Using social media to promote your business or brand is a key way of connecting with your audiences. It can help to bring traffic to your website and generate valuable leads which can be a game-changer for your business!
But to do this effectively you will need a well thought out social media strategy. It can be difficult to decide what aspects of your strategy to focus on. There has been an ongoing debate over what is better, a paid social strategy or an organic one.
If you need help deciding on a strategy for your business’s social media here are our thoughts on organic and paid social media strategies.
The Positives and Negatives of organic social media
Organic social media refers to free content such as posts, videos, stories and photos that all users can share on their feeds.
The Positives
- By posting organically you can reach a percentage of your followers.
- You can reach some people following the hashtags you use.
- This nurtures connections with your customers on a large scale.
- This strategy helps to build relationships with your followers and establish your brand’s personality and voice.
- It allows you to engage with your customers through every step of their buying journey.
THe negatives
- Only a small number of your followers will see your content due to ranking algorithms.
- Declining organic reach has been occurring for a few years due to the fact that platforms prioritise giving users “meaningful” experiences.
- Due to declining reach, it can be hard to get your content in front of your followers, let alone new potential customers.
THE POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES OF paid SOCIAL MEDIA
Paid social media is another term for advertising. It is where you pay platforms such as Facebook and Youtube money to have your content shared with new audiences who are likely to be in your business or brand.
THE POSITIVES
- It can be done by designing unique advertisements or boosting organic content.
- It is the best way for brands to target new audiences on social media to convert them into customers by targeting the right people.
- You can choose an incredibly specific target audience to make sure that your message is reaching the right groups of people.
- It helps to build brand awareness, generate new leads and drive conversions.
- You can use paid social media to promote things such as your newest deals, events or content.
THE NEGATIVES
- Spending money on social media can be difficult for start-ups or small businesses.
- The time that would need to be spent on setting up and managing the project.
- There is also a large amount of competition when it comes to paid advertisements so the advertising space is very full and cluttered.
conclusions
Ultimately both strategies have their potential benefits and pitfalls, that is why it is best to use both strategies! By combining both organic and paid social media you will be able to serve your existing customers while also attracting new customers with paid advertising.
Some important points to remember are:
It is important to remember that not all posts promoting your business need to be paid. Sometimes ads are not the best answer and organic posting can be a benefit to you. If you have some organic posts that have resonated particularly well with your audience, boost those posts. That will help to get your best quality content in front of new potential customers.
When using ads to promote your business, target audiences that are similar to your existing audience. By targeting people who are more likely to respond to your business, you will increase the chance of getting conversions. You should also retarget your organic audience. This is because people often need a small prompt to come back and covert. You can automate this process so that you can focus more of your time on other things.
