What each one offers
Boost a post
- Starts from an existing post
- Few goals and settings
- Basic audience options
- Good for quick reach
Ads Manager
- Builds ads from scratch
- All six campaign objectives
- Custom and lookalike audiences
- Good for leads and sales
When boosting makes sense
- An event or announcement you want more people to see
- A post that already performs well organically
- A small budget with no lead goal
- Building page engagement for new content
When to use Ads Manager
Use Ads Manager when you want leads, bookings or sales. It offers the leads and sales objectives and tests several ads in one ad set. It also adds retargeting audiences and pixel tracking. You can also choose placements and schedules.
The hidden cost of boosting
A boost often optimizes for engagement. Meta then finds people who like and comment, not people who call. The post looks popular while the phone stays quiet.
Good example. A bakery boosts a post about its holiday opening hours to people nearby. It runs a separate Ads Manager campaign for cake orders.
Bad example. A bakery boosts its order page post for engagement every week. Likes pile up, and orders stay flat.
Read what Meta ads are. Our Facebook and Instagram ads management runs campaigns in Ads Manager.