A boost already sounds promising, add Facebook and advertising into the mix and the word boost sounds downright magical. 

So What's The Deal With Boosting Facebook Posts? 

The boost button, as you may have noticed, will help increase the visibility of your posts on Facebook.

While Facebook will typically recommend boosting an already well-performing piece of content, you shouldn’t click Boost just yet.

When Should One Boost, Then?

It’s best to view the boost button as another form of Facebook advertising, which is essentially what it is.

Since you’re also likely to be spending money, before boosting you should ask yourself these questions:

1. Who do I want to see this post?

2. What are my goals?

3. What kind of reactions will this get from my audience?

Starting with the first question:

Who do I want to see this post?

This is a salient starting point because if you don’t already have a goal in mind, this question can help get you there.

When you look at your business do you say:

1. “I want more of the same customers"

2. "I want their friends and family”

or do you say

3. “It’s time to target new people.”?

The boost option gives you the ability to choose your targeting similarly to Facebook ads.

This is where you can choose whether you want Facebook to spread your content based on interests or via the fans you’ve already cultivated.

Secondly you want to ask:

What are my goals?

Since you’ve already decided who it is that will be seeing the posts, it's time to decide what you want them to do once they’ve seen the post?

Is there a clear Call To Action (CTA) in place?

If you want people to call for a consultation, do you have a CTA on the post that will allow people to call directly from their phone while they’re browsing and see your post?

Goals can vary from attracting new Facebook fans to booking appointments to driving traffic to your website, but without clear goals it would be hard to know whether a link, a like button or a call now CTA is the best option for you and your business.

Certainly, we should never be boosting posts without a place for potential customers to follow up (and by follow up I mean follow a CTA of link).  

Lastly, it is important to make predictions based on experience, such as:

What kind of reactions will this get from my audience?

Since most boosted posts will be posts you’ve already published, you should be able to get a good idea of what works.

For that reason, it’s imperative not to overlook what your customers are already telling you.

If they say the most engaging piece of content you’ve written is about puppies, you push those puppies.

Remember that experimentation is well and good, but don’t do it on your own dime when Facebook offers a free trial and error.

Make sure you post on your page as you normally would and save the boosted posts for performing ads that help you reach your goals.

Make sure you also create clear flows for customers to best find the service, solution or product you think they need most.

Happy Boosting!