Are your social media posts reaching as many people as you would like?
Promoting Posts
When it comes to boosting or promoting posts, it takes a bit of experimentation, some persistence, and a lot of testing. Sometimes you hit a post out of the park. Other times, it falls on its face, and you
can only move forward with the next one. The goal is to refine the approach for choosing boosted posts, and applying the right budget to each post so that cost of acquisition remains low, click through rates increase, and you show consistency in your quality, and timing. In order to do this effectively we suggest that you use the actual Facebook and Instagram ad campaign manager instead of just clicking the "boost this post" button. You will get way more engagement, and impressions doing it this way.
Why boost anyways?
It can often times feel like a moot effort purchasing ad space on Facebook or Google in hopes that someone will respond with a like or a share. You spend hours writing the content, then you invest money into a platform that may or may not perform well. The reality is, though, that Facebook has put in place algorithms that stifle otherwise would be successful pages from reaching their followers. Instead, pages have to buy that space in a user’s timeline; and this is why we boost posts. It also means that when choosing a post to boost, we need to take a few different things into consideration so time, effort, and money isn’t spent on a fruitless endeavor.
It’s all about you
When choosing a post to promote, promote your own content. Always. Why spend money promoting someone else’s blog? Remember when we discussed guest blogging or syndication? If you don’t have the time to write something similar to an article you know your followers will enjoy, ask if you can syndicate in exchange for a link to the original authors blog! This benefits both parties, and ensures you’re not paying to send traffic to someone else’s site.
Push useful content
The number one reason that a visitor will bounce from your site is not finding the information they
were after quickly. As a blog, your entire goal should be to provide immediate, concise information about topics pertaining to your industry. This is even more important when promoting posts. You want your best foot forward on each of those boosted posts to make every dollar count, so make sure the content you do boost is going to be helpful or useful to the audience you’re targeting. This is just as important as targeting the right demographic!
When to Boost
Much like your standards posts, time is of the essence when it comes to boosting a post. Keep in mind your optimum windows of time when your followers will most likely be online and try to boost your post during those windows. Currently, 8pm is the peak time for your audience, and as the days grow longer this time may migrate closer to 9pm. Keep an eye on the stats in your dashboard to know when your followers are online.
Sometimes enough is enough
While the objective is to expose content to your existing audience, and pick up some new followers along the way, there comes a time when enough is enough. Stop boosting posts as they get older, even if the content is still relevant. Your audience will grow fatigued to it, and simply start ignoring your posts instead of engaging with them. A timeline of one to two weeks is an adequate timeline for this.
For more helpful digital marketing and social media tips and hints, join our newsletter, or contact us for a free consultation.
