Although both Facebook advertising and post advertising aim to expand reach and interaction levels, they serve distinct purposes and offer unique advantages. In this blog, Bluefocus will delve deep into the differences between Facebook advertising and enhanced post advertising.
Explore their respective functions, features, and best use cases to help businesses make informed decisions when planning their social media marketing strategies.
What is Facebook Advertising and Post Advertising?
Facebook Advertising
- Facebook advertising is a form of paid advertising on the Facebook platform that allows businesses to promote their products, services, or content to their target audience. These ads appear in users’ news feeds and in other areas of the platform, such as the right-hand column or messenger.
- Facebook advertising offers a multitude of customization options, including various ad formats (such as image ads, video ads on Facebook, collection ads), targeting criteria (such as interest-based targeting, behavioral targeting), and campaign objectives.
- Advertisers can set specific budgets and bidding strategies, track performance metrics, and optimize campaigns to achieve their marketing goals.
Post Advertising on Facebook
- Post advertising is a feature on Facebook that allows users to pay to increase the reach and visibility of their unpaid posts. When a post is advertised, it is displayed to a wider audience beyond the users who follow the page.
- The advertised posts appear in users’ news feeds and can include various types of content, such as text, images, videos, or links.
The Difference Between Facebook Ads and Post Ads
- Facebook ads and Facebook Post Advertising aim to increase visibility and interaction on the platform by promoting content to a wider audience. They utilize paid advertising to reach users beyond the organic reach of the Facebook page, thereby enhancing interaction with the advertised content.
- Both options allow advertisers to target by ad placement on Facebook, interests, demographics, and specific behaviors to ensure their content reaches the most relevant audience, although they share the common goal of increasing brand visibility and interaction.
- However, there are some notable differences between advertised posts and Facebook ads that advertisers and brands should be aware of.
Campaign Objective Selection
A notable difference between Facebook advertising and post advertising on Facebook is their campaign objectives.
- Facebook advertising offers various campaign objectives tailored to specific reach goals. These objectives include brand awareness, engagement, website traffic, conversions, and app installs. Advertisers can choose the most suitable objective for their marketing strategy and desired outcomes.
- Facebook advertising campaigns are optimized based on the selected objectives, with ad distribution, bidding strategies, and performance metrics adjusted accordingly.
- For example, a company aiming to enhance “brand awareness” while another business focuses on driving website traffic may choose the “website traffic” objective.
- Unlike Facebook advertising, post advertising on Facebook does not have specific campaign objectives to choose from; instead, they aim to increase the visibility of existing organic content by expanding its reach to a wider audience.
- While advertised posts may indirectly contribute to broader marketing objectives such as increasing brand awareness or driving website traffic, they lack the optimization and specific options available with Facebook advertising.
- The primary focus of advertised posts is to boost engagement metrics such as likes, comments, and shares rather than driving specific actions or conversions.
Targeting Options
- Facebook advertising provides advertisers with the ability to leverage advanced targeting options, allowing them to reach specific audiences based on demographics, interests, location, behavior, and more. Advertisers can create highly segmented audiences to ensure their ads are displayed to the most relevant users.
- Additionally, Facebook ads offer advanced targeting features such as custom audiences, lookalike audiences, and retargeting options, enabling advertisers to reach users who have previously interacted with their brand or engaged with their current customers.
Advertising Features and Formats
- For advanced advertising tailored to business objectives, Facebook offers over 12 advertising formats for brands to choose from, including images, videos, carousels, slideshows, and more. These ad formats provide advertisers with flexibility and creative freedom to showcase their products or services.
- Facebook ads also feature various functionalities such as call-to-action buttons, lead forms, and content optimization, allowing advertisers to drive specific actions and optimize their campaigns for maximum effectiveness.
- Advertising posts on Facebook are limited to the format of the original organic post, although advertisers can promote posts containing text, images, videos, or links. However, there is no option to choose from different advertising formats or add advanced features such as call-to-action buttons.
- Advertised posts are designed to quickly and easily increase the reach and interaction of unpaid content without extensive customization or additional features.
