Boost

In the realm of social media, Boost refers to a paid-for advertising feature offered by platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, that allows users—mostly businesses, influencers, and content creators—to amplify the reach and visibility of their content. When you use Boost, you take an organic post that was likely just an image, video, or text-based update and turn it into a promoted piece of content. Content that appears in the feeds of people who likely don't follow you but who match the demographic, geographic, or interest-based criteria you've selected for this Boost.

Boost is considered entry-level social media advertising. You can use it to increase engagement on the level of likes, comments, and shares that a post might earn. Platforms charge for Boosts on a pay-per-impression (CPM) or pay-per-engagement basis, which means you control how much you're spending and for how long you're paying to keep this post put in front of more people.

Boost is accessible. You don't have to have a whole campaign designed and set up on the platforms' more complex advertising dashboards to use it. You can use one of your posts as the entry point to a campaign of sorts and just run with it.