If you’ve tried promoting a Facebook post but haven’t seen the results you expected, there are a few potential reasons why your boosted post may not be working effectively. Let’s go through some of the most common issues and how to fix them.
You have a low engagement rate
One of the biggest factors that impacts how well a boosted post performs is your overall Facebook engagement rate. This refers to how many Likes, shares, and comments your regular non-promoted posts receive. If your engagement rate is low, boosted posts likely won’t perform very well either.
Before running any paid promotions, first work on improving your organic reach and engagement. Post content consistently, respond to all comments, ask questions to spark discussion, and engage with users who mention your Page. The higher your organic engagement rate is, the better your boosted posts will perform.
Your targeting is too broad
Less targeted boosted posts often won’t be as effective. Be sure you have a specific audience and goal in mind when promoting a post. For example, don’t simply target all Facebook users in a certain country. That’s extremely broad.
Instead, target based on detailed interests, behaviors, demographics, and other factors. For example, if you’re promoting a post about a dog training book, target users who are interested in dog training, follow dog trainer Pages, have recently searched or engaged with dog training content, etc. The more precise your targeting, the better.
Your post content isn’t optimized
Make sure your post content is truly compelling and optimized for promotion. Ask yourself:
- Does the image or video grab attention?
- Is the caption interesting, inspiring, or informative?
- Does it encourage engagement (likes, shares, comments)?
- Is there a strong call-to-action?
If your post itself isn’t great, even the best targeting and promotion budget won’t help it succeed. Study top-performing posts in your niche to see what works.
You haven’t split tested
Don’t just boost a post and hope for the best. Try splitting your audience into a few target groups and testing different elements:
- Image vs. video vs. carousel
- Long caption vs. short
- Emotional caption vs. factual/informative
- Pastel color palette vs. vibrant
See which variations perform best to optimize future posts. A/B testing is crucial to improving boosted post performance over time.
Your call-to-action doesn’t match the landing page
Make sure your boosted post’s call-to-action matches where users will land. For example, if the post says “Click to sign up here”, don’t send users to your homepage. They should land on a targeted signup page.
Mismatched CTAs and landing pages will frustrate users, negatively impact conversions, and increase cost per result. Always ensure your destinations are aligned.
Your page has low overall engagement
As mentioned previously, Facebook considers your overall page engagement when determining a boosted post’s reach and performance. If your Facebook Page has low follower count, poor engagement rates, and minimal sharing activity, boosted posts won’t perform as well.
Try growing your follower count with Facebook ads, posting more consistently, and engaging followers to increase overall Page engagement. Once your organic reach and results improve, your boosted posts will benefit.
You haven’t analyzed the results
Consistently analyze the results of your promoted posts. Look at the reach, engagement rate, CTR, impressions, cost per result, and audience demographics for each post. This will reveal what is and isn’t working.
Use these learnings to create higher-converting posts and target audiences that actually engage. Don’t keep promoting the same poor-performing content blindly.
Your budget or duration is too low
While you don’t necessarily need a massive budget, make sure you’re spending enough to give your posts a chance. Very low budgets spread across broad audiences will lead to poor reach and engagement.
Similarly, don’t stop the promotion too early either. Let your posts run for at least 5-7 days to fully optimize delivery.
Your page or post has been restricted
If your Facebook Page or specific posts have faced restrictions due to policy violations, your promoted posts may not deliver as expected. Issues like banning links, obscuring images, limiting reach, or demoting content can all impact boosted post performance.
Avoid anything that might get your page or posts restricted. Follow Facebook’s ad policies, avoid sensationalist tactics, and don’t use engagement bait techniques.
Your audience doesn’t match the content
Make sure your boosted post targets an audience that will actually care about that content. Don’t promote a post about dog toys to people who only follow your page for fashion tips.
Look at your top-performing non-boosted posts to see which audiences naturally engage the most. Then create similar posts and target those specific groups for the best results.
