Just like in video games, sometimes a little turbo boost can help a social media marketer achieve their goals. Knowing when and how to boost is important because this feature on Facebook costs some money. So unless you are bankrolled by Lex Luthor, you are going to want to boost smartly. Now you just need some tips on how, when, and why.

Boosting is a simple one click process on Facebook. You click “Boost Post” and begin selecting your target audience. Then you set your budget because you are basically paying Facebook to bypass their top-secret Krabby patty… I mean algorithm and paste your post over your target audience’s news feeds. Facebook makes this process extremely easy because, well, they want your money. So this is why you need to show a little restraint and know when boosting a post is warranted.

If you are going to boost, you better have a plan in place. A boosted post can help you increase brand awareness, help with engagement, increase traffic, and help you promote new content. Let’s say for instance the YMCA is holding their annual Bowl For Kids event and I have a great promotional post ready to go. This event has been around for quite a few years, and generally reaches max capacity without much advertising effort. Boosting in this situation would be foolhardy, and unnecessary. On the other hand, If the Y was holding the 1st annual turkey trot I should strongly consider boosting my promotional post. This would help me spread awareness of something new my business is offering. Knowing when to boost and when not to, is crucial to keeping your budget in check.

Year after year, it is becoming more difficult on Facebook for businesses to reach their target audiences. They are constantly changing that algorithm so that non-paid posts are reaching less and less people. Facebook is doing this because, like all of us, they want money. As a social media marketer this can be frustrating, but nevertheless a fact of life. Now we must boost the posts we deem most important to our business, in order to reach our target audience.

When boosting, take extra time on reviewing your posts. Image or video quality is of the utmost importance now that you are spending money. You do not want to waste a boost on a sub-par post. So cross your t’s and dot your i’s and please check your spelling. Nothing looks worster than pour spelling an bad gramer. (my editor just cried)

Thanks for reading today’s blog and I hope you will be boosting with confidence as you move forward. How do you feel about Facebook making it harder and harder to reach our audience without forking over some cash? Do you think they will end up hurting themselves by making businesses shy away from online marketing? Leave a comment below and I’ll be sure to see it, no boost necessary. Don’t forget to hit the share button below because gaining knowledge is the first step to wisdom; sharing it is the first step to humanity.