“Just boost it” has become the default advice for underperforming social content. The logic seems sound: organic reach has collapsed across platforms, paid amplification is accessible, and surely any investment beats zero visibility. But “just boost it” without a framework is how marketing budgets quietly haemorrhage into the void.
The question isn’t whether to boost posts. It’s how much to spend, on what content, with what expectations. Most brands either under-invest (€10 boosts that reach nobody meaningful) or over-invest (throwing €500 at content that was never going to convert). Both approaches waste money – just at different scales.
Organic Reach Collapse Is Real
Let’s establish baseline reality. Facebook organic reach for brand pages averages 2-5% of followers in 2025 – down from 16% a decade ago. Instagram organic reach has declined approximately 25-30% year-over-year. LinkedIn organic reach has dropped roughly 50% for most creators according to the Algorithm Insights 2024 report. TikTok remains the exception with genuinely viral organic potential, but even there, consistent reach requires either exceptional content or paid support.
This means a brand with 10,000 Instagram followers might organically reach 700-1,500 of them per post. If 30% of those actually see the content in their feed (versus scrolling past), you’re talking about 200-450 genuine impressions from “your” audience. That’s the reality organic content faces before discussing any business objective.
Post Boosting Budget – The Minimum Effective Dose Per Platform
Boosting budgets below certain thresholds accomplish nothing measurable. Platform algorithms need sufficient data to optimise delivery. A €5 boost spreads across 24-72 hours reaches so few people that statistical analysis becomes meaningless – you can’t tell if performance was good, bad, or random noise.
Based on CPM (cost per thousand impressions) benchmarks across European markets in 2024-2025, minimum effective budgets look something like this: Instagram feed posts require €20-€50 minimum to generate enough impressions for meaningful data. Facebook posts need €15-€40 minimum. LinkedIn sponsored content starts being useful around €30-€75. TikTok promotions work from €15-€30 minimum.
Below these floors, you’re not testing – you’re gambling with tiny sample sizes. The boost might perform brilliantly or terribly, but you won’t know which because the data volume is insufficient for conclusions.
Revenue Attribution Framework
For B2C e-commerce and direct-response campaigns, boost budgets should derive from revenue expectations, not arbitrary percentages. The formula:
Maximum Profitable Boost = (Expected Conversions × Average Order Value × Profit Margin) – Boost Cost
Example: Your boosted post historically converts at 0.3%. At €100 spend, you reach approximately 10,000-15,000 people (depending on targeting and market). If 0.3% convert (30-45 people) at €50 average order with 40% margin, that’s €600-€900 gross profit. A €100 boost is clearly profitable.
But if your conversion rate is 0.05% (5-8 conversions from the same €100 spend), you’re generating €100-€160 in margin – barely breaking even before considering content creation costs.
The uncomfortable truth: most brands don’t know their actual conversion rates from boosted posts because they’re not tracking properly. They boost, see some sales, assume correlation, and never calculate whether the mathematics actually work.
B2B Reality Check
B2B boosting operates on entirely different economics. Your LinkedIn post about supply chain optimisation isn’t going to generate direct purchases. It might generate leads, brand awareness, or positioning – none of which have immediate revenue attribution.
For B2B, boost budgets should connect to lead generation costs. If your typical cost-per-lead from other channels is €150, and a boosted LinkedIn post generates qualified leads at €75 CPL, the boost is outperforming. If the CPL from boosting exceeds your channel average, the budget is better allocated elsewhere.
A B2B software company I worked with discovered their boosted “thought leadership” posts generated website traffic but essentially zero leads. The €200-€500 they spent monthly on boosting produced impressive reach metrics and exactly nothing for pipeline. When we reallocated that budget to boosting case studies with strong CTAs instead, lead generation increased 340% at the same spend level. Same budget, different content, radically different outcomes.
What Content Deserves Amplification
Not all content deserves paid amplification. Boosting mediocre content just makes more people see mediocre content – it doesn’t make it perform better.
The selection framework: Boost content that’s already performing above your organic baseline. If a post organically achieved 150% of your typical engagement, paid amplification will likely scale that success. If a post underperformed organically, boosting usually won’t save it – audiences who don’t engage organically won’t suddenly engage because you paid for more impressions.
Boost content with clear business objectives. “Brand awareness” is not a business objective – it’s a category. “Drive traffic to product landing page” or “generate webinar registrations” are objectives you can measure and optimise against.
Boost content with obvious next steps. A beautiful brand image without CTA generates impressions that go nowhere. Even awareness campaigns should have some action path – website visit, profile follow, save for later.
Platform-Specific Budget Allocation
CPMs vary dramatically across platforms and markets. European averages in 2024-2025 show LinkedIn at €6-€12 CPM for basic targeting, rising to €15-€25 for tight professional demographics. Instagram averages €4-€8 CPM. Facebook runs €3-€7 CPM. TikTok offers €2-€5 CPM but with a younger demographic skew.
These differences mean €100 buys very different reach across platforms: roughly 8,000-16,000 impressions on LinkedIn versus 12,000-25,000 on Instagram versus 20,000-50,000 on TikTok. But impression quantity isn’t value – impression quality matters more.
A B2B company boosting on TikTok might reach 50,000 people, 95% of whom have zero purchasing authority for enterprise software. The same €100 on LinkedIn reaches 10,000 people, 40% of whom match decision-maker criteria. The smaller, expensive audience generates actual business value.
Testing Budget
Before committing significant budgets, allocate 10-15% of the monthly paid social spend to testing. This means running multiple small boosts (€30-€75 each) across different content types, audiences, and objectives to establish baseline performance data.
After 4-6 weeks of systematic testing, you’ll know: which content types generate the lowest CPM, which audiences convert at the highest rates, which platforms deliver the best ROI for your specific business, and what time windows produce optimal engagement.
This testing phase costs €300-€500 for most SMEs. The intelligence it generates prevents thousands in wasted spend on assumptions that turn out to be wrong.
“Just Boost It” Alternative
Instead of arbitrary boosting, implement this monthly framework:
First, review organic performance weekly. Identify the top 10-20% performing posts by engagement rate. Second, boost only proven performers with clear business objectives. Third, set boost budgets based on expected outcomes using platform benchmarks and your historical conversion data. Fourth, track actual results against projections. Fifth, adjust allocations monthly based on what’s actually working.
This systematic approach typically achieves 200-400% better ROI than “boost everything equally” strategies – simply by concentrating resources on content that’s already demonstrated audience resonance.
If your boosting strategy is currently “spend €X per post and hope,” there’s substantial room for improvement. Our Digital Advertising services help brands build paid social frameworks that connect spend to outcomes – not vanity metrics.
Book a consultation to audit your current boosting ROI and identify where budget optimisation could fund better results from the same spend.
