How to Sponsor a Post on Facebook

Sponsoring a post on Facebook is one of the most direct ways to get your content in front of the right people, moving beyond your existing followers to find new customers and fans. This guide will walk you through exactly how to do it, covering both the simple Boost Post button and the more powerful Ads Manager method. We'll show you how to choose your audience, set a budget that works for you, and understand whether your ad is actually delivering results.

What Does It Mean to "Sponsor" a Facebook Post?

You've probably seen the terms "sponsoring," "boosting," and "promoting" used interchangeably. At its core, sponsoring a post means you're paying Facebook (now Meta) to show one of your existing page posts to a wider, more targeted audience. Instead of creating an ad from scratch, you're amplifying content that's already live on your page.

There are two main ways to accomplish this:

• Boost a Post: This is the simplest method, accessible directly from your Facebook Page. It's perfect for beginners or anyone looking to quickly get more eyes on a post without getting bogged down in complex settings.
• Using Ads Manager: This is Meta's full-featured advertising platform. It offers far greater control over campaign objectives, audience targeting, ad placements, and performance analysis. Sponsoring a post this way involves using an existing post as the "creative" for a formal ad campaign.

We'll cover both methods, so you can pick the one that best fits your goals and comfort level.

Before You Click "Sponsor": Set Your Post Up for Success

Putting money behind a post won't automatically make it successful. A sponsored post works best when it amplifies something that's already good. Before you spend a dollar, take a moment to make sure your post is ready for the spotlight.

1. Choose the Right Post

Not every post is worth sponsoring. Look for content that has already performed well organically. A post with a good number of likes, comments, and shares from your current followers is a strong signal that it resonates with people. Sponsoring it will simply show it to more people who are likely to feel the same way.

Good candidates for sponsoring often include:

• High-quality photos or videos showcasing your product or service.
• Posts that announce a special offer, event, or sale.
• Customer testimonials or user-generated content that builds social proof.
• Helpful tips or educational content that demonstrates your expertise.
• Entertaining or inspiring content that reflects your brand's personality.

2. Know Your Goal

What do you want people to do after they see your post? Without a clear goal, you won't know if your ad spend was worth it. Your goal determines everything, from the caption you write to the button you use.

Examples of clear goals:

• Get more engagement: You want more likes, comments, and shares to increase brand awareness and social proof.
• Get more messages: You want people to start a conversation with you via Messenger or WhatsApp to ask questions or make inquiries.
• Drive website traffic: You want people to click a link to read a blog post, browse products, or learn more on your site.
• Generate leads: You want people to sign up for a newsletter, download a guide, or fill out a contact form.

3. Have a Strong Visual and a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)

On a crowded social media feed, your visuals are what stop the scroll. Make sure your image or video is high-quality, eye-catching, and easy to understand. Avoid busy images or videos with poor lighting.

Your caption should have a clear call-to-action (CTA). Tell people exactly what you want them to do next. Don't be shy!

• Instead of: "Check out our new products."
• Try: "Shop the new collection now! Link in bio."
• Instead of: "We wrote a new blog post."
• Try: "Curious about [Topic]? Read our full guide here to find out."

Method 1: The Fast and Simple Way with "Boost Post"

Boosting is Facebook's entry-level advertising tool. It's user-friendly and great for simple goals like increasing engagement or reach. Here's a step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Find the "Boost Post" Button

Go to your Facebook Business Page and scroll to the post you want to sponsor. On the bottom right of the post, you'll see a blue "Boost post" button. Click it.

Step 2: Choose a Goal

Facebook will ask you what results you want from this ad. The options are usually simplified versions of the main Ads Manager objectives. Your options might include:

• Automatic: Let Facebook select the goal based on what it thinks will work best for your post. (It's often better to choose your own goal).
• Get more engagement: Optimized to get more reactions, comments, and shares.
• Get more website visitors: Optimized to get clicks on the link in your post.
• Get more messages: Encourages people to send you a message on Messenger, Instagram, or WhatsApp.
• Get more leads: Uses a form to collect information from potential customers.

Select the goal that aligns with what you defined earlier.

Step 3: Define Your Audience

This is where the magic happens. Who do you want to see your post? You'll have a few options for audience targeting:

Audience Details

Click the "Create new" button or edit the default audience. Here you can define who you want to reach based on:

• Gender: Men, Women, or All.
• Age: Set a specific age range (e.g., 25-45).
• Location: Target people in specific countries, states, cities, or even a radius around a certain address.
• Detailed Targeting: This allows you to include people based on their interests, behaviors, and demographics. Start typing keywords related to your ideal customer. For example, if you sell hiking gear, you might target interests like "Hiking," "Rock Climbing," or "National Parks."

