Optimize or Advertise? Comparing Organic vs. Paid Social Media

They say “The best things in life are free.” Which I would never have believed to be true. I mean, some of the best things are free – love, sunshine, fireflies and so on. But there are a lot of great things that cost money – Nunchucks, BMX bikes, DVDs of the film Kung Fu Panda 3.

So the line is pretty messed up when it comes to determining whether free content is better than paid content – and the case of social media marketing is no exception. The debate between organic and paid social media is not exactly dry. Both options have their strengths and weaknesses.

Here we get more insight into the difference between both types of social media and some advantages and disadvantages associated with each of these media.

Organic and paid social media each have their own advantages and pitfalls. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of each type of social media marketing.

The advantages of organic social media

It is cheaper.

Maintaining an organic social media presence can be technically free. Posting on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn costs nothing. All of the costs you incur come from the work required to connect with your community and create content to replenish your social media feeds – be it through dedicated team members, through outsourcing to freelancers or agencies, or through the inclusion of these tasks by some employees in their day-responsible tasks.

In one way or another, organic social media games do not require immediate payment to be implemented. If your company is on a tight budget and you are confident that you can create thoughtful content, organic social media may be the way to go.

You can contact your customers directly and support them.

Social media is an excellent forum for continuous customer service and interaction. A well-maintained, active social media profile provides customers with a legitimate, accessible place to post concerns, complaints, and compliments. If you can invest time and resources to consistently respond to most, if not all, you can significantly improve your organic social media efforts.

It can help you establish a brand identity.

With your social media profiles, you can project a certain personality. You can add another level to your marketing efforts with a solid sense of humor, consistently sound advice, or other features that should connect potential customers and customers to your brand. For example, Taco Bell’s Twitter page is known for the brand style it has established through interaction with the audience and fun content.

Image source: Twitter

The disadvantages of organic social media

This can be time consuming.

Consistently creating excellent content and actively interacting with your audience are not quick fixes that you can expect at lunch. It is full-time jobs that require a lot of energy and effort. If you don’t have dedicated team members or outside help, maintaining your organic social media efforts can take a huge amount of time.

Algorithms can be volatile and difficult to understand.

The content your audience sees on social media is determined by algorithms that are used to sort posts by relevance and potential enrichment, rather than the time they were published. The success of your organic social media strategies depends on your ability to present your content to current and potential customers. It is therefore important to understand the algorithms that support these platforms. But it’s easier said than done.

The algorithms of social media platforms are not always easy to understand and master, and if you do do Find them out, there is a good chance they will change. Learning these algorithms and keeping them up to date can take a lot of effort to support effective organic social media efforts.

It offers less flexibility when it comes to instant reach.

The immediate reach of your organic social media efforts extends to your followers. So you can only expect your organic content to reach your immediate audience and the people they share it with. You can’t focus on specific demographics or types of users, as is the case with paid social media.

The benefits of paid social media

You can target specific users to expand your reach.

Paid social media advertising allows you to identify and reach the specific demographics that are most receptive to your offerings. You can sort users by categories such as location, age, gender or interests, and place targeted advertisements in their social media feeds. It gives you the opportunity to go beyond your followers and reach the base with certain target groups that are receptive to your messages.

The payment model works for every budget.

Paid social campaigns are structured to suit practically any budget. You usually calculate on a Pay per click (PPC) This means that you only have to pay if users interact directly with your paid social media materials through impressions or clicks.

On many platforms, you can set a cap on your paid social effort so that your budget is never exceeded. Reaching certain audiences costs less than others, so you can strategically place your ads to serve different, potentially lucrative niches.

You will see more immediate results

Organic social media efforts are a long-term game that requires significant efforts and strategies. With them, you need to create content that adheres to social media algorithms, rein in the potential customers who encounter it, and actively work to keep your followers as soon as you’ve integrated them. Paid social media do without this process by placing your messages directly in the feeds of potential customers.

The disadvantages of paid social media

You may not see any meaningful returns on your investment.

Paid social media is just that – paid social media. Regardless of the size of your investment, you still spend money that may be wasted if your efforts are ineffective. If you keep experimenting and failing with your paid social media, you’re essentially burning money. And that’s a simple cycle that you can fall into.

If you are a small business and do not have the expertise and skills to properly coordinate your paid social strategy, you may be wasting resources that are better suited for other forms of marketing.

You could face a competitive landscape.

Social media marketing isn’t exactly a well-kept secret. According to Statista an estimated 91 percent of all US companies used social media marketing to some extent in 2019.

When you find a spot in a crowded landscape, you may have to deal with particularly high PPC rates to reach your target audience, and you need high-quality, attention-grabbing content to get the actual mileage out of your paid social budget.

It takes a lot of attention.

Your paid social media efforts rarely stagnate. They need to be monitored, analyzed and consistently adjusted if you want to get the most out of them. Many platforms offer analytics to help you understand how your ads are performing. This data is not trivial and cannot be ignored – it requires a lot of attention and thought.

It should tell you how to structure your paid social messaging as it evolves, and it won’t always be easy. Paid social networks are often only as effective as the efforts you make. And in many – if not most – cases this will take a long time.

The verdict on organic and paid social media

It is impossible to say whether organic or paid social media are better than the others. They are suitable for different companies with different priorities in different situations.

If your company doesn’t have the budget to implement a full-fledged social media strategy, focus on organic social media. Write well thought-out content, refine your social profiles and actively connect with your customers online. However, if your company has a significant marketing budget and is in dire need of winning new customers, you should prioritize your paid social media activities.

Ideally, you can integrate both methods into your general social media strategy. Use paid social media to instantly spread brand awareness and attract audiences to your profiles. Once there, use your thoughtful organic content and active presence to spark their interest, turn them into customers, and keep them as soon as they’re on board.