Organic and paid social media are necessary for success in the current digital landscape. While some may claim that organic social media is dead, it still plays a crucial role in the overall marketing strategy. A solid organic social media strategy is essential to lay the groundwork for successful paid ads. In this article, we’ll dive into the strengths of each and provide tips on combining them for optimal results.
Discover the Power of Paid Vs. Organic Social Media
Much like the age-old debate between Paid vs. Organic social marketing. Social media is divided between organic and paid options. Organic social media is all about using free tools and platforms to build an engaged online following, while paid social media encompasses sponsored or advertised content that a brand pays a social network to display to a broader audience. From cost-per-click promotions to nurturing your followers, it’s essential to understand how both strategies can work together to maximize your social media impact.
Paid vs. organic social: Let’s define the two types of social media:
Organic content refers to posts that are free and shared with your audience. Meanwhile, paid content involves spending money to reach a larger audience.
Organic posts will appear on the feeds of those who already follow you. Your posts will naturally reach more people as they gain more engagement and shares. On the other hand, paid posts can target a specific audience based on their location, interests, demographics, and more, and you pay for each person to see your ads.
Sometimes, paid and organic content can blend. For instance, paying to boost an organic post can increase its reach and effectiveness.
Exploring the Significance of Organic Social Media
In this section, we’ll delve deeper into the importance of organic social media. We’ll provide insights on what types of content will help you reach your target audience and share expert tips and best practices for creating engaging organic content.
Why does Organic Content Matter?
Before publishing your social media content, it’s crucial to determine whether you want to reach existing customers or attract new ones. Organic content is the way to go if you aim to engage with your existing followers.
Remember, your organic posts build your brand’s social identity, ultimately influencing potential customers’ decisions to do business with you. Consumers increasingly rely on social media to learn about brands, often visiting a brand’s social pages before their website. By creating engaging, informative organic content, your brand can capture the attention of these consumers and inspire them to choose you as their preferred partner.
Discover the Best Practices for Organic Posting:
Are you looking to post organic content? Consider these best practices to ensure high engagement rates:
- Reduce promotional content.
Avoid extensively promoting sales and focus instead on providing valuable content to your audience. Share stories, provide education, and inspire through your organic content. Ensure that promotional content is interspersed with value-driven content to encourage loyalty and trust from your followers.
- Maximize showcasing your brand’s personality.
In addition to reducing sales talk and promotions, emphasis should be placed on showcasing your brand’s personality. Tell your brand’s story, and emphasize the people behind your business, your company values, and your passions as a brand.
- Reinforce your brand identity.
Use organic content as a means to reinforce your brand’s identity. Decide what information regarding your brand you want to be known for and determine if it’s communicated through your existing social media content. Otherwise, create fresh content for your social media channels, highlighting what you do and stand for. Ensure this content is the first thing your followers see when they visit your page.
Exploring the Significance of Paid Social Media
While organic social is a waiting game, paid social guarantees visibility and results. Don’t be intimidated if you’re new to this channel; with some guidance, it’s an invaluable asset to master.
As the number of consumers who make purchases after seeing ads on social media continues to grow, investing in paid social has become increasingly popular for businesses. Recent statistics indicate that a whopping 24% more consumers have made purchases in the past year after seeing a paid social ad than the previous year.
In light of these compelling trends, paid social should be seen as a wise investment for businesses looking to boost their success with social media advertising.
Discover the Best Practices for Paid Posting:
Maximize the impact of your social ad campaigns with these expert tips:
- Pinpoint the right audience.
Social ads are potent thanks to precise targeting. For effective messaging, match your audience with your message.
- Include a clear call to action.
Make your desired next step obvious to viewers. Be bold and clear with a direct call to action (CTA), like “buy now”. Plus, you can add time-sensitive special offers for a sense of urgency.
- Say it in less.
As your ads land in the Feed, show your message to an audience who doesn’t know you yet. Quickly gain their attention and keep it with a short, straight-to-the-point message. Keep video ads under 30 seconds tops.
- Test, test, and test some more
If you don’t achieve results at first, keep trying. Experiment and assess different messages with calls to action until you learn what works.
