Organic Posting Vs. Paid Content: Knowing the Difference
In my last blog, I discussed re-evaluating your social media or marketing plan. But what is your social media strategy goal, and how is your posting aligned with this goal? Is the content that you currently put out the right fit for what you want out of social media?
We all know that organic posting is a must. It’s the digital way to stay in front of people and replaces what billboards, newspapers, or magazines used to do! But another ‘must’ is paid content. Without both, your brand won’t see the spotlight it deserves and won’t reach your target audience.
I want to help you sharpen your social media plan so that you know what to do for organic posting vs. paid content. By the end of this guide, you’ll see the difference and understand how to use both to your advantage. Let’s dive in!
Organic Posting Vs. Paid Content: What is ‘Organic’ Content?
In short, anything you post or produce that isn’t paid or sponsored in some way is considered organic content. A key, fundamental part of forward-thinking brands’ social media marketing strategy is posting organically. It’s an easy, natural way to garner social media engagement and should always play a role in your social media marketing plan.
Every good social media campaign includes a combination of organic content and paid or sponsored content.
5 Key Benefits of Organic Content
Unfortunately, some among us think organic content is dead. I believe that’s simply not true – so let’s look at the benefits of organically posting.
1. Gain Organic Feedback
You can learn a lot about your target audience on social media. First, you can gain insight using their basic demographics, like language, age, gender, location, etc. You can even hone in on the times of day that they’re active and online.
Then, you can use this information to understand who’s engaging with your posts and why. What content are they engaging with the most? Do any particular posts or comments stand out?
2. Engage with Potential Customers
Once your potential customers are followers, the only way to truly connect with them is through organic social media. It also gives your audience an opportunity to reach out to you and hear back. Connecting with your followers on a more personal level where you engage immediately and cater to their needs builds brand loyalty and awareness in a big way!
3. Establish Your Brand Long-Term
Posting organically creates a trail for your audience to follow. As you build on your brands’ different social media accounts, you’ll increase brand awareness – and loyalty.
According to DataReportal’s 2022 StatBook, 75% of internet users use social media to research products. A consistent routine of posting organically will pay off when it comes time for a user to research your products or brand.
4. Build Social Proof
On that same note, organic social media helps boost your brand’s validity. The longer you post consistently, the more trustworthy you appear.
All that organic engagement generates word-of-mouth marketing, which has its own benefits.
Plus, an organic social media strategy can augment your paid efforts. After all, the next step a user takes after seeing an advertisement is to visit that brand’s social media profile. Your profile needs to look presentable so that your paid ads can also pay off!
5. It’s Cost-Effective and Long-Term
Another major benefit to having a consistent organic social media campaign is that – simply put – it’s free. What could be better than that? It’s a long-term way to ensure your brand builds organic traction.
No matter how big or small your brand and its budget, all companies start the same organically. Engage with your audience, answer questions, provide or respond to feedback, and start a conversation that keeps you on their minds.
Organic content helps develop a strong reputation that’s not only sustainable but also long-term.
The Downside of Organic Posting
Firstly, don’t go in with the expectation that organic posting will get you 500K more followers. Platforms like Instagram are extremely saturated, so organic growth on this platform will take a lot more time vs. a platform like TikTok, where posting a video could get thousands of views and people to your page!
The biggest downside to organic content is that your reach will typically be quite small overall. Even if you have a large following already, posting organically will only reach a small percentage of your following.
How to Execute Stellar Organic Content
You HAVE to stay consistent to know if what you’re doing is working or not. You have to constantly review and refine what’s going on with your social media marketing to ensure you’re doing it right!
I don’t want to discourage you, though. Practice makes perfect, so you can’t go wrong by trying and giving it your all. Just remember that consistency is key! Posting organically keeps you top of mind to your clients, helps build word of mouth, and keeps you connected to your followers. Keep it up!
Organic Posting Vs. Paid Content: What is Paid Content?
If you’re trying to grow and get direct sales from your posts, you should get an ad spend dedicated to paying for ads. The type of ads you choose depends on a variety of factors. Paid content looks different across every brand and company!
4 Benefits of Paid Content
Let’s look at why paid advertising on social media is such a big deal.
1. Improve Reach More Effectively
There’s an opportunity to reach a significantly larger number of people with paid advertising than you would with organic content. Enjoy an increased reach with paid ads, especially given the audience size on social media. From TikTok and Instagram to Facebook and Pinterest, eyes are everywhere and ready to take in your content.
2. Optimize Your Target Audience (Retargeting)
Get to know your true target market and if your target audience requires retargeting strategies. Are you engaging with your actual customers? Paid content helps you do so!
3. Sort Through In-Depth Analytics
Statistics and other analytics are a marketer’s dream, which is why I’m so thankful for the in-depth analytics on a lot of platforms! A massive advantage to using social media advertising is that you get a wealth of analytics to look at afterward.
For example, Instagram ads and Facebook ads both show you metrics as your post is running, then shows you all the results after it’s run. Likewise, the Facebook Ads Manager lets you customize your ads, use A/B testing, and much more to nail your target market perfectly.
4. Increase Brand Awareness
Ultimately, you’ll increase brand awareness by using paid advertising and sponsored content. While you’ll also increase brand awareness through organic posting, you won’t increase it in the same way. That’s why using both organic and paid content is a necessity for a successful social media plan.
The Downside of Paid Content
Honestly, the biggest downside to paid content is that it’s not as easy as big brands make it look. It takes time, effort, and a healthy level of dedication to achieve a successful social media campaign. In addition, if you’re not careful, you could be putting adspend in the wrong place.
On the bright side, the positives outweigh the negatives regarding paid content. If you’re unsure where to start, it’s also easy to outsource to a Social Media Marketing Agency. You can start by searching for companies in your local area. If you’re in Lafayette, Louisiana, try searching for a Lafayette Social Media Marketing Agency. If you’re in Baton Rouge, try finding a Baton Rouge Social Media Company. Partnering with someone that understands your local market is a great place to start.
How to Execute Stellar Paid Content
Before spending money on Ads, experiment with what type of creative actually gets good engagement/performance.
Not knowing if a video or photo will resonate with your target audience is wasting your precious marketing dollars and taking a risk on something that may not convert.
Take a well-performing post from your organic content and then put money behind it as an Ad to have a better chance of getting a conversion from it!
Organic Posting Vs. Paid Content: Using Both to Your Advantage
Organic posting is great for brand awareness. But if your goal is to increase sales through conversion, your organic content isn’t going to align properly. Utilize both paid content and organic posting to get the most out of your social media experience. Likewise, you can optimize your brand’s reputation and consumer awareness with a more precise digital marketing strategy.
In the end, it’s a combination of organic posting vs. paid content that’ll help your brand the most. Without one or the other, your social media strategy is simply incomplete. Be sure to make your social media plan whole with enough focus on both.
