Organic Social Media vs. Paid Ads: Which Strategy Is Right for Your Brand?

Using organic and paid social media marketing strategies effectively can help your brand stand out, but how do you know which is right for you? Choosing a social strategy depends on your target audience, the competition, company goals, budget, and timeline. Organic offers long-term gains and paid allows for advanced targeting and faster results, but as the name implies—it’s not free.

Investment and timing are two areas to compare organic social versus paid, but that’s not all the information you need to decide which approach is best. Before you start rewriting the script for new social media marketing strategies, let us explain the differences, the benefits of each, and which to use to put more power behind your brand’s messaging.

Organic Social vs. Paid Social—What’s the Difference?

Both organic and paid social marketing help brands reach an audience and build customer relationships, but their investment, reach, brand-building, and longevity are where these differ. Any social post you share without paying to promote it is considered organic. Sponsored social ads that target a specific audience fall in the paid realm. Think of organic social as a long-term investment and paid social as an effective solution to bypass the algorithms and go directly to a core audience. Here’s a breakdown of how these social strategies differ:

Investment and Resources

Posting organically on social channels is technically free, but content creation still requires resources, especially for engaging high-impact posts. If you don’t have the team for it, a social media marketing agency is an efficient solution that can maximize your investment. For paid, you’ll need to purchase the ad space and use resources to create content, but with careful management, you can control your spending and audience targeting at a near-granular level.

Brand Loyalty and Recognition

Growing brand recognition through organic social can be a daunting process that requires consistent, high-quality posts and creative content, but when you do it right, it fosters strong relationships. Though organic social is slow, brand recognition can grow when loyal followers share your content with others who are also likely to appreciate your offerings. Paid social media strategies work immediately, increasing your brand’s visibility with a qualified audience as soon as the ads are turned on.

Reach

Typically, the reach of organic social is limited to your existing followers or network. Connecting with new customers organically is possible, but requires a dedication to posting quality content at optimal times for social reach and engagement. It takes time for algorithms to recognize valuable content, and you can’t control who sees it.

Investing in a paid social budget can instantly extend your reach to people who wouldn’t normally come across your brand. Paid ads allow social media managers to control who sees the content and aim their ads at those most likely to engage and convert.

Authenticity

It’s hard to beat the authenticity of an owned post the brand creates, giving organic social an edge versus paid. Ads have become ubiquitous on digital platforms, so social users who see ‘ad,’ ‘sponsored,’ or ‘promoted’ often still engage with the content. Still, ads often fall short in their authenticity compared to organic posts.

User-generated content from influencers, fans, or brand ambassadors, is a great organic marketing strategy to get a wider audience to see your authentic brand. These don’t feel spammy yet they still strongly endorse and promote your brand on new feeds.

Content Longevity

Owned social happens on platform feeds your brand controls and contributes to, like posts on your company’s Facebook and Instagram, while paid social can include pay-per-click ads and sponsored advertisements on feeds you don’t own. Your owned social lives on your channel for as long as you wish, continuing to engage and attract an audience, whereas paid ads cease to exist once your budget runs out.

Influencer marketing and collaborations are other organic social marketing strategies that offer lasting results. The mentions and tags build awareness for your brand with a new audience and continue to drive awareness as long as the posts are live.

When To Use Paid vs. Organic Social Media Marketing Strategies

Paid and organic social media marketing strategies offer many advantages for established and up-and-coming brands, but there are several things to consider before launching either type of campaign. 

Paid social should be used when you want to boost the visibility of shoppable posts and content for product launches, specials, and promotional periods to get the most out of your ad investments. Beating out competitors during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Small Business Saturday can sometimes require paid holiday ads to skip to the front of the line. If you’re new to social, using paid ads can quickly scale your marketing efforts versus organic’s long game. 

Organic social is ideal when you need to keep a tight lid on your marketing budget, because it doesn’t require a considerable financial investment yet it goes a long way to establishing a community and fostering relationships. These posts are excellent for showcasing your brand’s personality using behind-the-scenes and user-generated content or engaging the audience using polls or Q&As.

A Dual Approach for Social Media Marketing

Weighing paid ads versus organic social isn’t straightforward but thankfully, you don’t need to choose one and stick with it (most social media marketing agencies don’t recommend it). Planning an entire marketing strategy on only organic or only paid can stifle your reach and limit your wins to either quick hits or long-term gains when you need a little of each to flourish.

As we’ve shown, one strategy can’t do it all. Using a balance of paid ads and organic social campaigns can provide followers the personal posts they crave while introducing your brand to new customers. And when you work with a social media marketing agency that understands how to amplify social posts efficiently, you’ll get results worth paying for.

 If you aren’t sure whether you’re getting all you should out of your campaigns, consider asking a social media marketing agency to audit your channels and activity. Joybyte understands how to blend organic and paid social marketing strategies into a seamless, successful plan. Contact us to learn how we can help your brand grow.