What Does Boosting a Post Mean on Instagram? (Complete Guide)

As a new influencer, it is hard to get a higher reach. This is where boosting a post comes into play. Today, Instagram’s algorithm is one of the most difficult things to crack. In such a scenario, reaching out to your audience organically is tough. 

Want to know what boosting is? How does it work? Why is it important? Don’t worry. Let me take the responsibility to clear all of these doubts for you.

What Does Boosting a Post Means on Instagram?

Boosting a post means getting a wider reach on Instagram, but you must pay. It is like a paid promotion where the post you boost becomes like an Instagram ad. The best part of using this tool is that Instagram focuses on the audience that fits your criteria. Next time when you feel your audience is limited, take advantage of the boosting feature.

Also, read What Does It Mean to Mute Someone on Instagram? (Complete Guide)

Advantages of Boosting a Post

If you think boosting a post is only to increase your reach, then you are wrong. There are many other benefits to doing it: 

1. Increased Reach

When you boost up posts on Instagram, it widens your reach and extends the visibility of the content. It broadens the reach ensuring that the posts are shown to diverse audiences. Boosting a post is a major way to showcase your content to a big audience. 

2. Targeting a Specific Audience

Reaching a vast audience is not the only goal, the audience should be from the same niche. Suppose you are posting some content related to the gym, the targeted audience will be only those who have an interest in the gym. The best feature of boosting a post is to select the audience based on your preference. You can select the factor of your choice like interests, behaviors, demographical, etc. 

3. Real-time Analysis

If you cannot analyze the response of boosting a post, there is no fun in doing that. Instagram provides real-time analysis to track the performance of posted posts. You can get engagement rates and impressions to get real-time analysis. 

4. Standing Your Account Among Others

If you boost the post, it sets you apart from other competitors in your field. Many accounts only rely on organic reach. But with a combination of Instagram SEO algorithm and boosting a post, you will get a broader reach. It results in more engagement and leads to better brand recognition. This technique has helped several accounts to become successful on Instagram.

5. Results as Soon as Possible

Traditional marketing strategies require a lot of patience and time to get good results. But when you boost up a post, it gives you instant results by reaching out to different audiences as soon as possible. Your post will reach the required audience and you can get engagement in real time.

How to Boost an Instagram Post?

Now that you know what boosting a post means, it is also important to know the process. Further, I have discussed the steps to boost your Instagram post:

• Start by changing your personal account into a business account. 
• Go to your profile and like the post you want to boost up. 
• Below the image, there will be a Boost option. 
• Click on it and you will get an option to fill in the details you want. You will need to set up the goal, audience, budget, and duration of the audio want to run. 
• You will also be required to add the payment details.
• Once done, tap the next option to get a choice to connect with a Facebook account. If you don’t want to do that you can simply skip the option by tapping on the Skip button. When you skip it once, you will never get the option again.
• If you want to know what it will look like, tap on the preview ad and review the placements that will be on your ad. You can also control the settings of how the ad will look like on others profiles.
• To complete the ad, select the boost post option. 
• Once you click on it, the ad will be submitted for review making sure that it meets the policies of Instagram. 
• When it is reviewed and approved, your eyes will start running on Instagram.

Also, read What Does Archive Mean on Instagram and How to Use It?

Things to Remember while Boosting a Post

When you are boosting a post, you must keep several things in your mind: 

1. Select the Right Post

Undoubtedly, you can always create a new post to boost up. But it is not always required as you can promote the existing post or reel to boost. Choose the post that is capable of depicting what your brand is all about. One of the best tactics to use to boost up a post is to choose the one having testimonials. It is a popular way to increase your audience.

Pro tip: Try to boost the post having images greater than 8 MB. 

2. Choosing the Right Goal

While boosting the post, it is important to select the goal of it. Whether you want more people to visit your profile or want more engagement? Deciding the goal is very important. There are multiple options that you can select as a goal. In addition to these two goals, Instagram also allows you to choose if you want to try more traffic to your official website through Instagram. 

If you are doing it for the first time, you may be unsure about what type of goals you must set. Try to set each goal for a couple of days. Sometimes trial and error works best for you.

3. Set Up the Budget and Duration of the AD Promotion

Once you set up the goal and the targeted audience, it is time to choose the budget and its duration. You can select the duration individually for each post to decide how long each post should appear on the feed. You will also need to select the payment method by providing the payment details. 