Take your social ads to the next level with these tried-and-tested tips.
Paid vs. Organic Social: Combining Paid and Organic Strategies
So what’s the secret to winning on social media? It’s not a choice between paid or organic social, but rather harnessing the power of both. Even though organic social reach has decreased somewhat, the benefits of organic social remain significant. You can promote your company for free to a dedicated audience and increase your network through social sharing. You can maintain your audience’s loyalty by prioritizing value over sales pitches in posts.
Take your marketing budget further by testing organic social content before running it as a promotion. Rather than gambling with paid social campaigns, experiment with organic social, email outreach, and other low-cost methods to discover which content resonates most with your audience. Once you’ve identified your successful pieces, use them for your paid social ads and promotions. And don’t forget to track your analytics to determine the best days and times for posting on paid and organic channels.
How Digital-Native Brands Master Paid and Organic Social Strategies?
With companies like Casper and Dollar Shave Club taking the digital world by storm, established brands need to up their social media game. These successful brands use innovative techniques to target their audiences and keep user acquisition costs under control.
A prime example is Headspace, the popular meditation app that leverages paid and organic social media. By creating a solid community of followers through meaningful content, the brand’s organic strategy builds customer loyalty and boosts engagement. In paid social campaigns, intelligent graphics and relatable messaging solidify the brand’s unique voice and value proposition.
The success of these brands lies in their ability to build a cohesive online presence that values authenticity, transparency, and experimentation. With a deep understanding of their audience and the nuances of social media, they consistently achieve low PPC costs and keep audiences engaged through organic strategies.
Paid vs. Organic Social Posts: Comparing Strengths
Paid Social Ads:
- Increased Visibility –
Through paid social ads, businesses can increase their visibility and reach a wider audience. This can be particularly useful for newer businesses yet to establish a social media following.
- Targeted Advertising –
Paid ads allow advanced targeting options like location, interests, and demographics. This ensures that ads are shown to users who are most likely to be interested in what the business offers.
- Measurable Results –
Paid ads provide businesses with measurable data to track the success of their campaigns. This includes information on clicks, impressions, and conversions, ultimately leading to better ROI.
- Faster Results –
Paid ads can yield faster results as they are given priority over organic posts. This means businesses can quickly enhance their visibility, drive traffic and increase sales.
Organic Social Posts:
- Low Cost –
Unlike paid social ads, organic posts do not require any financial investment. This makes it an excellent option for businesses with limited marketing budgets.
- Authenticity –
Organic social posts give potential customers an authentic and natural feeling. It allows businesses to showcase their brand’s personality, voice, and values, making it more relatable to consumers.
- Builds Brand Awareness –
Organic social posts allow businesses to create brand awareness and brand loyalty amongst their followers. With consistent and engaging social media content, businesses can establish themselves as industry experts, gaining the trust of their followers.
- Engages Customers –
Organic posts encourage engagement and conversation between brands and followers. This can lead to better customer relationships, higher brand loyalty, and increased word-of-mouth marketing.
Both paid social ads and organic social posts have their strengths and are effective in their unique way. Paid ads are great for increasing visibility, driving traffic, and getting faster results. On the other hand, organic posts are great for building brand loyalty, creating authenticity, and engaging with followers.
Ultimately, businesses must evaluate their goals, budget, and target audience to determine their best approach. A combination of both paid and organic social media strategies can lead to optimal results, ensuring that businesses reap the benefits of both approaches.
Need Help?
Navigating between paid and organic social media marketing can challenge any brand. Paid campaigns can be costly but can yield powerful results when done right. Organic campaigns require time and dedication – but cost nothing initially. Regardless of your approach, having an experienced marketing partner like https://www.zenscapemarketing.com/contact/ to assist in your strategy can be a significant deciding factor in driving success at scale. We have worked with some of the world’s top brands to grow their online presence and have built successful campaigns through their targeting, creative messaging, and ROI insights – all of which we offer as part of our suite of services. Now more than ever is a great opportunity to explore your options and see what works best for you. To learn more about how Zenscape Marketing can help you on your paid & organic social journey, schedule a free consultation today!
