Boosting your social media posts is a marketing tactic that can exponentially increase the amount of people that see your content. The concept is simple: pay to have your posts show up as sponsored content on non-followers’ timelines in order to gain more exposure. The more you pay, the more people who see it. We’re going to teach you how and when to boost your posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter so your organization can start taking advantage of this awesome feature, if it hasn’t already!
What makes a good boosted post?
Before you boost a post, it’s important to make sure it’s worth boosting. First, you want your post to have a clear call to action. Boosts are great when a fundraising link is included in your content. If you’re just sharing photos of an event, the only thing a promotion would do is bring more people to your social media profile, which is great, but probably not worth spending money on. The real goal is to draw people to your website.
The next step is to focus on real people doing real things. In fact, Facebook doesn’t even allow you to promote text-heavy posts, since it knows they won’t perform well. So, make sure your post includes an emotion-provoking picture that will catch your audience’s eye as they scroll down their timeline.
Finally, you should only promote content that’s already doing well. So, if you notice you’re getting a lot of interaction on a post with a high-quality photo and specific call to action, what are you waiting for? Boost it!
Boost your posts on Facebook
Let’s start with Facebook. All of your posts should have a blue “Boost Post” button near the comment bar.
Once you click the button, the site gives you the option of choosing which audience you want to target. The first, automatically selected option says “People you choose through targeting.” This is what you want. Hit “edit” to tailor to your desired audience’s age group, location, interests and gender.
The next step is to choose how much you want to spend and how long you want the promotion to last. The size of the audience depends on how prominent your nonprofit is on social media, but usually just a couple of bucks will get you up to 1,000 more views on your post each day. Your boost can last up to two weeks, so as long as you spend at least $1 a day, the length and amount of money you put in is up to you.
And that’s all there is to it. Hit that boost button, enter your card information and watch your post take off.
Boost your photos on Instagram
Instagram is pretty similar to Facebook. Start by tapping the “Promote” button at the bottom of your picture.
The site will first ask why you’re doing this: More profile visits? More website traffic? More promotion views? Select the one that applies to you, then click next.
It will then ask you to select your audience. You can let Instagram use an algorithm to target people similar to your followers, or else you can select people in a specific location or choose your targets manually.
From there, adjust your budget and duration.
Boost your tweets
Last but not least, the Twitter promotion. Hit “View Tweet Activity” at the bottom of your post, followed by “Promote Your Tweet.”
The targeting is a little less complex, but it still lets you choose if you want a nationwide, statewide or citywide boost. The bummer here is that the minimum amount you can spend is $50, but if you have the funds, go for it! Twitter promos have a wide reach that can bring tens of thousands of interactions to your post.
Have other tips and tricks for boosting posts? Leave them in the comments!
