one another. The short explanation is that boosting a post is a quick way to put money behind an existing post from your Facebook page, while a Facebook ad is a more thought-out campaign created in Facebook Ads Manager. We’ll explain it in a little more detail for you and make it easier to understand.
1. Boosted Posts
Boosting a post is the easiest option for Facebook advertising as you can do it right from the post on your Facebook page. This is why it is a popular choice for those first starting out with Facebook advertising. A boosted post is simply a current post on your Facebook page that you would like to put money behind to reach an audience of your choosing.
When you boost a post on Facebook, you’ll only need to answer 3 questions:
1. Who do you want to reach?
2. What’s your max budget?
3. How long do you want to run your ad?
You have a number of pre-set audience options to choose from which include local users, people who like your page and their friends or just those who like your page. You can define your audience according to gender, age, demographics, interests and behavioral patterns. Objectives like post engagements ( comment, like and share ), messages ( connect and chat with potential guests ) and link clicks ( send potential guests to your website or other form of enquiry ) can also be defined.
Boosted posts only allow for a total budget to be entered on creation and can not be edited once boosted. If you want to change your budget or edit your content, you will have to create a new post with new content and budget and boost from scratch.
2. Facebook Ads
While creating a Facebook ad may seem like a more daunting task than boosting, the quality of results you receive are worth the extra effort. A Facebook ad is a more thought-out campaign created within Facebook Ads Manager that allows you a wealth of options to choose from that are not available when just boosting a post.
The main targeting features available with Facebook ads that are not available for boosted posts include: custom audiences, anyone who interacted with your Facebook page or elements on your page and lookalike audiences. When creating an ad through Ads Manager you can select the exact placements where your ad will show on Facebook, Instagram or Messenger. This gives you, the advertiser, the control.
Contrary to boosting, you can also set a bid cap like in Google Ads, schedule your ads to run during certain times, and set a daily budget as well as how fast to pace that budget. You can also edit your ads at any time!
When deciding between boosting a post or running a Facebook ad, it really comes down to your goals.If your goal is to increase engagements on Facebook to a broad audience, then boosting a post from your wall that is performing well can be a great option.
If your goals are more lead generation and website-focused, then taking the time to set up a thought-out Facebook ad campaign will get you the best results.
As usual, we’re here to help you every step of the way.
Email: info@tourismmarketing.co.za
Contact: 021 556 3469