In today’s digital landscape, businesses have many options when it comes to promoting their products and services online. Two of the most popular methods are ads and boosted posts. But which one is more effective? In this comprehensive article, we’ll examine the pros and cons of ads versus boosted posts to help you determine which is the better option for your business.
What are ads?
Ads refer to paid advertisements that businesses can place on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, search engines like Google, and thousands of websites through ad networks. The most common types of online ads include:
- Search ads – Appear alongside Google search results
- Display ads – Banners, videos, and other formats on websites
- Social media ads – Paid posts on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
- Native ads – Advertisements designed to match the look and feel of the content they appear next to
Ads allow businesses to precisely target their ideal audience based on location, demographics, interests, and behaviors. You only pay when someone clicks your ad or views it for a certain length of time.
What are boosted posts?
Boosted posts refer to organic social media posts that brands can pay to “boost” to reach a larger audience. For example, on Facebook and Instagram, you can choose to boost a post so more of your followers and targeted demographics will see it in their feed.
The main difference between ads and boosted posts is that ads send people off of social media to your website or sales page, while boosted posts aim to get more engagement within the platform itself.
Pros of ads
Now let’s explore some of the key advantages of investing in ads over boosted social posts:
More targeting options
Ads allow for incredibly precise targeting based on demographic, behavioral, and interest-based factors. You can laser-focus your ads to reach exactly who you want to reach. With boosted posts, you can only target based on very basic factors like age, gender, location.
Drive traffic anywhere
Ads can include links and calls-to-action that send visitors anywhere you want, such as your website, product pages, lead capture forms, etc. Boosted posts keep people scrolling within social media.
Awareness beyond followers
Ads give you the ability to reach a huge new audience beyond just your current followers. Boosted posts are still limited primarily to people who already like your page.
Flexible placement
You can have ads appear on Google, social media, relevant websites, YouTube videos, and virtually anywhere with a digital ad presence. Boosted posts appear in the social platform’s existing feed.
Better tracking and optimization
Robust analytics and tracking are baked into most ad platforms, allowing you to closely monitor performance and optimize for the highest conversions. Boosted post analytics are much more limited.
Higher authority and trust
Paid ads on reputable websites give your brand an air of authority, credibility, and trust. Social platforms are more saturated, making it harder to stand out.
Pros of boosted posts
Now let’s look at some potential advantages of boosting social posts over purchasing ads:
Lower barrier to entry
Creating and boosting posts is very simple and only requires a social media presence. Running ads involves researching keywords, setting up campaigns, designing creatives, etc.
Leverage existing content
You can repurpose and amplify your top-performing organic posts. Ads require designing new creatives from scratch.
Familiar environment
Boosted posts already match the look and feel that users expect in their social feeds. Ads introduce new elements that may feel out of place.
Social proof and engagement
Seeing posts with lots of comments and reactions can influence people to stop and engage. Ads don’t offer the same built-in social proof.
Brand awareness
Boosting brand-focused content can organically grow your reach and get more eyes on your page. Ads require directly targeting individual users.
Key differences
To recap, here are some of the major differences between ads and boosted posts:
| Ads | Boosted Posts |
|---|---|
| Send traffic external sites | Keep people on social platforms |
| Precise targeting capabilities | Limited targeting options |
| Reach new audiences | Reach existing followers |
| Higher trust and authority | Higher social engagement |
| Robust tracking and optimization | Limited analytics |
When are ads better?
Here are some of the main situations where investing in ads over boosted posts makes more sense:
- You want to drive traffic to your website to complete conversions
- You need to reach a new audience outside your existing followers
- You have a robust process for optimizing conversion funnels
- You have the budget for larger paid advertising campaigns
- Your business relies heavily on search visibility
Ads to boost conversions
If your primary goal is to get people to purchase products, sign up for a trial, set an appointment, or take other high-value actions, ads will provide the targeting, creative options, and analytical capabilities to drive more conversions.
Expanding reach
If you’ve already saturated your existing social audience, running ads on Google, Facebook, Instagram and other networks offers exposure to vast amounts of new potential customers. Boosted posts alone won’t help you find and connect with these new audiences.
When are boosted posts better?
Here are some situations where boosted posts may be the better route:
- You’re focused on engagement over conversions
- You have a limited ad budget
- You already have high organic reach and engagement
- You want a quick and easy promotion
- You’re a local business relying on community
Driving engagement
If you care more about metrics like shares, comments, and reactions over conversions, boosted posts allow you to get your content in front of more of your engaged followers. The built-in social proof can then continue driving more viral growth.
Quick and easy
For some businesses, especially smaller ones, creating and managing sophisticated ad campaigns takes too much time and effort. Boosting posts is a much easier, faster tactic.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, ads and boosted posts serve different purposes. Ads are precision tools for conversion-focused businesses who want to target new audiences. Boosted posts provide an easy way to double down on existing social engagement.
In most cases, the best approach is to utilize both ads and boosted posts as part of a complete social media marketing strategy. Ads can attract new audiences and drive them to convert while boosted posts can enhance visibility and engagement among existing followers.
The optimal mix depends on your business goals, target audience, and resources. Dedicating 80% or more of your budget to targeted ads while using the remainder for the occasional boosted post is a good starting point for most small and mid-sized businesses.
Over time, continually analyze the performance of your ads vs. boosted posts and optimize your allocation towards what is driving the highest ROI. With some strategic testing and optimization, you can discover the perfect combination of ads and boosted posts to maximize your marketing results.