What’s the difference between boosted posts and ad campaigns on Facebook and Instagram?

If you’ve been looking to set up an advert on Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram, then you may have noticed that there are two different types of ads you can choose – boosted posts and creating ad campaigns in the Adverts Manager. While both can help you reach more people, they work in different ways. Here’s a simple guide to help you choose the best approach to promote your art or organisation.

Meta Ads are paid ads on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Messenger that help you reach more people than your regular posts would. There are two main types of Meta advertising:

1. Boosted posts
2. Ad campaigns

With either option, you’re paying to get your content in front of people who don’t follow you and possibly won’t see it otherwise.

Meta doesn’t make the distinction between the two very clear on their websites and usually refer to ad campaigns as ‘Meta Ads’, but ‘Boosted posts’ are also a type of Meta Ad. One clear distinction between the two is where you find them on Facebook – in the Ad Centre or the Adverts Manager.

Ad Centre (also known as Ads) – this is where boosted posts live and you can also create very basic individual ads from here. You can find this tool from the options list on the left when managing your Facebook page on desktop.

Adverts Manager (also known as Ads Manager) – this is for creating ad campaigns. You can find this tool in the Meta Business Suite.

When you’re starting out with Meta ads, all of these different names can feel confusing. The main thing to remember is that if you spot the word ‘Manager’ it’s a more advanced tool for making campaigns.

1. What is boosting a post?

Boosting a post is the easiest way to advertise on Facebook or Instagram. It allows you to pay to show an existing post to more people, or to set up a simple individual advert. You can boost posts directly from your pages or from the Facebook Ad Centre.

Pros:

• Quick and easy – You can do it directly from your Facebook Page or Instagram profile, good for those with limited time
• Simple setup – Just click “Boost Post” under an existing post or create a new one in Ad Centre on Facebook
• Good for beginners – No advanced skills are needed
• Responsive – You can quickly respond to which posts are performing well and pop some budget behind them to get better results
• Shorter lifespan – unlike ad campaigns you can run boosts for less time without it impacting on performance. It’s fine to just run them for a few days.
• Good for small budgets – If you’ve got less than £50 to spend on a campaign then boosting may be your best option. You can boost with small budgets and see some good results

Cons:

• Limited objectives – You can choose basic goals like engagement or website visits, nothing more advanced
• Less control and targeting – You can’t customise your targeting or placements as much as you can with ad campaigns. If you work with a variety of audiences, these ads won’t understand that, and you may waste money targeting the wrong people
• Only for managing ads for a single page – If you’ll be making ads for more than one page then you will need to use Ads Manager
• Cost more in the long run – generally you can get more cost-effective results when you run ad campaigns because you can be more specific with your targeting and placements

2. Why would I use Meta Adverts Manager instead of boosting?

For more control and advanced features, you can create ad campaigns through Meta Adverts Manager, a professional tool designed for advertisers.

Pros:

• Custom goals – Choose from a wide range of campaign objectives, including traffic, engagement, awareness, sales, leads, app installs, or video views
• Advanced targeting – Target by detailed interests, behaviours, demographics, custom audiences, and more
• Choose placements – Choose exactly where your ad shows (e.g., Stories, Reels, Messenger, Audience Network)
• Make ads for multiple pages – If you want to create ads for different pages/accounts then this is the tool you need to use. You can create multiple Ads Manager accounts to ensure everything sits neatly with your different pages and add other members of your team to your organisation’s account so that you can work on campaigns together.
• Creative flexibility – You can use a variety of ad formats, including video ads, carousel ads, and stories
• Test and learn – Use A/B testing to compare ad formats, creatives, copy and targeting to learn what works best
• Analytics and performance – See your ads’ performance in real-time and analyse their performance afterwards. You can even join up Meta with Google Analytics to see how visitors interact with your website
• Cheaper in the long run – Despite requiring a bigger investment of budget, ad campaigns can perform better so you get more return on investment (ROI) in general
• Create an ads funnel – As your advertising skills develop you can start to link together ads and create ad funnels for retargeting audiences. This is where your advertising skills really step up a notch and produce the best results.

Cons:

• More complicated – Realistically, setting up ad campaigns takes more time, effort and energy than boosting posts. You may need some training to get the best out of them
• Features frequently change – Meta makes changes in Meta Adverts Manager regularly, so you may find that there are additional features when you next log in or that things have moved about
• Require bigger budgets – You can advertise for as little as £5 a day on here. A starting budget to consider might be £50 – £100 for a week.
• Run for a week minimum – Meta takes a while to learn who to show ads to, which is called the ‘learning phase’. If you run ad campaigns for less than a week, then they don’t have long enough to thrive outside of the learning phase, and you can end up spending more budget on poorer results.

A quick comparison table

Which one should you use?

• If you need a fast and simple way to get more visibility on a specific post or don’t have the time, resources or budget to learn advertising then boosting a post is going to help you to get quick results.
• Consider using Adverts Manager if you have a clear marketing goal, want to optimise performance, or need more precise targeting. If you have the budget and time then Adverts Manager will give you more control over your campaign, audience and outcomes, and provides the best value for money.

Tip: Boosting can be a good starting point, but Adverts Manager is the best way to grow your results over time.

Final thoughts

Both options can be useful, depending on your needs. If you’re just starting out, don’t be afraid to try boosting a post to get familiar with Meta advertising. When you’re ready for more control and better results, Adverts Manager is where the real magic happens.

More information:

The difference between boosted posts and Meta ads | Meta Business Help Centre

Further support

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