Welcome to the latest installment of Buzzword Breakdown. If you have heard the term or phrase social media boosting but are not sure what it means, here is a breakdown:
What is social media boosting?
Boosting is a marketing tactic that can be implemented on any social media channel (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest and Twitter). This tactic means taking an organic post and boosting it as a paid post. By doing this you are drastically increasing the amount of people that see your content.
In a nutshell, you’re paying to have your content show up on the timelines and newsfeeds of non-followers of your business in order to gain more exposure.
Why use social media boosting?
There are several reasons why you would want to add a boosting tactic to your media mix. Here are some examples below:
- Promotion or short-term sale: This would be a great time to boost your posts. Showing the sale dates and discounts to new customers who don’t follow your page is a sure way to boost your reach and have more eyes on your promotion.
- New business or new social media platform: If you’re just starting out on social media or branching into a new platform, this is a great way to showcase your current posts and get them in front of your target audience to gain new followers, and ultimately new customers. You still need good content to be recognized on the new platform, but boosting good content can be a powerful tool.
- Grow engagement: Your company might have goals to grow certain social media channels. By focusing on a specific channel and boosting organic posts, you will be able to grow the interactions and followers of your page.
- Increase website traffic: By linking your website to your social media channels, you will give followers and non followers another way to get to your website. You will see this growth in analytics via UTM codes or referral traffic.
What targeting parameters work best, specifically on Facebook?
You can layer in some of the same targeting parameters when boosting just as if you were creating a Facebook Ad through Facebook Ads Manager, but you should try to keep your targeting broad as you’re trying to reach more prospective customers. It’s a good idea to start by layering in Location/GEO, Age, and a couple of interests. By keeping the targeting parameters broader, the post will be in front of new eyes along with interested users who might not have heard of your business.
Here is a breakdown from our friends over at Hootsuite that put together a comprehensive guide on boosting. This is a great infographic comparing boosted posts to Facebook Ads.
Want to get started?
If you are feeling overwhelmed, let the experts here at SWBR help you and your business with a custom-tailored social media strategy. We have helped many local businesses in the Lehigh Valley and nationally with their social media. We’ve built campaigns that have driven traffic to your website to boost sales, and we’ve created growth strategies to help engagement on specific social media channels. Contact us today for a custom solution just right for your business.
