When you’re getting started with Facebook advertising, it’s hard to know which types of ads will drive the most return for your advertising dollars.

And, honestly, it can be confusing. Where do you start? Should you boost a post or should you create a specific, targeted ad campaign?

In this blog post, we’ll answer these questions and help you understand the difference between boosting Facebook posts and building a Facebook ad.

Let’s get started.

What does it mean to boost a Facebook post?

Boosting a Facebook post is easy and often tempting. All you have to do is click the Boost Post button and fill in a few targeting and budget options and you are good to go!

Boosting is a form of Facebook advertising that makes it easy to put a little bit of money behind a Facebook post and help it show up in more newsfeeds.

Sometimes, Facebook will even send you a notification that tells you one of your posts is doing well and that it would be doing even better if you put a little bit of budget into boosting it.

And sometimes, it is a good idea.

Boosting your Facebook posts can make your posts show up higher in the newsfeeds of the audience you target and make sure your followers see more of your posts.

Boosting Facebook posts is a good idea if:

• You want more of your current followers to see your posts
• You don’t have a lot of advertising expertise, but you have a post you want more eyes on
• You have a current post doing well and driving traffic to your website, but you want it to do even better

While boosting a Facebook post is a great way to get more engagement from people who already follow your Facebook page, it isn’t always the best way to go about advertising on Facebook.

Check out this post to learn the top 3 myths about boosting Facebook posts and why boosting isn’t always the best way to go about Facebook advertising.

Full disclaimer: We do boost up to two of our clients’ posts each month with our social media plan because it is a great way to get more eyes on your content and drive traffic to a certain page on your website!

What does it mean to create a Facebook ad campaign?

Creating a full ad campaign on Facebook is a little more complicated than boosting a post.

To create an ad campaign, you’ll usually start from scratch in Facebook business manager, and you’ll need a little more advertising expertise.

Here are some questions you'll need to answer before you create a Facebook advertising campaign:

1. What is your ad’s goal? How can your ad reach that goal?

When you get started with Facebook advertising, you’ll need a goal for your ad. You can choose goals (or objectives) within Facebook ad manager, including building local awareness, engagement and conversions.

Choose your ad’s goal before you start so that you can create a strategy around that goal, getting you the most return for your budget.

2. Who is your ideal target market?

Who is your ideal customer? You can target based on location, age, gender, interests and more. Often, the more specific you are with your Facebook ad targeting, the better your ad results will be.

3. What materials do you need for this ad?

Do you need personas, images, videos or other resources for your ad? You will need to make sure you have access to these materials.

4. What is your budget?

Plan your budget so that you know how much you are spending and how long your ad should run.

And, don't forget that when you set up a Facebook ad campaign, you'll need to keep an eye on it and monitor your relevance score. Ads aren't something you can set up once and forget about. They require consistent optimization and an understanding of how advertising works.

It probably sounds complicated, and that’s because it is. Facebook advertising is best left to the experts.

Building a Facebook ad campaign is a great idea if:

• You have more advanced Facebook advertising knowledge
• You want to expand your reach to new local consumers
• You have a specific goal, and boosting a post won’t help you reach that goal

Additionally, you can add call-to-action buttons to your Facebook ads, giving your audience a direction to take and prompting some sort of interaction with your business.

Final Thoughts

There you have it! Both boosting a Facebook post and Facebook advertising work well in certain situations and for certain goals, so keep that in mind the next time you are hovering over the "Boost" button on your Facebook page.