There are many components that come into play when building your brand online. If your business has an online presence, social media marketing is mandatory. If it doesn’t have some kind of social media presence, you could be on your way to irrelevancy. (dun dun dunnn)
A major part of social media marketing is understanding the two different types: Paid vs Organic marketing.
Business owners wanting to implement social media strategies must be familiar with these two primary types of social media. Each has its advantages and knowing when to use one or the other could make a significant difference in user engagement, response, and performance.
So what is Organic social media?
Organic marketing- specifically with social media- is creating and posting content on any of your social accounts. These posts are seen primarily by a user’s friends or followers and do not cost anything to publish. They will reach a limited number of users within the larger universe of potential customers. Generating engagement on organic posts relies on the interest of users following the brand.
What is Paid social media?
The most important advantage of paid is that you can define and target a specific audience by carefully crafted ads designed to engage people who may already be interested in your service.
Since these ads can be optimized for a specific target audience, it can zero in on the people who meet your specific demographic profile. This means they are likely to click on your ad or visit your website.
The paid route will almost certainly get you faster and better results than simply relying on organic. However, as with any paid advertising, there is a small risk involved. There’s no absolute guarantee that you’ll see a positive ROI. Without research and careful planning, paid social campaigns can get stale.
That’s why developing a strong social strategy (or using a marketing company) is key to reaping the potential benefits of paid social.
Now, it’s obvious paid social reaches more people than old-fashioned, regular posts.
But what can you do to get the most out of your posts?
Combining paid with organic is even more cost-effective than relying on just organic reach or paid ads. When you think about it, organic reach is what you get for free – no matter who sees it. Your ad dollars on social are only spent on exactly who you are targeting.
All paid social campaigns extend beyond your own network which creates residual engagement on the rest of your posts. This engagement will impact your reach within your network and beyond. The more users engage, the more likely they’ll convert. Although paid social media can broaden the exposure of your business’s message, it is important to start with generating high-quality organic, relevant content.
No amount of paid social media can turn low-quality content into effective content.
Whether you decide to use paid, organic, or a combination of the two, social media marketing is something you can’t afford to neglect.
When you sync your strategies so that they work together, you maximize the success of your overall social media marketing.
While paid ads are the best way to go, the power of both paid and organic reach cannot be overstated.
