Understanding Paid vs Organic Social Media
Firstly, it’s useful to run through a quick definition of each term, so you understand exactly what techniques you’re working with.
Paid social media essentially refers to ads or sponsored campaigns designed to reach a target audience on a particular platform. These are usually targeted towards specific audience demographics, using the platform’s tools to hone in on users’ interests, behaviours, searches – as well as demographics such as age, gender and geographical location.
Organic social media involves creating high quality content that isn’t backed by a paid campaign. Marketers will use the standard content tools on the platform to create posts, videos, stories and reels which rely on engagement – especially the sharing of content by other users.
Impacts and advantages of paid social media
One of the biggest advantages of paid social media marketing is targeting. You can focus on selling or promoting products/services to customers who are most likely to buy. This might be because they fit your ideal customer profile, or it may be down to geographical location or the customer’s own interests and behaviours.
Crucially, paid social allows you to reach people who aren’t currently following your brand. It’s fast and effective at improving both reach and engagement to a larger audience, compared to organic social media marketing which can take time.
Another benefit is the opportunity to measure the success of paid campaigns, as social platforms offer detailed analytics tools. This means you can tweak future campaigns based on what has and hasn’t worked so far.
Impacts and advantages of organic social media
The most obvious advantage of organic social media is that it’s much cheaper, at least in terms of financial investment. Paid social can be expensive, whereas organic marketing requires no upfront spend. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that it does require a substantial investment in time – both in terms of time to plan campaigns and create content, and to let your follower numbers grow.
But get it right, and you can reach a significant audience for very little budget. It lets you build and nurture strong relationships with an engaged audience. This establishes loyalty, and helps to develop a community around your brand. Digital communities can be extremely powerful, and turn members of this community into brand advocates. They’ll do the work that paid social does, spreading the word to people who don’t already follow you.
Organic social media also lets you have a little fun, showcasing your brand’s personality and culture. There are so many creative ways to generate content, including making use of user-generated content.
