Boosted Posts vs. Facebook Ads: What’s the Difference?

Many local business owners start promoting on Facebook by hitting the “Boost Post” button, but soon they hear about “Facebook Ads Manager” and wonder: What’s the difference? While both are paid promotions on Facebook, they serve different purposes and offer different levels of control. Understanding the difference helps you spend your budget wisely and get better results.

1. What is a Boosted Post?

A boosted post refers to a regular Facebook post that we pay to show to more people; it is the simplest way to advertise. You just click “Boost Post,” choose an audience, set the budget, and duration. Boosted post is good for increasing visibility, getting likes, comments, shares, and simple engagement. However, the weak points of boosted post include very limited targeting, less control over placement, and fewer campaign objectives. For example, a local restaurant posted a photo of their weekend special offer. Then, this restaurant decided to boost that post photo to show it to more people in the local area to get likes and comments. If all of these capabilities do not fit your objectives in advertising, a Facebook ad will be your better choice, which I will explain below.

2. What is a Facebook Ad (via Ads Manager)?

Rather than clicking “Boost Post” on your published posts of your page, a Facebook ad is created inside Meta Ads Manager, which is the complete advertising platform of Facebook. The Facebook Ads gives you advanced options for advertising; for example, it offers multiple ad formats (Carousel, video, lead forms, etc.); it provides precise targeting based on location, interests, demographics, behaviors; there are multiple choices of placements like Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network; and finally it offers the ability to track with Facebook Pixel for conversions. Facebook Ads is the best choice for driving website traffic, generating leads, sales, event sign-ups, or advanced campaigns. For example, a local gym is running a Facebook ad campaign to offer a free 7-day trial, targeting people aged 18-40 within 10 km of the gym.

3. When Should You Use Boosted Posts?

So when should it be better to use boosted posts? Boosted posts shall be used if you want to increase brand awareness quickly without much effort and when you want more likes, comments, or shares on a post. Boosted posts is great for beginner advertisers or those with a small budget. A beauty salon may boost a client testimonial to build trust for its service, for instance.

4. When Should You Use Facebook Ads?

What about Facebook Ads? Facebook ads is for advanced users but it can provide better return on investment. It’s best if you want specific results like website visits, leads, bookings, or sales. Also, if you would like to scale your marketing with better targeting, Facebook ads is the best choice. With Facebook ads, local businesses are able to measure ROI and optimize their advertising campaigns. Facebook ads provide strategic business marketing capability to drive specific results a local business needs. An online store may use Facebook ads for running a conversion campaign to increase product sales.

5. Which One is Better for Local Businesses?

As a local business, you might ask which one is better for paid ads campaign. The answer is it depends on your advertising objective. If your objective is just to increase the visibility for your posts, you can just use the simple Boosted Post option. If you want a result-driven advertising with measurability and scalability, it’s best to use Facebook Ads. Boosted Posts is an easy and fast way for improving the awareness for your products or services while Facebook Ads is more powerful, professional, and results-driven. My recommendation is to use both for maximized benefits. You can use Boosted Posts for visibility and engagement to some of your published posts on your page, and use Facebook Ads for running Ads Manager campaigns for sales, leads, and long-term growth.

Conclusion

Boosted posts and Facebook ads are not the same — one is a quick visibility tool, the other is a full advertising platform. Local businesses that start with boosted posts often see some success, but to grow beyond likes and reach, Ads Manager is the real game-changer. If you want to get the most from your budget, start small with boosted posts, but learn how to run Ads Manager campaigns for real business results.