What is the difference between boosted posts and targeted ads on social media?

Boosted posts and targeted ads on social media serve different purposes and have distinct features, targeting options, and functionalities. Here's a breakdown of the key differences between boosted posts and targeted ads:

Boosted Posts:
1. **Purpose**: Boosted posts are regular organic posts from your social media account that you pay to promote to a wider audience. The primary purpose of boosting a post is to increase its reach and engagement among your existing followers and their extended networks.
2. **Audience**: Boosted posts typically target a broader audience, including your existing followers and their friends, as well as users who may have similar interests or demographics. However, the targeting options for boosted posts are limited compared to targeted ads.
3. **Features**: Boosted posts offer limited customization options compared to targeted ads. You can choose basic targeting criteria such as location, age, gender, and interests, but you have less control over advanced targeting options such as behaviors, job titles, or income levels.
4. **Placement**: Boosted posts appear in users' news feeds and may also appear as sponsored content in the sidebar or other ad placements, depending on the social media platform.
5. **Budget**: Boosted posts allow you to set a budget for how much you want to spend on promoting the post and specify the duration of the promotion. The cost of boosting a post varies based on factors such as audience size, targeting options, and competition.
6. **Objective**: Boosted posts are generally used to increase engagement metrics such as likes, comments, shares, and clicks, rather than driving specific actions such as website traffic or conversions.

Targeted Ads:
1. **Purpose**: Targeted ads are created specifically for advertising purposes and are designed to achieve specific marketing objectives, such as driving website traffic, generating leads, or increasing sales. Unlike boosted posts, targeted ads are not organic content and are created through the platform's advertising interface.
2. **Audience**: Targeted ads offer advanced targeting options that allow advertisers to define their target audience with precision based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and other criteria. Advertisers can create custom audience segments and tailor their messaging to reach users who are most likely to be interested in their products or services.
3. **Features**: Targeted ads offer more customization options and features compared to boosted posts. Advertisers can choose from a variety of ad formats, objectives, and placement options, as well as access advanced targeting and optimization tools to maximize ad performance.
4. **Placement**: Targeted ads can appear in various placements across the social media platform, including users' news feeds, stories, search results, and other ad placements. Advertisers can select specific placements based on their campaign objectives and audience preferences.
5. **Budget**: Targeted ads allow advertisers to set a budget for their campaigns and specify bidding strategies, such as cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM). Advertisers have more control over their ad spend and can optimize their campaigns based on performance metrics and ROI.
6. **Objective**: Targeted ads can be used to achieve a wide range of marketing objectives, including brand awareness, lead generation, website traffic, conversions, app installs, and more. Advertisers can choose the objective that aligns with their goals and track the performance of their ads accordingly.

In summary, the main differences between boosted posts and targeted ads on social media lie in their purpose, audience targeting options, features, placement, budgeting, and campaign objectives. While boosted posts are suitable for increasing engagement among existing followers and their networks, targeted ads offer more advanced targeting and customization options for achieving specific marketing objectives and reaching a highly targeted audience.