Bidding and Budgeting
- On Facebook advertising, advertisers have more flexibility in budget allocation and bidding strategies. They can set daily or lifetime budgets, allowing them to specify the amount they want to spend on advertising each day or throughout the campaign.
- Additionally, advertisers can choose between manual or automatic bidding, where they can set the maximum bid they are willing to pay for their ads manually or let Facebook automatically optimize bids to achieve the best results within the specified budget.
- Facebook advertising also offers options for bid caps, allowing advertisers to set maximum bid limits to control costs and prevent overspending.
- Unlike Facebook ads, advertising posts on Facebook have simplified budgeting options. Advertisers set a fixed budget for the boosting period without the ability to specify daily or lifetime budgets.
- This advertising method also does not provide bidding options because costs are determined based on audience scale, targeting criteria, and competition for ad placements.
- It’s worth noting that advertised posts are much cheaper than Facebook advertising while providing a straightforward approach to budgeting. However, they lack the flexibility and control available with Facebook advertising.
Between campaign management
Managing campaigns between Facebook ads and advertising posts on Facebook differs in complexity and customization options.
- With Facebook ads, campaign management involves creating campaigns, ad sets, and individual ads within the Facebook Ads Manager. Advertisers can choose from various campaign objectives, such as brand awareness, engagement, conversions…
- Setting specific targeting parameters, budget options, and bidding strategies for each ad set. They can also track performance metrics, adjust campaign settings, and optimize ads based on real-time data within the Ads Manager.
- Managing advertised posts on Facebook pages is simpler and more straightforward. Advertisers can promote posts directly from their Facebook page with just a few clicks. They have limited customization options compared to Facebook advertising, such as selecting target audience, budget, and boosting duration.
- Advertising posts on Facebook do not require extensive campaign setup or monitoring within the Ads Manager, making them ideal for advertisers looking for a quick and easy way to increase the reach and interaction of their unpaid content.
Key Features Comparison between Facebook Advertising and Advertising Posts
Here’s a summary of the differences between advertising posts and Facebook ads as identified by Bluefocus based on their experience.
Advertising Posts on Facebook
- Increases the reach and visibility of organic posts directly from the Facebook page.
- Sets up and tracks data directly on the Facebook page.
- Basic targeting options such as location, age, gender, and interests.
- Advertises based only on existing organic posts on the Facebook page.
- Sets a fixed budget for the boosting period.
Facebook Ads
- Customizes based on business objectives, including brand awareness, engagement, website traffic, conversions, and app installs.
- Provides detailed insights and analytics through the Facebook Ads Manager.
- Offers expanded targeting options, including demographics, interests, behaviors, and custom or lookalike audiences.
- Supports various ad formats such as image ads, video ads, carousel ads, slideshow ads on Facebook.
- Provides more customizable bidding options (daily or lifetime budgets).
Which One Should Businesses Choose: Facebook Ads or Advertising Posts?
The choice between Facebook ads and advertising posts depends on the budget, objectives, and specific resources of the business. Here are some considerations to make an informed decision.
If opting for Facebook advertising
- Have specific campaign objectives such as brand awareness, conversions, app installs.
- Require advanced targeting capabilities or aim to reach the appropriate audience.
- Value the flexibility of ads and want to experiment with different formats and features.
- Prioritize decision-making based on data and need detailed information on campaign performance.
If choosing Facebook post advertising
- Want to advertise quickly and simply to increase the reach and engagement of organic content.
- Have a limited budget and want to enhance existing unpaid posts without investing in formal advertising campaigns.
- Have limited resources or expertise in managing Facebook ad campaigns.
Brands should consider specific marketing objectives, target audience, budget, and expertise when deciding between Facebook ads and Facebook post advertising. Both have their own strengths and can be effective depending on the brand’s needs and goals.
Conclusion:
The decision between Facebook ads and Facebook post advertising focuses on understanding the objectives, budget, and resources of the brand. Brands should carefully evaluate marketing objectives and customer needs to determine which option best fits their overall business strategy.
For optimal advertising results, businesses can collaborate with us. Our expertise in managing campaigns for clients and offering Facebook ads agency account rental ensures that campaigns are optimized and have maximum impact on your business goals.
Contact us to confidently leverage the power of Facebook advertising
