Paid Social Media vs. Organic Social Media Strategies

As social media marketing strategies continue to evolve, many brands have learned to use a hybrid strategy of paid and organic posts to reach large audiences and engage their target market. Let’s explore paid social vs. organic social media and why brands like to use a combination of both. 

What’s the difference between paid social and organic social? 

Put simply, organic social media is any post that is free of paid promotion. Brands use these types of posts to engage and build trust in their loyal consumers. Paid social media uses advertising dollars to display a brand’s posts to users that are not followers. Brands use paid social media to grow name recognition and reach. 

Benefits of Paid Social: 

If the reach from your organic social media posts is decreasing, paid social media is a great way to find new followers that will engage with your future organic posts. Additionally, paid social media is an excellent tool for when you are offering a sale or promotion. Paid social will spread the word about your promotion attracting new followers to your page. 

Benefits of Organic Social: 

Possibly the best benefit of organic social media strategies is that it’s free. Beyond its incredible price tag, organic social is a great tool to create a community between you and your most loyal consumers. Brands use organic social as an opportunity to ask their followers questions, share their company values, and engage with comments. Engaging with your followers will encourage them to become loyal to your brand and use word of mouth to bring more people to your social media page. 

Combining Organic and Paid Social: 

Now that you know the difference between paid and organic social media posts, you’re probably wondering what this hybrid strategy is all about? Implementing both paid and organic social media posts into your social media marketing plan is the best way to simultaneously have high reach and high engagement. The meditation app Headspace does a good job of combining these two strategies. Their organic posts are focused on helpful tips and motivation that speak to the values of their loyal consumers. However, their paid social posts focus on addressing consumer pain points to draw in a new audience. 

If you were having trouble implementing an efficient social media strategy, we hope this gives you a clear direction for future posts. A combination of paid and organic is an efficient rule of thumb for brands with broad marketing goals. However, if you have a more specific marketing goal, such as increasing reach or increasing brand loyalty, it might be more suitable to use one strategy over the other. In the end, it all comes down to what will benefit your brand’s goals the most.

Grova Creative is a woman, minority, and veteran-owned agency headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, and works with clients all across the United States. If you are a business or organization seeking help with advertising, marketing, branding, messaging, marketing, strategy, website development, or other creative assets, visit grova.com.