IN THIS ARTICLE · 7 PARTS
The short answer: boosting a post turns something you have already published into an ad, and it is the easiest way to get more people to see it. A campaign in Ads Manager is an ad too, but it gives you far more choice: other goals (such as leads and sales), more places to show the ad, carousels and finer targeting. Meta itself says boosted posts don't have as many customisation and detailed targeting options as a regular ad [1]. So the button is enough when you want a good post to reach more people in your area. When you want calls, enquiries or sales, a campaign in Ads Manager is the better tool.
What "boosting" actually is
A boosted post is an ad you create from content you have already published (a post, a Story or a Reel) on your Facebook Page or Instagram account [1]. You pay a budget, the post reaches people who don't follow you, and on your bill it shows up as an ad [1].
When you press the button, you decide a handful of things [1][2]:
- Goal: the result you want, such as more messages, more engagement or more website visitors. You can also let Facebook pick the goal for you.
- Audience: an audience recommended by Meta, or your own, built on interests, age and gender.
- Duration: a suggested time frame or a specific end date.
- Daily budget: a recommended amount or your own.
- Placements: where the post will appear.
- Text and an extra contact option: the post's own text or several variations, plus another way for customers to reach you.
That's it. There isn't much to get wrong, and that is exactly why Boost is a good place to start. If you are still deciding whether to pay for Facebook or Google at all, read Facebook ads or Google Ads first.
What Ads Manager gives you that the button doesn't
Ads Manager is Meta's tool for creating ads, deciding when and where they run and tracking how they perform [3]. These are the differences Meta describes [1][4]:
| Boosted post | Campaign in Ads Manager | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | A post you already have | From scratch: any text, photo or video |
| Goals | Website clicks, Page engagement and local business promotion | Six objectives, including Leads (enquiries by message, phone or form) and Sales |
| Placements | Facebook Feed, plus a tick box for Instagram | Also Messenger, Instagram Stories, WhatsApp Status and Audience Network |
| Audience | Interests, age and gender | Plus more advanced audiences, such as lookalikes of your customers |
| Format | Whatever the post is | Carousels, your own descriptions, a higher budget on the days and times you expect peak demand |
| Who sets the details | The goal sets things up behind the scenes | You choose the objective, where people act and what the ad optimises for |
The last row matters most. According to Meta, the goals in the button (such as "get more messages" or "get more website visitors") are simplified packages that automatically set the campaign objective, the conversion location and the performance goal in the background [4]. In Ads Manager you choose those three yourself [4]. For a salon that wants bookings or a garage that wants calls, that difference decides whether you pay for likes or for customers.
Boosting gets more people to see your post. A campaign gets the right people to do something.
Posts that can't be boosted
Before you get annoyed at a greyed-out button, check whether the post can be boosted at all. Meta lists several kinds that can't [5]:
- profile pictures (upload it as a new post and boost that);
- drafts: they have to be published first;
- albums, and posts with many images or a mix of images and video;
- Reels with copyrighted music, GIFs, interactive stickers or face and camera effects;
- Reels remixed from someone else's, and posts shared from others.
If you want to show several photos at once, Meta suggests the carousel or collection formats, which you create in Ads Manager [1][5]. Which photos work best is covered in website photos that are not stock: the same rules apply to ads.
One costly detail: boosting from an iPhone
If you boost from the Facebook or Instagram app on an iPhone or iPad, an Apple service fee of 30% may be added to your payment, and Apple keeps it, not Meta [1][2]. According to TechCrunch, you avoid the fee by boosting from the web, on facebook.com or instagram.com, and that works in a phone's browser too [6]. If you boost often, this is the easiest money you will save from this whole article.
When Boost is enough and when you need a campaign
Answer these honestly:
- I want more people in my area to see one specific post (a new menu, an event, a finished job) → Boost is enough.
- I want more followers and engagement on my Page → Boost is enough; Meta itself recommends it for this [1].
- I want people to message or call me → a campaign is better, with the Leads objective [4].
- I want to run several photos as a carousel, or ads in Stories and WhatsApp → a campaign [1].
- I want to see which of the people who clicked became customers → a campaign, which can optimise for website actions [1], and a website that tracks calls and forms.
Whatever you choose, the ad leads somewhere. If it leads to your website, it has to be obvious there what the visitor should do next: see call-to-action buttons that bring customers. How to tell whether the money comes back is in how to measure what your website brings you. A Facebook page on its own is rarely enough; why is explained in website or Facebook page.
Start with Boost, but don't stop there
Boosting is good practice: you see which posts people like and what it costs to show them to more people. The next step is a campaign with a clear goal, a separate ad for each service and a weekly look at the numbers. If you are wondering how much to set aside, the principles are much the same as in how much Google Ads cost: start from how many customers you need, not from someone else's figure.
If you'd rather not do it yourself, at Studio V1 we run Google and Facebook ads for a fixed monthly fee including VAT: €150 for Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) with a business page, one motion design video and one ad visual, €100 for Google Ads and €230 for both. You pay the budget straight to Meta, with no commission to us, and every week you get a report. There is no minimum term. We don't promise a number of enquiries, but you will see what happens to every euro.
References
- Meta Business Help Center. "The difference between boosted posts and Meta ads." facebook.com/business/help
- Meta Business Help Center. "Boost a post from your Facebook Page." facebook.com/business/help
- Meta for Business. "Meta Ads Manager: Ad Campaign Hub for Facebook & Instagram." facebook.com/business/tools/ads-manager
- Meta Business Help Center. "How to choose the right ad objective in Meta Ads Manager." facebook.com/business/help
- Meta Business Help Center. "Types of posts that can't be boosted on your Facebook Page." facebook.com/business/help
- TechCrunch. "Meta says it will pass on the Apple tax to advertisers paying to boost posts on Facebook and Instagram." techcrunch.com
