How to advertise on Facebook: Boosted Post Facebook Ad

This is what a “boosted post” will look like on your target audience’s News Feed.

There are a lot of different ways you can advertise a campaign on Facebook. In this post we’ll discuss one particular type of Facebook ad; the Boosted Post. This type of ad is a real eye-catcher as it appears in people’s News Feeds front and centre (as shown above).

We know many of you are cringing at the thought of trying to set up a Facebook ad, but we promise it’s not that hard, in fact the Boosted Post is one of the easiest ads to set up in our opinion. There are a few simple steps involved that we’ll cover below, you can refer to our infographic shown on the bottom of the page for a visual guide on the set-up process.

Keep in mind this type of Facebook ad is ideal for use on Facebook pages; so for example this ad could be used by a charity with a FB page, an artist or band with a fan page, or an online community (example Bikepsyche’s Facebook page is an online community for sports bike enthusiasts). You can’t boost a post from your personal Facebook profile so you’ll need to create a Facebook page if you don’t already have one.

How to create a Boosted Post

1. Choose a post to promote
In our case, choosing a post won’t be difficult. We want to promote our Fabrily campaign, so the first thing you need to do is post on your Facebook page about the campaign. Here’s an example of an ideal post to promote:

Why is this post ideal? First of all, it includes a link to our campaign page (when you paste a campaign URL in a post it should generate a preview of the campaign page on Fabrily.com). Here we’ve uploaded a custom promo image for the campaign page preview. Also, notice the call to action we’ve included in the post, “reserve your item now” is a simple and direct CTA.

2. Choose your target audience 
Be sure to use your ad to target people who you think would be interested in purchasing an item from your campaign; it may be best to target people who are already following your Facebook page because you know they’re interested in your content. If you don’t want to waste ad money targeting your followers’ friends (so that the post will only target your current followers) you can go to your Ads Manager and turn off the segment of the ad that targets friends of followers. You can also use a boosted post to attract new followers to your Facebook page – just select the “people you choose through targeting” option and create your target audience based on age, location, interests, etc.

3. Set your budget 
Spending more money on your Facebook advertisement can ensure that more people will see your post…however, keep in mind more impressions does not always equal more conversions (purchases). Be smart about setting your total budget and decide the maximum amount of funds you want to spend on the ad. If you target your audience correctly you can increase your campaign sales substantially!

 Click to the image and zoom to enlarge this step-by-step guide on creating a Boosted Post:

 

Ready to launch a campaign? Click here!

Got questions? Contact campaigns@fabrily.com

Campaign Promotion: Instagram

How to use Instagram to promote your campaign

Instagram is more than just a simple mobile application…it’s grown into one of the world’s largest social networking platforms and it’s a great tool for promoting your Fabrily campaign! You can use Instagram to upload, edit, and share photos as well as connect with other Instagram users. Using hasthtags can be a great way to boost exposure for your campaign too. One of the best aspects of this promotional tool is that it is completely free to use – we’ve got some great tips and examples thanks to Chantell – a new Fabrily campaigner who’s had great success fundraising for her dog Lola – click here to read about Chantell and Lola’s story and continue reading below for tips on how to use Instagram to promote your campaign!

1. Always include campaign link URL so people know where they can go to support your campaign. Do you see how she’s written http://www.fabrily.com/stores/lolaslegs in her post below?

2. Always include relevant hashtags when you post a photo! Hashtags are a great way to get more campaign page views! You can attract more followers, likes, and comments to your photos by adding as many relevant hashtags as possible. Include these hashtags in your photo description while uploading an image; some examples of hashtags would be: #fabtees, #fabrily, #fundraiser, #campaign, #animalrights, etc. Here is an example of how Chantell utilized hashtags in a photo she shared to promote her current campaign:

3. Encourage your campaign supporters, family, and friends to post selfies of themselves in the items they’ve purchased from your campaign. This is a great way to get people excited about purchasing their own item if you plan to run another fundraiser. See our Post Campaign Promotion blog post for more tips on what to do once your campaign ends!

4. Share Instagram photos through your other social media accounts too. Instagram lets you do this automatically whenever you upload a photo – all you have to do is sync your Twitter and Facebook accounts with your Instagram account and you can automatically share your photo through those channels too – talk about extra exposure with no extra work!

5. Ask questions about your campaign to encourage interaction and engagement with your followers. You can ask your supporters, “Who’s ordered their limited edition shirt?!” for example.

6. Create a unique hashtag and give your supporters a hub to share photos using or wearing your products. This will make it easier for you to find content to share too! An example of this would be the hashtag #isupportlolaslegs which Chantell created for Instagram and Twitter (click on the link to see all the different people who have used this hashtag too).

7. Share photos of your supporters and interact with them. Make sure thank everyone too – campaign supporters are very important to the success of your campaign!

So there you have seven quick tips for promoting your campaign on Instagram! For more promotional tips please visit our Fundraising and Success Stories page – you will find promotional tips for Facebook and Twitter towards the bottom of the page. Good luck with your campaign and if you need assistance please contact campaigns@fabrily.com.