Creating a solid social media strategy is not one-size-fits-all. There are many components that come into play, including building your brand identity into the process. Two important tactics involved in any social-driven advertising campaign are paid and organic social advertising. Each requires different processes and criteria, but implementing both tactics together can lead to extremely successful results. Read on to learn the difference between paid and organic social and to discover the uses, best practices and strategies to consider before implementing each in your social advertising program.
Paid social has become an essential component of advertising on social media platforms. A campaign is considered “paid” when there is money behind a post to promote it. This can be done by using funds to boost a specific social post to generate further reach, or by designing and running optimized ads to connect with a specific audience to generate leads, clicks or traffic. The main social sites that accept paid social are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
Each social platform requires its own unique strategy in order to reach followers and garner interaction, and paid advertising is a large part of those strategies. In that same vein, each business will have a different audience and voice that you’ll need to consider when building out a paid social campaign. But one thing is certain: No marketing plan is complete without paid social.
The days of using organic posts exclusively to reach a target audience have come and gone, so utilizing paid social as part of your marketing plan is invaluable. Paid ads and boosted posts will take you beyond the reach of a traditional organic post and attract leads outside your existing customer base. When using the ad functionality on most social platforms, you will be able to determine specific demographics to reach and target select locations, interests and more.
Not only will you be able to connect with more potential customers, but you’ll also be able to learn a lot about your existing customers. Superior tracking and A/B testing capabilities will ensure that you’ll reach and expand your audience and learn about their wants and needs.
An organic social strategy forgoes a monetary budget and instead relies on audience interaction and posts to engage with followers. Any post on a social page with no financial boost is considered an organic post and will only reach customers through the platform’s ever-changing and often veiled algorithm. Interacting with other people’s posts, engaging in discussions on other brand pages and within groups, or responding to posts on your brand page are also considered organic, as there is no money backing the action.
Consistent and relevant interaction on all social channels is extremely important for any business for several reasons. More interaction will garner further reach, encourage more participation from your followers and ultimately establish your brand as legitimate.
Although this method can be time-consuming, it is vital to establishing relationships with your followers and clients. Not only will you foster these important relationships and establish loyalty, but you’ll also learn about the needs of your current and potential customers.
Note: Even though organic interaction is an integral part of the social process, we strongly encourage our clients to boost all social posts to ensure an ample reach that organic posts simply cannot deliver.
It is possible to use both paid and organic social individually, but when deployed together, they are far stronger and more effective. When promoting brand awareness, organic interactions will showcase your brand’s personality and values, while paid social ads will reach out to new customers and bypass your existing followers. That way, you’ll be promoting brand awareness, not brand overexposure.
Use organic posts to measure the effectiveness of your content before moving over to paid social. This will help determine the types of content that your audience responds best to, allowing you to prioritize specific types of posts before adding monetary backing.
Regardless of how your design your social media advertising strategy, it’s important to use a healthy mix of both paid and organic social. Of course, campaigns with a stronger financial investment perform better and reach more potential clients, but it’s the social interaction that cultivates strong customer relationships.