This week I was reminded of why boosting posts makes me cringe. As I was scrolling through Facebook my eyes landed on an ad for a salon I had never heard of before. There was no image, no description of the service or offer, and no indication of who it might be for.

Curiosity got the best of me, and I clicked on those three little dots in the top right corner and selected “Why am I seeing this ad?”

As it turns out, the ad was targeting everyone in the state of California over the age of 18.

What the…???!!! There are over 38.9 million residents in the state of California and it takes 14 hours or more to drive from north to south.

The vast majority of people seeing this ad are not going to be interested in an eyelash offer (48.9% being male) and don’t even live anywhere near this small business. I’m guessing the salon owner running this ad didn’t know this.

This was clearly a Boosted Post of a regular “status update” from their Facebook Business Page and they have absolutely no clue who is seeing this ad or where it’s being shown.

This is why that “boost” post button really makes me cringe. It’s an easy rabbit hole to go down. Facebook (and Instagram too) constantly notify you to boost pretty much every single post.

“This post is performing 95% better than your other posts! Boost it to reach 100,000 people nearby!”

Non-Targeted Boosted Posts Will Not Get Bookings

Boosting sounds enticing, but putting your business in front of 100,000 people isn’t going to get you new bookings or clients if it’s not targeted to your:

a) Ideal Demographic
b) Interested in your Service
c) Live Within 10 to 20 Mile Driving Distance

For Some Reason We Still Trust Facebook

The most important thing to remember is that Facebook™️ is ultimately a money-making machine. They take advantage of people who don’t understand ads or boosts. FB consistently notifies you that your post could be reaching more people and suggest that you boost your post. For some reason, we still trust Facebook™️, so we hit the boost button, set some simple targeting, and hope it will work. Sorry to tell you, it’s not gonna happen.

If that post wasn’t bringing in the results you wanted organically, putting some money behind it isn’t going to change anything! A boost is simply showing your post to more people that won’t take action! Boosting posts is not an advertising strategy.

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