As you’ve undoubtedly noticed, you have to pay for boosted posts and ads to reach Facebook users, regardless of whether or not your pet business page has a lot of likes, or just a few.
My dog blog, Little Dog Tips, is more of a passion project than a business. However, I do occasionally pay to boost a post when I want it to reach more people.
I’m glad Facebook allows you to set a budget as small as $3 to experiment without draining your budget on ineffective boosts.
What I’ve learned: some posts are more boostable than others.
By taking a close look at the results of your paid campaigns, you’ll save money while getting more engagements and clicks.
What To Boost
Before you boost a post, decide what you would like to gain from it. Do you want more people to like your page? Do you want people to comment, share or subscribe to your blog?
The best way to make the most of your Facebook marketing budget is to boost a page that leads to an opt-in offer.
You can write a blog post but leave some of the most valuable information out – then create a content upgrade. Say you write a post about helping your pet lose weight. Your content upgrade could be guide to creating a weight loss diet, with recipes for low-calorie treats and meals.
Your boosted post can also lead directly to a landing page that encourages readers to sign up, or even make a purchase.
When To Boost
Many people are online almost constantly. They check their Facebook as soon as they wake up and it’s the last thing they see before they go to bed. Some people are able to go on Facebook at work, or check their phone at lunch.
I’m not too concerned about the exact time of my boosts, as long as they’re not in the middle of the night.
I’d suggest no earlier than 9AM and no later than 7PM. Your boost can go on for a minimum of several hours and and you may choose to extend it for weeks, so you’ll be able to reach people who use Facebook at different times.
Avoid boosting on holidays, Friday nights or weekend afternoons. People are on their phones when they’re socializing, but they’re not paying much attention to ad content.
Analyzing Your Results
Looking at the results of your campaign after it has ended will help you get even better results from your next one.
Some posts do better than others. You’ll notice that you can put very little money into a boost, but that will set off a bunch of likes, clicks, comments and shares. You’ll put the same amount of money into a less “boostable” post and get little engagement.
More “boostable” posts get you more engagement for less money, so you want to keep boosting those and use them as inspiration for your next posts. Don’t boost posts that people simply do not enjoy or feel compelled to engage with.
Your “boostable” posts may get more engagement, but fewer leads.
My most successful boost was for a link to my blog post “5 Symptoms Of The Diehard Chihuahua Mama.”
For a small budget, I got a lot of engagement.
But I can’t make that money back with this post. There’s no affiliate links, and while it does have an opt-in banner at the end, nobody signed up for my email list as a result of this boost.
I might try boosting it again after adding a pop-up opt-in form.
Be sure to experiment with your targeted audience, images and copy. Sometimes, long copy keeps people hooked and compels them to share. Sometimes, shorter copy works better.
Your copy can sometimes end with a call to action. Why should people visit your link?
You can also ask a question to get more comments on the post. When people comment, the post can appear in their friends’ newsfeeds.
Invite Post Likers To Your Page
If you targeted Facebook users who to not already Like your page, you may get post likes from people who are new to your content.
Click “Likes” then click “invite” next to each name where it shows up. Keep in mind the time of day you send the like request. It’s best to send it when people are typically active on Facebook, because if you send it when they’re not online, it could get buried under their other notifications.
Friend me on Facebook and like my business page for more content marketing tips and cute pictures of my dogs.
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