The Juice On Boosts: How to boost on Facebook without falling flat

Boosting your posts on Facebook is kind-of necessary to grow beyond the organic reach of your network. But boosting willy-nilly is not only a waste of money, it can derail your campaign.

Here’s some things to consider before firing off your next paid Facebook boost.

1. Does it encapsulate your brand?

Branding is way more than a logo. It’s the look, feel, tone and community around your products’ identity. The post you choose to boost may be the very first time you or your product are introduced to a new audience member – so being ‘on-brand’ is really important.

Be sure you have the following elements in your boost:

• Logo watermark on images (small, make sure it’s less than 20% text on your photo)
• A link to your website (“You can see more about_____, here at www.yoursite.com)
• Inviting or intriguing tone to the post comment

2. How does it dovetail with your campaign?

A good boost should translate to more visitors to your Facebook page. If the post you boosted is off-topic with the other posts on your timeline that week, it may be a bit confusing for what agenda you are introducing your new visitor to. Scheduling your posts ahead of time will help you create a campaign “narrative” and from there you can be selective with which post would be the best to boost. Read more about scheduling.

3. Will it generate relevant leads?

Two words. Click. Farms.

For the love of all that is holy, select your audience meticulously. It is no good whatsoever to pay $28 for 3000 likes if those likes are from click-farms or fake accounts in India or Indonesia. You are essentially generating income for fraudsters AND you are not reaching your new, interested audience.

Setting your target audience should include the following considerations:

• Location
• Is your product or service only deliverable inside a certain area? Do you want to drum up more local business? Set specific location areas to ensure this factor is accommodated.

• Age and Gender
• Are you wanting to capture a higher percentage of male, or female, customers? Is your product typically used by a set age range? Drive your name toward establishing exposure to your new audience with setting these guidelines.

• Interests
• Be careful with this one, as the temptation to select every possible combination is hard to resist. Put thought into who would be interested in your current campaign; what would THEY see as a ‘hook’ to investigating more about your business?

4. Is it already doing well?

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. If your organic reach is doing really well, consider letting it play out. Perhaps post it once you start to see a drop-off in the reach growth. Something else to take into consideration is that all boosted posts are served with Sponsored Ad label on the post. Sometimes that can sully the authenticity of your post. If it’s doing well on its own -leave it be.

5. Is it strategic?

I know I mentioned it before, but having a campaign strategy which develops over the week/month/quarter is good business sense. It means you have a clear brand-message and you understand your own business. If you need help with how to be strategic with your Social Media, I happen to know of some great consultants!

You will find more statistics here at Statista.

Mel Anastas, Do Re Media Consultant and Creative