What Really Happens When

You Boost a Facebook Post

Have you flown on a plane recenily?

Yesterday on my flight I noticed there

were three separate sections to the cabin.
First, we had first class (and everyone
understands the implications of that). Next,
we had something called "business class."
After that, in the back, the catfle car.
Here is what "business class" means:
lf you don't want to be jammed in among
the cows mooing in the back of the plane,
you now need to upgrade to business
class. lt's something that we flierc used to,
in many cases, get for free. But now, to get
the same legroom on a flight that you used
to get before, you need to pay an additional
fee.

to put your message in

front of grandfathers (like
me) who have no need
for your services, you can
cost-efficiently target only
likely prospects.
And because the
information would be more
relevant
that target

to

audience, they would be

more likely

to

engage

with your post, and other

similady boosted targeted
posts, they now find in their
newsfeeds.
Certainly makes a lot of sense.

. studied at Apollo College of Medical and

The same thing happened to Facebook.

THE BAD

Not so long ogo, Facebook changed an

algorithm so that not all of the people
who "liked" your business page would see
all of your updates to your page in their
newsfeeds.

Facebook recently instituted yet

another algorithm change that reduced that
number even further.
Some experts now claim that the
percent of people who have tiked your page
who will see one of your organic posts has
now dropped into single digits.
So how can you get more of your fans
to see your posts?
You are now required to "boost" your
posts. ln other words, to pay for what you
used to get from Facebook for free.
NoW despite what you might think, this
is not all bad.

For instance, you probably have

THE TEST
So, I decided to put boosting a post to the
test.

Based on my experience and insights,

I had written an article on "The Association
Conference of the Future." The article
does not directly promote services, but
instead discusses the benefits of having an
interactive keynote address at a conference.

I elected to spend $20 for the day to

boost the post on Facebook.
Since I am not a wedding photographer,
but a professional speaker, when it came
time to select the interests of the people
on Facebook that I want to reach, I chose
"Meeting and convention planner or
Meeting Professionals lntemational in the
United States."
Then I spun the wheel.
THE RESULTS
A day later, Facebook informed me that had

THE GOOD
liked

multiple Facebook business pages yourcelf.

Could you imagine if you saw every post

from the owner of every business page?
Your Facebook newsfeed would soon start
to look like your email account - which can
now be up to 80 percent spam.
Even further, let's assume that you are
a wedding photographer. Facebook now
gives you the ability to place your post or
an ad in the newsfeeds of the people who
are not yet aware of your page but are most
likely to desire your services. For instance,
your can now target all of those Facebook
users within your community who have
recently changed their status to "engaged."
This presents you with an opportunity
that you can get in no other medium. For
instance, instead of wasting your resources

achieved for me following numbers:

.576 - number of people I had reached
with my boosted post
.40 - number of people who had liked,
commented or shared the post
. $20.00 spent
. $0.50 - cost per action
All of which seemed very commendable

and reasonable, considering that

Dental Careers
worked at Getting MONEY
. self-employed and works at Detective
Works
. in an open relationship
. works at Asplundh Tree Experts
. security guard at Admiral Security
Services lnc. and sales associate at
DIRECTV
'operations packed down crew member
at Home Depot
. blow mold operator at lgloo Coolerc
. works at Titan Tube Fabricators and
Wortham Theater Center
. studied CDL Class A license at College
of Life and lives in Mayaguez, Puerto
.

I had

recently mailed postcards to association

contacts, of a cost per action that was
nearly double. Might Facebook be a more
economical way to reach similar prospects?

Rico
. stay-at-home parent
. studies at Ecumenical Theological

Seminary
works at VIP Handbags & MORE and
Local Union 1175
. help desk at Ernst Conservation Seeds
. worked at Hustler
These were not the kinds of Facebook
users I had intended to reach when I had
selected my interests.
No meeting professionals were among
.

the group. No members of

Meeting

Professionals lntemational. Some users

were not even from the United States.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Based on this deeper dive, I elested not to
re-boost the post.
Although, in theory being able to target

your intended audience on Facebook

is

very appealing, the results that I achieved

left something to be desired.

THE DEEP DIVE

But then I took a look at the profiles of

those who had actually liked my post,
and I discovered the following in their
descriptions:
. works at Self Employed and Loving lt!
20

Submitted

by Ted Janus,

JanusPresentations.com. Ted
joumalist.

r.s

www.

an invited