In 2005, only 5% of the American public used social media. Today, that number is 72% – around 237 million people.
If you own a small business, you’re seeing a lot of advertising potential in that statistic. There’s no denying the impact that social media ads can have on your branding and sales, but there’s an important place for organic posts as well.
Which type of advertising you should go with will depend on what your business is trying to do. In this post, we’re going to give you a guide that can help you figure out whether organic social content or a more direct approach to social media marketing is the best move for you.
Organic Social Content
Organic social media content is how most social media users operate, businesses and brands included. It involves all free content, from posts on your Facebook feed to your stream of Instagram stories. If you didn’t pay to put it in front of people, then it’s organic content.
When you’re a business, you can use organic social content to promote your brand, as well as promotions and events. At the end of the day, however, social media is best used when you make a meaningful connection with your audience.
Paid Social Media Marketing
Paid social media marketing involves a lot of the same content strategies as organic social content. Instead of putting your content out there and hoping for the best, however, you take a more targeted approach to who sees it and set a budget to pay for it as an advertisement.
When you create a paid ad on Facebook, for instance, you’ll be able to choose your target audience (age, gender, interests, etc.), budget, target location, and the length of the campaign. You can use paid ads to promote specific products or services more successfully.
Benefits of Organic Growth vs. Social Media Advertising Benefits
If you’re putting entertaining and informative content out into the world, you’ll experience the benefits of organic growth. Organic social media is best for building brand awareness, dealing with customer service, and building relationships with your customers. It takes time and experimentation to get right.
Paid advertising has more immediacy and can help you enlarge your target audience and allow you to zero in on target customers and their needs. If you’re trying to drive leads and convert social media followers into customers, paid ads are the way to go.
Both strategies are useful and, when used in tandem, can make for an extremely effective social media marketing campaign.
Social Media Ads or Organic Posts for Your Business?
As a business owner, you should be using both of these social media advertising strategies to their fullest. Organic posts on social media are going to build a lasting connection with your existing customers. Social media ads are going to expand your audience and boost key metrics.
Social media marketing sounds easy enough, but with so many businesses and brands out there, it’s difficult to cut through the noise. Bringing in a digital marketing expert is the best way to attack social media quickly and effectively.
Dotedison is one of Birmingham’s top digital marketing agencies. We’ll take a multi-faceted approach to your social media marketing and ensure that your brand is always building towards its goals.