Facebook Ads Vs Boosted Posts are two types of paid advertising on Facebook. What are the main differences between them, and which one should you choose to advertise on Facebook? This post offers a comprehensive comparison between boost post vs ad on Facebook in various criteria to help you make an informed decision.
Table of contents
What Are Facebook Ads?
Essentially, Facebook ads are traditional paid posts that you create in Meta Ads Manager to promote your products/services to the target audience on Facebook.
Benefits of Facebook Ads
- You have more options of where to place your ad in Ads Manager (like Facebook/Instagram feed, right column, video feeds, in-stream videos, search results, Facebook Business Explore, Messenger inbox, Facebook/Instagram stories, Facebook/Instagram reels, Audience Network, etc.)
- When creating a Facebook ad campaign, you select an ad objective (such as traffic, engagement, leads, sales) before crafting ad content. This ensures your ad is aligned with your goal.]
- Facebook ads are more flexible with ad formats. You can create image, video, carousel, collection, reel, or story ads.
- You have various choices for your call-to-action (CTA) button, including Book now, Call now, Send email, Send message, Contact us, Sign up, Learn more, See offers, Shop now, Watch video, Play game, Use app.
- You can control the budget more effectively, schedule your ads to run at certain times in a day or days in a week.
- You can use A/B testing in Ads Manager to test with different ads.
Drawbacks of Facebook Ads
- Facebook ads are usually more expensive than boosted posts
- It’s more complicated and time-consuming to create Facebook ads. You need to have more experience and in-depth knowledge to target the perfect audience to succeed with your ad.
What Are Boosted Posts?
A boosted post is simply a post/status you have updated to your page’s timeline. You may find it doing well with organic reach, so you add some money to expand its reach to a wider Facebook audience.
Boosted posts aren’t created in Meta Ads Manager, but are still considered ads because you have to pay for them.
Benefits of Boosted Posts
- Easy to set up. You can make a boosted post directly from your Facebook page’s timeline by clicking on the ‘Boost post’ button in the bottom right corner of your post.
- When comparing boosted post vs Facebook ad, a boosted post is usually cheaper.
- With recent updates from Facebook, you can refine the audience for boosted posts with core audience and custom audience targeting, detailed targeting, etc.
Note: Facebook is constantly changing and updating their advertising features. You should follow SpeedX Agency for the latest information.
Drawbacks of Boosted Posts
- You have only some basic choices of ad placements (Instagram, Facebook, Message).
- You can only set a daily budget, not a lifetime budget and can’t schedule your ads.
- You can’t change your ad creative, just use the already posted post from your page.
- You have limited CTA options, which are: Learn More, Sign up, Send message, Send WhatsApp message, Call now.
- You can’t take advantage of A/B tests.
Differences Between Facebook Ads Vs Boosted Posts
The table below may help you see the main differences between a Facebook ad versus boosted post more clearly.
| Feature | Facebook ads | Boosted posts |
| Cost | Usually more expensive, but cost-effective in long term | Usually more affordable |
| Complexity | More complex, but more customizable | Easy and quick |
| Objective |
|
|
| Ad Placement |
|
|
| Format | Post, image, video, carousel, reel, collection, story. | Native post |
| CTA button |
|
|
| Budget |
|
|
| Schedule | Yes | No |
| A/B test | Yes | No |
Table: Differences between Facebook boosted post vs ad
Facebook Ad vs Boosted Post, Which One To Use?
Despite the different pros and cons between Facebook ads vs boosted posts, both of them can help you get more audience for your marketing campaigns. To make the right decision, you need to understand what you are hoping to gain with your paid ad.
When you should use Facebook ads
- You want to have more control over budget/scheduling/ad placement, etc.
- You want to get more website traffic
- You wish to drive more sales and conversions
- You want more creative formats and design options for your ads
- You can spend more on Facebook advertising
When you should use Boosted posts
- You want to get more page likes and followers
- You wish to boost engagement and impressions on page
- You aim at developing your brand awareness
- You want to amplify your best-performing posts
- You need to advertise your posted promotion or giveaway posts
- You are introducing new products / services
- You are not tech-savvy
- You have a smaller budget for marketing on Facebook
>> Read more: Boost Post Facebook: Pro Tips For Skyrocketing Reach
Conclusion
Both Facebook ads and boosted posts can help businesses advertise their products or services to Facebook users effectively. By understanding comprehensively the differences between Facebook ads vs boosted posts, you can decide when to use which type of advertising for your marketing plans.
