INTRODUCTION
According to Statista, more than 225 million people in the United States use Facebook, and approximately 900,000 U.S. businesses are using Facebook boosts or ads to reach them.
Some businesses, however, may not be sure which ad format will meet their marketing and business objectives.
Following are some tips on how and when to use Facebook boosts (vs. ads) for your development.
HOW TO BOOST A FACEBOOK POST
A Facebook boost is the simplest version of a Facebook ad. You can create it from an organic Facebook post, video or event that you already published to your Page’s timeline, and you can launch it for as little as $1 a day.
To boost a post, you must first set up a Facebook ads account for your development’s business page within your Business Manager. Then click the “boost post” button on any eligible post to get started.
From here, you should select your goal (e.g. get more messages, get more engagement, etc.) and a call-to-action. Some of the options (e.g. learn more) require a URL, such as a dedicated landing page on your development’s website.
If you own a residential development, you must turn on the special ad category and choose “housing” for your boost to run. If you don’t, your boost will be rejected by Facebook.
Next, set your target audience. If your boost falls into the “housing” special ad category, there are some limitations. For instance, you cannot target by age, gender or zip code, and some audience interests and behaviors are not available.
You can target within 15 miles (or more) of a specific city, address or pin-drop. You also can select relevant, eligible interests such as “land and houses” or “single-family detached home.”
If you are a commercial real estate developer, you are able to target by age, gender and zip code, and narrow your location radius. You also can choose interests, demographics and behaviors that target potential investors, buyers or tenants.
For example, “real estate investment,” “commercial property” or “real estate investor/owner” are some parameters from which to choose. In addition, you can search by job title or industry if you are looking for specific types of tenants.
Finally, set your date range and total ad budget for the boost. The boosted post will automatically appear in Facebook and Instagram newsfeeds and within Facebook Messenger. You can exclude Instagram and/or Messenger under “placements” if you don’t want your boost to appear on those platforms.
Facebook will provide an ad preview and estimated daily results once you fill in all the required fields. Click “boost post now” when you are ready to boost your post.
WHEN TO USE FACEBOOK BOOSTS
Facebook boosts should be used to extend the reach of content you’ve already created to people who don’t already follow your page. In other words, the people who follow your page likely aren’t your target audiences.
Boost posts that use high-quality images or videos (e.g. renderings, drone video, etc.), as they are more likely to generate reactions, comments, shares and clicks.
You also can encourage people to take further action by using relevant call-to-action buttons. For example, you can use “Send message” to stimulate real-time conversations about your development within Messenger.
Boosts are ideal for promoting small events, such as open houses, as well. You can simply create a Facebook event and boost it to reach your target audience. That way, people can view all of the event details and get a reminder (if they mark that they are “interested” or “going”) right on the platform.
WHEN TO CREATE FACEBOOK ADS
While Facebook boosts are more affordable than true ads ($1 per day vs. $5 per day minimum) and easier to launch, they do have their limits. For example, you aren’t able to schedule Facebook boosts for a later date, select advanced placements (e.g. Facebook audience network, Facebook Stories) or edit content.
You need to create ads in Facebook Ads Manager to access those features. You also can create multiple ad groups and ads within Ads Manager. This allows you to A/B test images and ad copy, or develop specific messaging for different target audiences.
That’s why you should use true Facebook ads for more complex goals, like generating meaningful leads or retargeting past website visitors.
A residential developer, for example, can use Ads Manager to create an audience comprised solely of people who visited a specific page of their website. Then they can develop a campaign with ads designed to recapture that audience, and hopefully, generate sales.
Since Facebook ads will not appear on your timeline, you can create several variations without overloading your page. Plus, unlike separate boosts, ads within a single campaign won’t compete with each other for the same audience.