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These days, Instagram has become much more than just a platform for sharing photos and videos. With over a billion monthly active users, this social network is a powerful tool for businesses and influencers looking to expand their reach and reach a larger audience.
One of the most popular strategies for increasing content visibility is boosting posts. But is it worth investing in this strategy?
In this article, we’ll explore the pros and cons of boosting posts on Instagram and find out whether it’s actually an effective strategy for achieving solid results.
What does it mean to boost posts on Instagram?
To understand whether it is worth investing in boosting posts, it is essential to understand what this strategy means. Thus, boosting posts on Instagram is a form of paid advertising, where you pay for a specific post to reach a wider, more targeted audience.
This functionality allows you to target audiences based on a variety of criteria, including location, interests, and behaviors, ensuring that your posts are shown to people who are most likely to engage with your content.
The benefits of boosting posts
1. Greater reach and visibility:
By boosting your posts, you can reach a wider audience beyond your current followers. This is especially useful for new accounts and growing businesses, as it increases the exposure of your profile and content.
2. Precise targeting:
Instagram offers good options for segmentation, allowing you to reach a specific audience that is interested in your niche or area of expertise. This precision helps you target your marketing efforts to the right people.
The other side of the coin
1. Fewer tools:
The Facebook/Instagram Ads Manager dashboard has several features. When boosting posts on Instagram, these features are not available, as the boosting is done in the app. On the other hand, you can also boost on Desktop, but the advanced features are also not available.
2. Results not guaranteed:
Boosting results may not replicate organic results. In other words, you can choose a post that performed well before boosting, but that doesn't guarantee that it will perform well after boosting.
How to Boost Posts on Instagram
To boost posts on Instagram and reach a larger audience, follow the steps below:
1. Business profile or content creator:
Make sure your Instagram account is set up as a business profile or a creator profile. If not, go to your account settings and switch to one of these profile types. This is essential for accessing advertising tools.
2. Choosing the Post:
Select the post you want to boost. This could be a photo, video, or a carousel with multiple images. Make sure the post you choose is relevant and appealing to your target audience.
3. Boost:
Open the post and click the “Boost Post” button below the content. This button is only available for business or content creator profiles.
4. Goal:
Choose a goal for your boost. Instagram offers three options, including “More profile views,” “More website visits,” and “More messages.” Select the goal that best aligns with your marketing goals.
One tip here is that when you choose the “More website visits” goal, you can choose the URL where the ad will direct. In other words, you can create campaigns that lead to a landing page, for example, or that direct to a YouTube video, blog post, etc. In this case, you can also choose which action button will appear on the boosted post, such as “Learn more”, “Buy now”, “Watch more”, “Contact us”, “Schedule now” and “Register”.
In the case of “More profile views”, you can choose to add a profile banner to encourage conversations, i.e. for your audience to send you a message.
Finally, in the “More messages” option, the action button can also be selected, among: “Send message”, “Contact us”, “Learn more”, “Schedule now”, “Check availability” and “Order now”.
5. Target audience:
Define the audience you want to reach with your boost. You can target by age, location, interests, and behaviors to ensure that your posts are shown to the right people. You can also let Instagram automatically target your posts to an audience similar to your followers.
Here you can also leave an option enabled so that the boosting is also carried out on Facebook.
6. Duration:
Choose the boost duration. Set the period you want the post to be promoted.
7. Budget:
Determine how much you want to spend on boosting. Instagram will provide an estimated reach based on your budget.
8. Review and Confirmation:
Review all of your boost settings and confirm your payment if everything is correct. You can use a credit card linked to your account to pay for your boost.
9. Track the Results:
After boosting, track the results of your post using the metrics available in the Instagram Insights section. Analyze your post’s performance to adjust your future strategies.
In short…
Boosting posts on Instagram is a form of paid advertising and should be part of a broader marketing strategy. Carefully plan your goals, target audience, and budget to get the best possible results. Stay up to date with Instagram advertising best practices and test different approaches to find what works best for your business.
While this strategy can increase the reach and visibility of your posts, it is important to balance it with other marketing tactics, such as influencer marketing, for example, to ensure lasting results and ongoing engagement with your audience.
So, assess your needs, test, track the results, and be open to exploring different strategies to achieve success on social media.
Image: Freepik
Marcel Castilho is a specialist in digital marketing, neuromarketing, neuroscience, mindfulness and positive psychology. In addition to being an advertiser, he also has a Master's degree in Neurolinguistic Programming. He is the founder and owner of Vero Comunicação and also the digital agency Vero Contents.
