Boosting a post vs. full campaign: what works when?

What does boosting a post mean?

Boosting a post means giving an existing post on your page extra reach. By putting a budget behind it, Facebook or Instagram shows your post to more people than just your followers.

Benefits of a post boost:

• Quick and easy to set up
• Low threshold: you can start from as little as a small budget
• Ideal for extra visibility at short notice (e.g. an event or promotion)

Disadvantages of boosting a post:

• Limited objectives (mostly reach, engagement or website clicks)
• Less extensive opportunities for segmentation and testing
• Little control over how your budget is distributed

What is a campaign?

You set up a campaign in Meta's ad manager (or any other ad platform). Here you have access to all functions: different campaign types, ad sets and ads.

Campaign benefits:

• Many more objectives: conversions, leads, app downloads, shop visits, etc.
• Advanced targeting (lookalikes, remarketing, customised audiences)
• Better measurability and optimisation (A/B testing, reporting)
• More creativity: you can test multiple visuals, videos or texts simultaneously

Disadvantages of campaigns:

• More time and knowledge needed to set up correctly
• Less approachable for beginners
• You need to think about strategy and funnel

When do you choose what?

Choosing between a post to boost and a full campaign depends on your objective and marketing strategy.

Boost a post

• Choose this if you want to see quick results. For example, when promoting a new product or a last-minute event.
• It is ideal if you want to create more engagement with your current followers or attract a small new audience.
• It takes little time and knowledge to set up, making it suitable for entrepreneurs who are just starting to advertise or want to generate extra attention temporarily

Note that the impact is often limited to short-term results and it offers fewer opportunities to gain real insight into which target audience responds best.

Set up a campaign

• Choose this if you want to grow structurally, for example in leads, sales or brand awareness.
• Campaigns are best suited to companies looking to use their marketing budget smartly, as you can experiment and optimise with different ad sets and audiences.
• It offers extensive targeting options, such as lookalike audiences, remarketing and custom audiences, allowing you not only to increase reach, but also to reach truly relevant people.

Campaigns allow you to implement long-term strategies, measure results and make improvements based on data, as opposed to a boost that is mainly reactive and short-term.

Conclusion

The difference between a post boost and a campaign is all about speed versus strategy. A boost is ideal when you want quick extra visibility for a specific post, without putting a whole strategy behind it. It is simple, approachable and effective for short-term campaigns.

A campaign, on the other hand, is a well thought-out marketing strategy. It allows you to reach your target audience in a much more targeted way and achieve measurable results, such as leads, sales or app downloads. Campaigns offer the opportunity to experiment with different target groups, creative content and optimisation strategies. This way, you use your budget more efficiently and make your marketing efforts scalable in the long run.

For entrepreneurs, this means combining the best of both worlds: boost posts when you want to see quick results, and deploy campaigns for structural growth and smart marketing. By consciously using both tactics, you can make both short-term and long-term impact and get the most out of your social media marketing.