To find the worth we need to understand the differences between organic and paid social media marketing.

Social media platforms initially helped you with word-of-mouth kind of marketing, where you would keep the users engaged through exciting content that was then liked, shared and commented on. But now paid or sponsored content, influencer marketing has become the norm on these very same platforms. Both of these marketing efforts bear fruit, but what works best for your brand is the question. It would be good to understand both these routes in depth to see what works best for your business.

Organic marketing refers to sharing unpaid posts on your business’s social media pages. These posts include text, images, videos, hashtags, posts with links and many more. We use them to promote existing products, launch a new product in the market, share industry news and articles, lead followers to visit your website, and more. No matter the post type, it’s not considered paid social media marketing unless there’s a budget behind it.

Paid social media marketing is when you have a budget and pay to advertise on the very same social media sites. These include boosted posts, sponsored posts, text, images, video ads and more.

It would be ideal to use both as a package deal. But then you might wonder what is the point of posting organically since you don’t have a big follower base or do those followers even see your posts?

Lots of reasons

Brand consistency

When I see your ad and visit your social media account and find nothing there, you miss out on the chance to connect with me and tell me more about your brand.

Brand awareness

When you post organically, you become a part of users’ streams, which will familiarize them with your brand, in turn leading them to become a customer.

More followers, more effective

A big follower base can be a great way to reach your customers.

Now let us understand paid social media marketing.

Increase leads/conversions

With a little or big budget, you can decide the targets, nature of the ad and reach more users, which in turn could lead to conversions

Retargeting users

Customers who have shown interest in your products can be retargeted, which is not an option on organic posts. Retargeted users will see your ads in their social feeds.

Target specific customers

You can target users who you know might be interested in your products or services. You can target them based on demographics, interests, online behaviour, education level, marital status, and much more. This allows you to place your products in front of an audience that is most likely to purchase.

Lead users to your website

With the help of CTA ( call-to-action) buttons you can entice users to take action and visit your website. These actions could be visiting your site, filling out a form, learning more, buying now, contact now. You could also create a landing page on your website.

To sum up, organic and paid social media strategies work better when paired. They will help you build brand awareness, loyalty, and more sales.

Tag: social

Organic vs. paid social media marketing