Facebook Ads vs Boosted Posts for Painting Contractors

Hey there, painting contractors — did you know that in the world of paying for better exposure on Facebook, there are two main routes?

You have the choice of:

1. Facebook Ads
2. Boosted posts
3. (or both)

There are a lot of questions that a professional Painting Contractor might have in regards to this; shout out to Aaron Steininger of Sunlight Housepainting for this question!

What’s the difference between using Facebook ads and “boosted” posts; moreover what’s best for painting contractors?

Extremely Important Facebook Statistics For Painting Contractors

Over 2,000,000,000 people are using Facebook every single month.

Of course, as a painting contractor, not everyone will be able to take advantage of your services since you won’t be doing business all over the world.

How are you taking advantage of Facebook’s different methods of reaching out to potential customers?

In the United States alone, 7 out of 10 adults say that they use Facebook on a regular basis. 

On top of that, the largest demographics out of all of the Facebook users happen to be people between the age of 25-34 years old.

What is a “Boosted” Facebook Post?

A boosted post, in Facebook terms, is a Facebook post that you make which has a larger reach than your average Facebook post.

Example: you may have just created a post about a new interior painting service that you offer. 

In order to put your post in front of more people, you simply “boost” an existing post or go to your painting Facebook page and select “Boost a Post”:

On this page, you’ll be able to select from existing posts you’ve already created; or, you can find an existing post and boost it, like in this example here:

Once you’ve selected a post, you’re given the option to narrow it down to specific demographics and area(s) so that people who live in the specified area or are within the age range will be more likely to see your post.

Here’s an example from Selah Painting, located in St. Louis, MO:

Of course, you can pick and choose which areas you want to target.

Here is a simple tutorial on boosting Facebook posts:

There are some who might suggest that you should not boost a post if your post receives a good amount of organic reach on its own.

[Related – 9 Facebook Growth Hacking Tips for Painting Contractors]

What Is Organic Reach?

Organic reach is the amount of people who see your content without you having to pay anything to get eyes on it.

Depending on what kind of post you make, whether it is:

• A text-only post
• A post that has some text and a photo
• Or a post that contains some text and a video 

And yes, changing the kind of post you make will change the amount of people that see the post.

It does, however, make a big difference if certain people have interacted with your posts in the past.

For example, if they have commented or even liked one or more of your posts in the past, Facebook is more likely to show it to them because they believe it is valuable to the user.

However, for any of your Facebook friends who don’t like or comment on your posts, the algorithm will literally hide your posts from the user.

Think of it this way…

What’s in Facebook’s best interest?

Their only objective is to keep people scrolling through their feed for as long as they possibly can.

Therefore, if someone scrolls past a post without stopping on that post for more than a few seconds, Facebook sees “Oh, that’s not valuable to the user, if they see this again they may lose interest and click off the app.”

My point is this: if you want your posts to show up on people’s feed at all, you need to post content that prompts people to engage.

A good way to get promotional posts a lot of engagement is to create a post the day before asking a broad question that people generally will want to answer.

(We’re human, we love to talk about ourselves.)

Of course, this is why a lot of businesses encourage their Facebook followers to like and comment on their posts -this is how you increase your engagement according to Facebook’s algorithm.

What Are Facebook Ads?

Facebook ads are created through the Ads Manager on Facebook and offer more advanced customization.

For example, if you want to get more people on Facebook to go to your painting website, a Facebook ad would be a useful way to get them there. 

Another thing you can do with Facebook ads is get more clicks on your posts or even likes.

After setting up the goals you have, what you will want to do is figure out what kind of audience you want.

You can target your ad by age, gender, geographic location (very important in order to reach only your target area) among many other things. 

Facebook ads can come in the form of simple text ads on the side of the Facebook Page as well as in-video ads or ads that are a combination of picture and text.

Here’s a quick tutorial on creating your first Facebook Ad:

Facebook Ads have an extensive list of Ad targeting options as well:

Source : https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2018/12/10/facebook-ad-targeting-options

Another advantage that you get when using Facebook Ads is that your able to choose which kind of device you want to display your ad on.

For example, you can decide that you want to show your ad on only desktop or mobile version of Facebook.

The difference between all of these can be significant but it really depends on the needs of the target audience. 

In order to choose where you want your ad to appear, you have to know your audience on a more personal level.

You need to ask yourself, for example, if the kind of people you want to target will most likely find your ad while scrolling on Facebook on their computer or whether they will find it while swiping through stories on Instagram.

Here is a video on which Facebook Ads Placement might be best for you:

Which is best for Painting Contractors — Facebook Ads Or Boosted Posts?

At the end of the day, you really have to ask yourself what your ultimate goal is when you’re advertising something on Facebook.

Here is the difference according to Facebook:

“if you want audience engagement on your Page or to develop your brand awareness, boosting a post is a great way to maximize visibility and grow your audience. To create more advanced ad types and campaigns, use Ads Manager.”

Boosted Facebook posts are going to reach more people, but ultimately that is all it is going to do.

An example of this may be a “Paint-It Forward” event, or a contest/giveaway that has a time limit.

You would then take the existing post that you made and boost it after it has had time to get some organic reach.

However, if your goal is to get visitors back to your site, to a certain page that gives an offer, or something along the lines, you may want to opt for Facebook ads as it gives you better targeting options such as a wider range of demographics, placement options, and call to action (CTA) buttons.

If you ever need help keeping your followers engaged, at DYB Virtual we’re happy to help with this repetitive task; check out how we automated social media.

Until then, happy advertising!