There are a whopping 2 billion daily active users on Facebook. I bet you’re one of them. Take advantage of easy access to this audience. It’s time to learn how you can utilise Facebook’s paid features to reach and influence your audience.
First, we have a duty to make a clear distinction between something. We often ask trade businesses across Australia what they’re doing with Facebook. To which they typically respond with: “I’ve got a business page and I’m running Facebook ads”.
In reality, they’re running boosted posts, not Facebook ads. There’s a massive difference between the two.
What are boosted posts?
Boosted posts is the selection of a specific post (one that is already on your businesses page) and ‘putting money behind it’ in order to boost it to an audience. This boosted post will show up to your selected audience based on location, interests, and more. They are paid posts. You can set a budget according to how long you want the boost to run for. Essentially, the boosted post only allows you to reach a wider audience.
Benefits
- It’s simplistic and appealing for those who don’t want to deal with complicated ad campaigns in Facebook.
- Increases engagement with that specific post
- Provides exposure for your business.
Limitations
- Its simplistic design means you cannot be specific with your advertisement
- You cannot be specific with your audience targeting
- Cannot change the target of boosted posts from ‘reach/engagement’.
When should I use it?
It’s best to avoid boosting posts just for the sake of boosting. You need to be strategic, if you want to get the most out of your money.
Ideally, there are three types of posts you can boost to get maximum results:
- Posts that are announcements of an upcoming event that is sponsored or hosted by your company
- A release of a new product/service
- Limited time promos or discount offers.
Facebook advertisements
Facebook advertisements are set up through Facebook’s Business Manager. Facebook advertisements allow you to be specific in your targeting. This allows you to achieve your campaigns aim easier. The advertisement is based off an entirely new post, which does not appear on your Business’s Facebook page.
Benefits
- Create more specific audiences. For example, you can target people based on location, age, interests, job titles, education and much more
- More specific campaign aims. For example, lead generation, video views, engagement, website views, and much more
- Allows you to create a ‘Facebook Pixel’ to use in audiences for retargeting purposes
- The budget is spent based off your campaign aim.
- More features than boosted posts.
Limitations
- Facebook’s Business Manager is complex for those who are not familiar with it.
When should I use it?
There are plenty of uses for Facebook advertisements all based off the campaign aims available when creating your advertisement, including:
- Increase brand awareness
- Increasing reach
- Increasing leads
- Increasing engagement, and so much more!
What’s next?
- Join our Kick-Ass Tradies Facebook Group, for access to trade business specific conversations, tips and resources, plus a like-minded community of tradies.
- Book a 15-minute Game Plan Call with Andy, owner of Dr. DRiP plumbing and co-founder of Lifestyle Tradie, to clarify your priorities and get clear action steps.