As you add targeting criteria, look at the "Audience size" indicator on the right. Try to keep your audience from being too broad or too specific. A "defined" or "green" status is generally a good place to start.

Step 4: Set Your Budget and Duration

Now, you need to tell Facebook how much you want to spend and for how long.

• Duration: How many days do you want the ad to run? For testing, starting with 3-5 days is a good baseline.
• Total Budget: This is the maximum amount you will spend over the entire duration of the ad. If you set a budget of $50 for 5 days, Facebook will spend approximately $10 per day.

A small budget of $5-$10 per day is often enough to gather initial data and see if your sponsored post is resonating with your target audience.

Step 5: Review Placements and Payment

Placements refer to where your ad will appear. By default, Facebook will typically show your ad on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. You can click on "Placements" to review and uncheck any options you don't want to use.

Finally, confirm your payment method. If you've never advertised before, you'll be prompted to add a credit card or PayPal account.

Give everything one final look, then click the "Boost post now" button. Your ad will go into a review process (which usually takes less than 24 hours) and then go live!

Method 2: Full Control with Facebook Ads Manager

When you're ready for more advanced options - like A/B testing, remarketing to website visitors, or custom conversion goals - it's time to graduate to Ads Manager.

Step 1: Navigate to Ads Manager and Create a Campaign

Go to your Facebook Ads Manager (it's located within your Meta Business Suite, or you can go to facebook.com/adsmanager). Click the green "+ Create" button on the left.

Step 2: Choose Your Campaign Objective

You'll see a list of objectives that are more detailed than the Boost options. These are grouped into three categories: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion. Common objectives for sponsoring a post include:

• Engagement: Corresponds to the "Get more engagement" goal. Choose this if you want interactions on your post.
• Traffic: Corresponds to "Get more website visitors." Choose this to send people to your site.
• Sales: If your post links directly to a product page and you have the Meta Pixel installed, this option optimizes for purchases.

Step 3: Define Your Audience, Placements, and Budget at the Ad Set Level

After you choose your objective, you'll be taken to the "Ad Set" level. This is where you configure your targeting.

The options here are much more granular than with the Boost button. In addition to targeting by demographics and interests, you can create:

• Custom Audiences: Target people who have already interacted with your business, such as website visitors, people on your email list, or those who have engaged with your Facebook Page.
• Lookalike Audiences: Let Facebook find new people who are similar to your best existing customers or website visitors.

You'll also set your budget and schedule here, just like in the Boost flow, but with more precise control. You can also manually choose your placements, deciding exactly where your ad appears (e.g., only in Instagram Stories or only in the Facebook News Feed).

Step 4: Select Your Existing Post as the Ad Creative

At the "Ad" level, you'll set up the creative. Instead of creating a new ad, you'll tell Ads Manager to use one of your published posts.

Under the "Ad setup" section, choose "Use existing post." Then, click "Select post" and pick the Facebook or Instagram post you want to sponsor. The post will load in the ad preview window exactly as it appears on your page.

One key advantage here is that any social proof (likes, comments, shares) the ad collects will remain on the original organic post, which makes your page look more credible.

Step 5: Review and Publish

Finally, double-check all your settings - campaign objective, audience, budget, schedule, and chosen post. When you're ready, click the green "Publish" button. Your campaign will enter the same review process before going live.

After a Few Days: Check Your Performance

Whether you used the Boost button or Ads Manager, don't just "set it and forget it." After 2-3 days, it's time to see how your ad is performing.

From the Boost view, you can see a simplified summary of results. From Ads Manager, you get detailed metrics. Focus on the numbers that relate directly to your goal:

• Goal: Engagement? Look at Post Engagements and Cost Per Engagement.
• Goal: Traffic? Look at Link Clicks and Cost Per Click (CPC).
• Goal: Leads? Look at the number of Leads and Cost Per Lead.

Use this data to decide if the ad is successful. If the results are poor, pause the campaign and try sponsoring a different post or targeting a different audience. If it's working well, consider adding more budget to get even better results.

Final Thoughts

Sponsoring a Facebook post is a powerful way to expand your reach and achieve specific marketing goals, whether you prefer the simple Boost button or the robust Ads Manager. By starting with a strong post, a clear objective, and a well-defined audience, you set yourself up for a successful ad campaign that delivers real results for a budget of any size.

Of course, paid promotion works best when you already have a foundation of great organic content. At Postbase, we built our platform to make planning and scheduling that content a seamless process. By using our visual calendar, you can map out a consistent, high-quality content strategy across all your platforms. That way, when it's time to choose a post to sponsor, you'll have a library of proven, engaging content ready to amplify.

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