You might already be familiar with creating ads on social media, but boosting your social media posts is a simpler paid tactic to get your content in front of more people.

You don’t even have to be running ads to boost a post! Simply pay to have your content show up as sponsored posts on non-followers’ timelines and gain more exposure for your business.

Keep reading to learn how to take advantage of the boost feature on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with just the click of a button. 

Why Boost a Post?

You might be wondering why you would boost a post instead of creating a social media ad campaign. It’s important to keep in mind that some marketing goals with are best achieved with an ad, while others can be reached by simply boosting a post. On Facebook, for example, boosted posts are not created in their Ads Manager and you cannot customize them in the same way — but the are simpler to execute and, depending on the goal, can be just as effective. 

On most social media platforms, you get to choose your target audience, your maximum budget for the duration of the boost, and how long you want to run the boost. Boosting a post is technically considered running an ad, but with fewer customization options. Boosted posts optimize for likes, shares, comments, and overall brand awareness, while full-fledged ads can optimize for website conversions, bookings, and more robust options.

If you’re just starting out on social media or trying to grow your following, boosting a post maximizes visibility, brand engagement, and audience growth. Clicking the boost button also builds up social proof for the given post, so if you do plan to use it in a future ad campaign, you’ll get more bang for your buck. Plus, boosting a post is quicker than digging into PPC for social media and learning the ins and outs of each platform. Overall, it’s a fast and easy way to maximize your customer following. 

How to Boost a Post on Facebook & Instagram 

Ad objectives: Video views, leads, calls, messages, engagement, website visitors

Your boosted Facebook post can include text, a video or image, and a link to your website in the form of a call-to-action button. Boosting a post on Facebook also allows you to build your audience on Instagram. Since Facebook owns Instagram, the platform makes it easy to choose Instagram as an audience when boosting a Facebook post, or you can choose an Instagram post to boost to Facebook.

You can boost a Facebook post for as little as $1 per day. 

Follow these easy steps to boost a post:

1. From your Facebook business page, choose a post that you want to boost.
2. Click the “Boost Post” button on the bottom of your post.
3. Choose the goal for your post. Options include more messages, more engagement, and more website visitors. The automatic option lets Facebook select the most relevant goal based on your business settings. 
4. Create a label for your CTA button, like “learn more,” “book now,” or “sign up.”
5. Select an audience for your post. This might include people who have already liked your page, friends of people who like your page, or a new audience based on gender, age, location, and other factors. 
6. Choose duration and timing for your boosted post. Get more specific by selecting certain days of the week or times of day. (Not sure which days to post? Check out this social media cheat sheet). 
7. Set your budget. 
8. Choose your ad placement and input your payment method. You can conveniently opt to boost the same post to Instagram without additional steps.
9. Make sure your ad preview and estimated results look correct.
10.  If you’re happy with what you see, go ahead and click “Boost Post Now” at the bottom of the screen. 

Boost an Instagram Post to Facebook

Stay logged into Facebook, where you’ll see the Ad Center in the left column. Click create an ad, then select Boost an Instagram Post. Check the preview to see how your post will look on Facebook before hitting publish.

How to Promote a Tweet on Twitter

Ad objectives: Website traffic, leads, promotions, awareness.

When it comes to Twitter, boosting a post is referred to as promoting a Tweet, and it’s just as straightforward as the process for Facebook and Instagram. Follow these steps to promote a Tweet you’ve already posted:

1. Click on your profile icon and find the Tweet you want to promote.
2. Click the View Tweet activity icon. 
3. Select Promote your Tweet.
4. Enter information such as country and time zone, contact information, and agree to Twitter’s advertising terms.
5. Enter payment information.
6. Under Targeting, choose the location you want to target, such as worldwide or areas closer to your business location.
7. Under Budget, decide how much you want to spend; between $10 and $2,500. You’ll see the estimated number of engagements based on how much you plan to spend.
8. Click Confirm to promote your Tweet.

Next Steps

Both Facebook and Twitter offer analytics so you can see how your boosted posts are performing. The platforms even let you see the breakdown of engagement by organic and paid traffic so you can determine how successful the boost was.

Once you’ve played around with a few boosted posts, we recommend looking into paid advertising on social media. Start by determining goals, setting a budget, and planning campaigns to drive further engagement. Get started with our campaign creation guide.