Also, read What Does Business Chat Mean on Instagram | Everything You Should Know

What is the Price of Boosting a Post?

When you promote your product or advertise it, there is some cost included in it. The same is the case for boosting up the post. Boosting a post requires a fee to pay which is flexible. There are several factors that determine the price you will have to pay. Some of them are the budget of the boosted post, campaign goals, etc. 

Although the prices are normal, it all depends upon the duration of the post you are boosting. Just remember that if you want to make money, you must spend some money. The price starts from $5 per post you want to boost.

Tips to Remember while Boosting the Post

When you are thinking of boosting up a post, you must consider some factors. Below I have mentioned some of the tips for you that will help to boost the post efficiently:

• High-quality Visuals: If you want to have effective boosting, make sure that the images or videos you are using are of high quality. They are more crispy and clear which attracts the attention of the audience. 
• Captions: The best thing to attract a potential audience is through compelling captions. You can include any story or caption depending upon the need of your content. In addition to the story, you can ask some interesting questions or add humor to get engaged.
• Adding a Call to Action: It is very important to add a clear CTA in your caption when you are boosting your post. Telling them what you want to do, helps meet the goal easily. Suppose your primary goal is to bring more traffic to the website, you can include a statement like visit the website for more details. This will help you to include a clear action. 
• Including Hashtags: Never forget the power of hashtags when you are promoting something on Instagram. Instagram is a powerful tool in promoting the online presence of your brand. Including the correct type of hashtags helps to bring more attention to users. It also sometimes helps to increase the engagement level. Try to use 5 to 10 relevant hashtags in your post. Exceeding this number may have a negative impact on your boosting.
• Using the Peak Time: There is no fun of boosting the post if it does not reach the targeted audience. Thus, it is important to boost your content when your target audience is active. But how to know that? Instagram insights are one of the best features to know when should you post your content.

These are the small things that you must consider when you are planning to boost a post.

Also, read What does Restrict Mean on Instagram? (Complete Guide)

What is the Difference Between Normal and Boosted Posts?

It is very common to get confused between the normal post and the boosted one. Hence, to help you know the difference, I have added a table below:

Factor	Normal Post	Boosted Post
Audience	These posts are only shown to the people who are following you.	Boosted posts are shown to people who are not your followers. It is a way to promote your content to a much larger audience.
Customizations	You have very limited control over who can see your content.	Boosted posts have a lot of customization options. You can choose your targeted audience based on numerous factors like demographical area and the type of audience.
Duration	Normal posts are always there on your feed.	Boosted posts, have a specific duration that you have chosen to promote. This helps you to manage the campaign efficiently and effectively

Is Boosting a Post Worth It? 

It is very hard to decide whether boosting a post on Instagram is worth it or not. In some cases, you might find boosting a better option but in others, it may be not. If your goal is to reach a new audience, just go with It. However, to take full advantage of it don’t forget to choose the right type of audience. It is more like simple promotions. On the other hand, if you are looking for some serious promotions for complex brand pages, adding campaigns is a better option. 

Confused what is ad campaigns and want to know the difference between them? Head over to the next section.

Difference Between Boosting a Post and Running an Ad Campaign

Below is the table that shows the differences between boosting the post and running the ad campaign on Instagram:

Boosting a post	Ad-Campaign
You can only select one type of audience you want to target at a single time.	You can exposed to a lot of new audiences without limiting to a specific type of audience. There is no worry about choosing a specific type of audience.
It requires you to choose limited promotional goals.	It has a lot of options that help to promote your content fully. In short, it maximizes be potential of your ads. There are a lot of tools that help to customize your promotional goals.
Mainly known for increasing the engagement level on a specific post.	It is a way to customize the campaign for awareness of the brand and increase web traffic.

Conclusion 

If you are finding it tough to reach a higher audience on Instagram, make sure to use the boost feature. Boosting a post means getting a wider reach of audience. However, it is not free, and you must pay for it. Boosting features are more like a paid promotion. The meaning of it is to get to a specific type of audience. When you boost a post, you will have to set a budget and a specific type of audience. The main advantage of boosting a post is to increase the reach and get real-time analytics. If you do not have a complex business model, don’t forget to try this to improve your reach.

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