Ah, Facebook.
No sooner do you think you’ve got the hang of it and they go and change something – usually without any prior warning.
Case in point: have you been getting less reach when boosting posts on Facebook? And have you been wondering why?!
When I noticed this on some of the Facebook pages I manage – with boosted posts only achieving about half the usual reach – I went digging a little deeper, and here’s what I found.
A Sneaky Little Facebook Update
Boosted posts are now automatically shown on Instagram. Facebook just neglected to tell anybody!
And that’s why you are getting less reach when boosting posts on Facebook.
Currently, Instagram ads just don’t work – for my page audience/s, anyway.
As Facebook owns Instagram, they are obviously trying to push this arm of their online empire.
However it seems most Facebook page managers have absolutely no idea about this sneaky little update, or why they are suddenly getting less reach when boosting posts on Facebook.
I even came across an article posted as recently as 24 August 2016, which advised that the only way to have Facebook boosted posts shown on Instagram, was to use the Ads Manager – not realising they are now automatically being shown there.
Boosting Posts On Facebook: use Ads Manager
The solution is to boost posts through the Ads Manager, where you can turn off the Instagram option. It’s a lot more time consuming and fiddly, but I checked with Facebook and they advised that there is no way to permanently turn off the option to have boosted posts shown on Instagram.
Does anybody else think that Facebook really should have announced this change when it has such a dramatic effect on reach when boosting posts?
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