Organic and Paid Social Media Strategies
Social media is used to help tell your story through a series of posts that build your ideal persona over time. Your social brand is a powerful tool when there is a strategic balance between organic and paid content. Both strategies work together seamlessly, one without the other isn’t doing your brand justice. This powerful, holistic approach is what will propel your social advertising to the next level.
There are distinct and unique advantages to organic and paid social media, but your brand will benefit most when a mix of strategies are implemented. So how do you know when to post organically and when to promote your content to reach a larger audience? What type of content should you post organically and what type should you sponsor?
The social realm is no longer just about messaging and content – it is an established channel for customer acquisition, audience building, analytics, remarketing, engaging existing customers, and connecting with new ones.
We have broken down the benefits of organic vs paid social media and why they cannot live without each other.
ORGANIC
Organic social media includes posts that show on your company’s profile page and can be seen by your audience without paid promotion.
You will reach a wider audience as your followers grow, but organic exposure is limited due to the algorithms social networks utilize to prioritize users’ feeds based on past behaviors. This means only a small portion of your followers will see and engage with your content.
Companies are always looking for effective ways to organically promote themselves. Here are a few ideas to get you started with a strong organic social strategy.
- Use hashtags – this is a free and simple way to create a trend and stay relevant
- Utilize free tools – publishing, templates, profile interactions, social networks
- Follow brand guidelines – create a personality with a cohesive online image
- Stay consistent & cohesive – keep a consistent & cohesive online presence and schedule
An effective organic strategy is always a great first step. To fully maximize your social ROI, you will need to implement a combined social media strategy.
PAID
Paid social media will appear in the feed of the audience you create. This target audience will be influenced by your advertising dollars spent. You can target people based on demographics, location, interests, behavioral factors, and more.
Use paid social campaigns to reinforce core messages that you have already shared organically. First, you will need to evaluate which type of paid social advertising campaigns you would like to create a strategy for. Next, you will need to define your campaign goals and key performance indicators (KPI’s).
When starting out, the impact of your content will be low so you will need to build audiences that mirror your ideal customers. Social marketers look for ways to engage groups of people based on similar interests and behaviors to create a desired audience. These specific new audiences are then targeted by sponsoring your organic content or designing customized advertisements.
The impact and efficiency of communicating to a wider audience simultaneously is an important part of any successful strategy.
DYNAMIC DUO
Organic and paid social media should be aligned strategies that maximize your ROI and work in tandem to grow your market share and awareness.
