How to Boost a Post on Instagram: Boosting vs Adds Explained
Are you struggling to get engagement or visits to your Instagram account? Do the number of likes and comments on your posts seem stagnant? It may be time to try out Instagram Promotion or boosting a post on Instagram. Instagram Promotion is a wonderful tool that can help you increase your content's visibility, expand your following, and ultimately lead to more engagement with your Instagram feed. In this article, we'll take you through everything you need to know about boosting an Instagram post, how to boost a post, and some Instagram Promotion benefits and tips.
What is Instagram Promotion or Instagram Boost?
Instagram Promotion is a powerful tool that lets you highlight a specific Instagram post, Instagram reel, or Instagram story to a targeted audience beyond your existing followers. When you boost an Instagram post, you're essentially paying to promote it, enhancing its visibility to users who are most likely to engage with it. This approach is akin to creating a sponsored post, where you invest in Instagram ads to reach a broader audience and increase engagement with your content.
Boosted post vs. paid ads
A boosted post is not the same as running a paid ad campaign on Instagram. While both options utilize Instagram ads and offer control over demographics, interests, behaviors, and budget, running a paid ad campaign generally requires more time, money, and resources. Boosting a post allows for easier management of your budget, duration, and target demographics, making it a more streamlined option compared to the more involved process of creating and managing a comprehensive paid ad campaign.
What types of Instagram posts can you boost?
You can boost almost any type of content available on Instagram, including:
- Photos
- Carousels
- Videos
- Reels
- Stories
Some of the most effective boosted posts include: high-quality photos, product tags with shopping links, posts with popular hashtags, and more.
Benefits of Boosting an Instagram Post
Instagram's promotion tool is an excellent way for creators to expand their reach and grow their brand. Here are some benefits of promoting an Instagram post:
- Drive traffic to your merchandise shop, website, or blog.
- Increase post engagement, resulting in more followers, DMs, likes, and comments.
- Target the right demographics, behaviors, and interests of your audience.
- Boost sales, revenue, and conversion rates for any e-commerce products that you sell.
- Access more insights and analytics data.
Is Boosting a Post the Same as Promoting a Post?
Boosting a post and promoting a post are similar but distinct actions. Boosting a post typically refers to using Facebook ads or Instagram ads to increase the visibility of a post on your Instagram page or Facebook page, aiming to reach a broader audience.
When you boost a post, you're essentially paying to enhance its reach beyond your current followers. On the other hand, promoting a post often involves more comprehensive ad campaign management, including targeted audience segmentation and detailed analytics.
While both strategies aim to expand your reach, boosting is a straightforward way to enhance a specific post's visibility, whereas promoting may offer more advanced features and customization for your advertising needs.
How to Boost a Post on Instagram?
To promote a post on Instagram, follow these simple steps:
Step 1: Choose a Post to Boost
The first step in promoting a post on Instagram is to identify a post that you want to boost. Ideally, this should be a post that is already performing well or one that you believe has the potential to do so. The post should have a clear message, a high-quality visual element, and a compelling call to action.
Step 2: Click the "Promote" Button on the Post
Once you've selected the post you want to boost, you'll see a blue "Promote" button just beneath the post. Click on this button to begin the promotion process.
Step 3: Define the Objective of the Promotion and Create a Target Audience
When you click on the "Promote" button, you'll be presented with several options for your promotion objective. You can choose to drive traffic to your website, get more profile visits, or get more followers. After you select your objective, you'll need to define your target audience. This section allows you to choose the demographics, interests, and behaviors of the audience you want to reach.
Step 4: Customise the Budget, Duration, and Call-to-Action
Instagram promotion offers complete control over the cost of promoted posts, with the ability to set daily budgets as low as $0.50 per click. You'll need to customize your budget depending on the objective and duration of your promotion. Additionally, you can customize the call-to-action button that appears at the bottom of the post and in your Instagram profile.
Step 5: Review and Submit the Promotion
Before submitting your promotion, ensure that you have reviewed all of the key elements, including your budget, target audience, and call-to-action. Once you are happy with your promotion, click "create promotion" to submit it to Instagram for review. Instagram may take some time to review your promotion, so be patient.
How Much It Costs to Boost an Instagram Post?
One of the key advantages of using Instagram promotion is that it offers complete control over the cost of promoted posts. You can set daily budget meaning you can be your own ad manager with complete control of your marketing expenses. Instagram also notifies you if your promotion exceeds your specified budget so you can change it accordingly. Setting up a draft campaign within your Instagram Ads Manager is a good place to start to determine a budget that suits your goals.
Can I Boost My Instagram Post for Free?
Unfortunately, you cannot boost your Instagram post for free. Boosting a post on Instagram involves paying for the service to increase its visibility and reach a broader audience beyond your current followers. Instagram offers various ad options and targeting features, but all of them require a financial investment. While you can use organic methods to gain engagement, such as creating high-quality content and utilizing hashtags, boosting a post provides a more immediate and effective way to enhance its reach through Instagram ads.
Tips to Boost Instagram Posts
Here are some tips to remember when promoting a post on Instagram:
- Focus on your target audience: Identifying the right audience can make a big difference in the success of your promotion. You can use Instagram analytics to help you get a sense of the audience you already have and go from there.
- Use high-quality visual content: Instagram is a visual platform, so use high-quality, engaging content.
- Use clear and compelling call to action: Include a clear call to action in your Instagram post to encourage users to engage with your content. Hashtags and effective captions can be useful tools to get people to interact with your posts.
- Experiment and refine: Testing different ad formats, messaging, and audience targeting can help you refine your approach over time and improve your results.
To learn how you can further boost your Instagram posts and presence, read this article here.
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