In the world of digital marketing, there are many options for getting your message in front of your target audience. Two of the most common are sponsored ads and boosted posts. While they may seem similar on the surface, there are some key differences between these two types of paid promotion. Understanding when to use each and how they work can help you make the most of your marketing budget and reach the right people.
What are sponsored ads?
Sponsored ads, also known as pay-per-click (PPC) ads, are advertisements on platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and others. With sponsored ads, you pay the platform each time someone clicks on your ad. The cost per click varies based on factors like competition, quality of your ads, and your target keywords.
Here are some key things to know about sponsored ads:
– You have control over your budget and can set daily or total spending limits.
– They allow you to target users very precisely based on location, demographics, interests, behaviors and more.
– You only pay when someone engages by clicking your ad.
– They appear prominently in search results and social media feeds when relevant keywords are searched.
– You can test different headlines, images and text to optimize performance.
– Reporting provides data like impressions, clicks and costs to evaluate effectiveness.
Overall, sponsored ads are ideal when you want to reach new audiences and increase website traffic, conversions and sales. They require an ongoing effort to manage and optimize for best results.
What are boosted posts?
In contrast to sponsored ads, boosted posts allow you to promote existing content you’ve shared on social media. For example, you can boost a post from your Facebook Page so it shows up in more users’ feeds. You pay to increase the reach and visibility of that specific post.
Here are some defining features of boosted posts:
– You don’t have to create new content, just select existing posts to boost.
– They appear in the normal feed like regular posts, labeled as “sponsored.”
– You can target fans of your Page plus their friends or a customized audience.
– Cost is based on your target audience size and competition, not clicks.
– You choose a daily budget and duration for the boosted post.
– Engagement metrics like reactions and comments are reported but not clicks.
Boosted posts work well for getting your content and brand in front of more of your existing audience and their connections. They require less ongoing optimization than sponsored ads.
Key Differences
While both are paid promotions, sponsored ads and boosted posts have some fundamental differences:
| Sponsored Ads | Boosted Posts |
|---|---|
| Appear alongside search results and in feeds | Appear in social media feeds only |
| New content created specifically for ads | Promotes existing social media content |
| Pay per click pricing model | Pay per day/duration pricing model |
| Reporting includes clicks and conversions | Reporting focuses on reach and engagement |
| Ongoing optimization needed | Less need for optimization |
| Reach new audiences | Reach more of your current audience |
As you can see, the two strategies work quite differently and serve different purposes.
When to Use Sponsored Ads
Here are some of the key situations where sponsored ads would be beneficial:
– Promoting a new product launch or campaign
– Driving traffic to your website
– Increasing registrations and conversions
– Reaching new geographic areas
– Targeting buyers during key purchasing cycles
– Raising awareness about your brand, products or services
In essence, sponsored ads excel when you need to proactively reach out to new potential customers and get them to take action. The ability to target specific demographics, interests and behaviors allows you to effectively promote to audiences more likely to resonate with your message and offering. You do need a larger budget and expertise to manage ongoing optimization and improvements with sponsored ads. But the potential reach and conversion value can exceed the costs, especially with diligent tracking and refinement over time.
When to Use Boosted Posts
Boosted posts make the most sense in these cases:
– Sharing new blog content, promotions and events
– Engaging more of your existing brand followers and community
– Leveraging user-generated content like positive reviews
– Promoting content that already performs well organically
– Driving traffic to your owned channels and profiles
– Building relationships through likes, shares and comments
– Creating buzz leading up to product launches or events
Boosted posts allow you to tap into the audiences you’ve already built up through your owned social media presence. Instead of seeking new followers, you get your content and messages shown to more of the users who have already demonstrated interest. This helps strengthen loyalty and keeps your brand top of mind. For awareness, engagement and relationship-building goals, boosted posts provide an efficient, lower-maintenance alternative compared to sponsored ads.
Best Practices for Each
To maximize the impact of your paid promotions, keep these tips in mind:
For sponsored ads:
– Research keywords and build ads around phrases customers are searching
– A/B test different elements like headlines, ad copy and images
– Align landing page content and calls-to-action with your ads
– Monitor performance data and continuously refine targeting
– Develop ads tailored to different stages of the buyer’s journey
For boosted posts:
– Promote your most engaging posts with strong visuals and copy
– Choose strategic objectives like Page likes or event responses
– Target fans of your Page and their friends for the widest reach
– Time boosts to coincide with events, promotions or trends
– Repurpose top-performing organic content frequently
– Shorten link previews to encourage clicks
– Insert a strong CTA that guides the user’s next interaction
Combining Strategies for Maximum Impact
For most brands, the best approach is using sponsored ads and boosted posts together as part of your overall marketing strategy.
Sponsored ads can attract new visitors and generate conversions from your content and offerings. You then build relationships with those who engage by encouraging them to follow your social profiles.
With this established audience in place, you can amplify your content through strategic boosted posts. This further engages your followers to become loyal brand advocates.
The highly targeted reach of sponsored ads combines powerfully with the word-of-mouth potential of boosted posts. Together, they enable you to efficiently grab attention in feeds, build community on your owned channels, and inspire visitors to convert across multiple touchpoints.
Viewing the strategies as complementary rather than mutually exclusive opens up more marketing possibilities. The extended reach, increased brand lift and quality lead generation can give your business a major boost.
Conclusion
Sponsored ads and boosted posts both have benefits depending on your goals, budget and target audience. Keep these core differences in mind as you develop your approach:
– Use sponsored ads to find new audiences and drive them to convert on your website. Optimize based on performance data for maximum ROI.
– Leverage boosted posts to further engage your existing social followers. Encourage likes, shares and comments to spread brand awareness.
– Combine the strategies to attract high-potential visitors with ads and build loyalty with content amplification.
As you experiment with each option and analyze the data, you’ll gain insights into what works best for your business. Just be sure to align your promotion types with clear marketing objectives. With some strategic testing and optimization, sponsored ads and boosted posts can take your digital marketing results to the next level.