There’s an engagement gap
While boosted posts may reach a lot of people, that doesn’t guarantee engagement. If your post gets 10,000 impressions but only 100 reactions, that indicates an engagement gap issue.
This means the audiences you’re targeting aren’t the right fit for that content. Try tweaking the targeting, post style and messaging, CTA, etc. to narrow the gap between impressions and engagement.
You haven’t optimized your page
Make sure your Facebook Page itself is fully optimized to improve the performance of everything you promote. Some best practices include:
- Professional cover photo and profile picture
- Detailed “About” section
- Link to your website in bio
- Engaging pinned post
- Responding to all comments and messages
- Posting frequently and consistently
An unoptimized page with minimal followers will make it harder to run successful ad campaigns. Do the work first to establish your brand and grow your audience.
You have significant competition
If other similar pages in your niche are heavily promoting boosted posts, it will be harder for yours to stand out in the crowd. Be sure your posts and targeting are ultra-specific to give you an edge.
Don’t directly compete with competitors boosting the same content. Differentiate yourself instead to grab attention.
Your audience is “promoted post fatigued”
If you boost posts too frequently, your audience will get tired of seeing promoted content all the time. This fatigue means they’re less likely to engage with each subsequent boosted post.
Avoid this by being more selective and deliberate with your boosted post strategy. Only promote your very best, most compelling posts occasionally vs. boosting every post.
Your brand lacks authority
Established brands and influencers with strong authority tend to see better boosted post performance. If your brand is unknown, you may need to build more credibility and trust before seeing great results from promoted posts.
Consider tactics like influencer marketing, guest posting, social media engagement, and PR outreach to establish expertise and authority in your niche to support future paid promotions.
You’re using the wrong objective
Make sure your campaign objective aligns with your goal. If you want more engagement, don’t use the Conversions objective. Common objectives include:
- Engagement – likes, shares, comments
- Reach – impressions and clicks
- Traffic – clicks to your website
- Conversions – on-site actions like sales
Pick the objective that matches what you’re optimizing for to get the right results.
There are placement issues
Where your boosted posts appear impacts performance. Avoid placement in the right column or with Sponsored tags as these reduce engagement. Use the Power Editor to optimize placement for the News Feed instead.
Also consider device targeting. Posts promoted on mobile may not perform as well as desktop or vice versa.
You haven’t optimized for relevance
Facebook’s algorithm prioritizes “relevance” when ranking all posts, including promoted posts. Relevant refers to content that specific users are likely to find interesting and engaging.
Study your audience insights to understand what types of content your followers regularly like, comment on, and share. Then craft boosted posts about those topics, interests, and styles.
Staying on-brand and relevant for your audience will improve reach and engagement.
You lack social proof
Adding social proof elements like comments, shares, follower counts, and engagement rates can improve promoted post performance. People are more likely to engage with posts that others already have.
Make sure to enable the “Show Post Insights” feature so people can see how many others have already interacted. Share your top-performing posts to help build momentum.
Your post doesn’t stand out
With so much content being shared, it’s crucial that your promoted posts stand out in the crowd. Consider these differentiation tactics:
- Bright, bold colors
- Dynamic video
- Emotional appeal
- Controversial or contrary messaging
- Comments and replies
- Personalized messaging
Do something unexpected to grab attention when promoting posts in a competitive landscape.
You’re not monitoring performance
Actively monitor your boosted posts to optimize them for better results. Look at metrics like:
- Reach and impressions
- Engagement rate
- Clicks and CTR
- Reporting and attribution
- Demographics
Based on these results, tweak your targeting, content style, captions, and more to improve ongoing performance.
Conclusion
Boosting Facebook posts takes some finesse. But by troubleshooting issues like poor engagement, mismatched audiences, irrelevant content, and placement problems, you can get the results you want.
Analyze your data, learn from failures, refine your strategy, and keep testing to eventually achieve your ideal reach, engagement, conversions, and ROI from promoted posts.