Home inspection businesses of all shapes and sizes are well-served by leveraging the power of Facebook. Whether you are trying to find new prospects in a cheap, efficient way or are simply looking to build the brand equity of your business in your community, Facebook can be an excellent platform to get the job done. Regardless of the controversies affecting Facebook now and in the future, it is a company that will remain a critical tool to help you accomplish your business goals.
While you undoubtedly recognize the power of Facebook for your home inspection business, you may not know exactly how to leverage it. Yes, Facebook is a powerful tool, but you want to ensure that you are obtaining the greatest return on investment. This is true if you are posting organic content, but this is especially relevant if you are giving Facebook money to promote your content.
In this article, we want to discuss one key nuance in allocating part of your digital marketing budget to Facebook. That is the difference between Facebook ads and boosted posts. There are important, yet subtle differences between both that are critical to understand. By taking the time to study these differences, you and your team can choose the best way forward in your Facebook marketing strategy.
The Basics on Facebook Ads and Boosted Posts
Before exploring the differences between Facebook ads and boosted posts, it is critical to have a basic understanding of what they are and how they can help your business.
Let’s start with Facebook ads. Generally speaking, Facebook ads are text, photo, or video advertisements that users see on their Facebook feeds. Like other forms of advertising, companies pay Facebook to show their products or services to customers who may be interested in making a purchase. That said, Facebook ads are special for many reasons.
One of the most powerful parts of Facebook ads centers on targeting. Whether you import an audience from an already-existing email list or generate an audience from scratch, Facebook does a tremendous job of getting your ads in front of Facebook users who are most likely to convert.
With Facebook ads, you can also be extremely clear on your objective and have Facebook execute on that objective. Some sample objectives include generating sales on your home inspection website, generating downloads your mobile app (if you have one), gaining new followers or fans for your Facebook page, or simply just generating increased awareness about your brand.
There are many other notable features of Facebook ads. To read more about them, feel free to click here.
Facebook boosted posts, on the other hand, are ads that you create from posts on your home inspection business’s Facebook page. Facebook argues that boosted posts are the easiest way to advertise on its platform. To better understand how Facebook boosted posts work, an example is helpful.
Let’s say that you obtained a compelling video testimonial from one of your satisfied customers. You posted the video to your Facebook page (along with a compelling text introduction to the video) and saw that it generated a good amount of traction among your followers. That said, you want to get this post in front of a brand new audience that may not necessarily follow you, yet would likely be interested in your home inspection services. As you can guess, Facebook boosted posts are just the thing you need. Boosting this particular post can not only get more people to like and comment on your post, but can introduce your business to a new group of potential customers.
To learn more about boosted posts and what they can do for you, click here.
Exploring the Differences Between Facebook Ads and Boosted Posts
With this basic description in mind, let’s examine some of the main differences between Facebook ads and boosted posts.
One of the starkest differences is that Facebook ads and boosted posts often accomplish different objectives. Facebook ads let you optimize for things like app installs, website conversions, video views, shop orders, and more. Boosted posts, on the other hand, are overwhelmingly concerned with optimizing for likes for your Facebook post and page, comments, shares, or overall brand awareness.
Facebook does a great job of helping you with all of these objectives, yet it is important to settle on your objective before deciding on Facebook ads or boosted posts. In the home inspection industry, both can serve you well. For instance, if your main Facebook marketing strategy is to get Facebook users onto your website, you will likely want to leverage Facebook ads. When doing so, you can even add a call to action (like a free digital gift or even a coupon) that Facebook users can only obtain by visiting your website and taking some action. By contrast, if you are trying to grow your Facebook presence through additional likes or comments, a boosted post may be the best option.
Therefore, think hard about the type of return that you want to see from your Facebook marketing strategy. Doing so will help you decide on whether Facebook ads or boosted posts are best for you.
From objective, another key difference between Facebook ads and boosted posts is where you want your ad to appear. With boosted posts, for instance, you can check or uncheck on whether you want your ad to appear on Instagram along with Facebook mobile and the desktop News Feed of Facebook. On the other hand, with Facebook ads, you can also place your ads in Facebook News Feed side ads, Facebook Messenger ads, Instagram stories, instant articles, and Audience Network.
As you can tell, Facebook ads can give you a much larger reach than boosted posts. This may or may not be beneficial for you. You and your team will need to evaluate whether this added reach is worth the cost.
Facebook ads and boosted posts also differ in that Facebook ads give you greater creative control. Facebook ads designed in Facebook Ads Manager can be designed in a way that fits your goals. You can also accomplish your goals with boosted posts, but you aren’t able to leverage things like call-to-action buttons, carousel ads, or specific descriptions. Again, you may not necessarily need these things, but if you do need them, you will only find them in Facebook ads.
Finally, Facebook ads offer more advanced targeting options than boosted posts. This is a key difference that you should absolutely consider. With boosted posts, you can target Facebook users based on interests, age, and gender, but that is essentially it. But with Facebook Ads, you can do things like create lookalike audiences, overlapping audience types, and more. These advanced targeting options can go a long way in finding the warmest of prospects for your home inspection business.
Making a Calculated Decision
Both Facebook ads and boosted posts can go a long way in helping you accomplish your business goals. That said, before investing in either option, you will want to think hard about their inherent strengths and whether they can help you accomplish those goals. By being deliberative and thoughtful, you will see a significant return on investment.
If you need help with your Facebook marketing strategy or would like to learn more about the topics referenced above, we invite you to contact us. At Inspector Media, we are laser-focused on helping you leverage Facebook (and other social media platforms) to grow your business. Click here to get in touch with us.