Marketers can use the “Boost Post” button on the bottom
right of their post (Exhibit 20.6) to expand the audience beyond the post’s organic reach.
Boosting allows them to choose their audience and set a budget based on how many people they
want to reach on Facebook and Instagram and for how long they want their boost to run.
Boosted ads come with three targeting options:
- People who like your Page — targets your followers.
- People who like your Page and their friends — in addition to your followers, this includes their friends as well.
- People you choose through targeting — allows you to filter the audience based on location, interests, age and gender.
While it is easy to use, boosting a post is not the recommended approach if you
want to optimize your returns on advertising spend. The targeting options for boosted posts are
limited, and Facebook optimizes them purely for greater engagement, such as more likes, shares,
and comments. Marketers seeking other objectives, such as conversion or sending people to their
website, are constrained by the lack of control on placement of posts (i.e., mobile vs. desktop)
as also the lack of targeting options.
