How to Use Facebook Promoted Posts to Boost Business Page Buzz

Does the term “Facebook advertising” make your head spin?If you've ever tried promoting your Facebook page, you know how immense the learning curve can be.Between CPC, CPM, PPC and CTR, wading through the verbiage can leave your mind reeling.And the options only continue to grow. It creates an even larger chasm between small business and accessible self promotion.It's a large enough deterrent to keep the average marketer from taking advantage of Facebook advertising.So how can you capitalize on the power of Facebook ads while maintaining your sanity (and budget)?Say hello to boosted posts with Facebook promoted posts.

How to Use Facebook Promoted Posts to Boost Business Page Buzz

The Scoop on a Facebook Promoted Post

Promoted posts are an easy way for business page owners to build engagement and invigorate a potentially fatal fan base.Never used them? Here's the skinny...Promoted posts offer two opportunities:

1. Gain the attention of fans that no longer see posts in their news feed
2. Build a new fan base by reaching the friends of your fans

With Facebook promoted posts, a business page can pay for the promotion of an individual post.This gives you increased exposure by placing your page in the news feed of more fans and friends of fans than typically reached.A promoted post is also quantifiable.Similar to a Facebook ad, page admins are able to track the metrics of each promoted post. At the bottom of your post you will see how many people that specific post reached along with how many new likes to the post or page you received.If you want to test out promoted posts, there are a several key things to remember.

1. Promoted posts are only available to pages with a minimum of 400 likes.
2. You are only able to run promotions on posts published after June 21, 2012.
3. You cannot choose the date and time your post runs. Once your promoted post is approved, it will run until your goal has been met.
4. Any type of content can be promoted including images, links, videos and status updates. A good rule of thumb is to promote a post that's visually appealing, offers exclusive or time restrictive content or promotes an upcoming event.
5. Once you’ve promoted a post you can always pause it, cancel it or adjust your budget. You will only be charged based on the results received at that point.

How to Boost Posts With Facebook Promoted Posts

1. Choose the post you want to promote

Click on the promote button on the lower right side of the post to get started.

2. Determine your audience

A big mistake many make is promoting to current fans only. This is where targeted marketing becomes your best friend.Get specific based on interests, similar pages, location, and more.The goal is to put your boosted post in front of:

• A new audience
• A group of people eager to engage with your content

3. Set your budget

With as little as $2 per day, you can reach a targeted audience.So think about it, how long do you want to run this ad and how many people do you want to reach?My suggestion is to limit it to a $5 budget when you're just getting started.And don't go crazy on that audience. Make it specific and relevant or no one is going to click and those that do...They're not actually going to buy from you or engage with your page.

4. Click save

Once you do, your post is submitted for review to the Facebook ads team.As soon as it's approved, you'll receive a confirmation email.You're now off to the races!

Monitor Your Progress

Savvy marketers monitor their progress and then adjust their strategy based on statistical data.First, take a look at your results. Click on "View Results" to access your data.

Best practices when using Facebook promoted posts:

• Assign an ad name to each of your promoted posts making it much easier to track their effectiveness.
• By default, Facebook targets the United States plus many other countries. If reaching fans in say the Ukraine isn’t your target, go ahead and make the necessary adjustments so you don’t waste time or budget on an irrelevant audience.
• Perform a split test to check the effectiveness of this new tool rather then just pushing ahead blindly.
• A simple way to conduct a split test is to send out a Sponsored Page Post Ad and a Promoted Post to page fans only.
• Monitor your progress and determine which method garners the best results.
• Determine what type of post you want to promote. It might be a sweepstakes or a new product rollout. Whatever the case, choose wisely.
• Your goal is increased engagement so make the post fun, appealing and easy to respond to. You will receive a lot more feedback when you choose a topic your fans are passionate about and one that doesn’t require much thought to take action.
• Be careful not to get too “click happy” with promoted posts. There is an option to always promote your most recent post. Choosing this option can blow a media budget quickly. You're better off to specifically select the posts you want to push into the news feed.

The Pros and Cons of Promoted Posts

If you're already receiving significant reach on your posts, promoted posts may not be for you.But more than likely, you're like the typical page struggling to get seen in the news feed.Spending additional advertising dollars is not necessary as your base is already actively seeking out your page.If your reach is under 2%, promoted posts are worth considering and may help you re-engage and reconnect with fans that haven’t seen your posts in a while.One excellent advantage of the promoted post?Unlike Facebook ads seen on the right sidebar, promoted posts can reach mobile users.That feature alone makes them an intriguing option for many marketers.

Over to you...

Will you consider Facebook promoted posts?I'd love to hear your future marketing plans in the comments below!