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Organic vs. Paid Social Media

Do you have a client trying to decide between implementing an organic or paid social media strategy? We will let you in on a secret: if possible, it is best for them to do a combination of both. While the two create different results and help businesses reach individual goals, the most successful social media strategies include both tactics.

Having a strong organic social media presence is crucial to keeping your clients connected to their customers, but it can be time-consuming and challenging to keep up when also running a business. We are proud to provide social media management that is based on strategy, encourages engagement, and promotes consistency. With this service, your clients can focus less on what to post on social media and more on the big picture.

We also offer different forms of paid social media, so your clients can reach new, detailed audiences interested in their products or services without having to figure out how to create, optimize, and manage advanced campaigns.

While organic and paid social media create different results and help businesses reach individual goals, the most successful strategies include both tactics.

Social Media

What is organic social media?
Organic social media is content that is shared and has no money added to it to boost results. While algorithms push this kind of content out to only a percentage of a business’s followers, it is a key part of a social media strategy that isn’t going anywhere. The ability it gives brands to genuinely establish their voice, engage with their customers, and build trust is something that cannot be bought.

Benefits of organic social media:

  • Increases brand awareness
  • Drives engagement
  • Allows sharing of authentic content
  • Helps grow connection with customers
  • Offers a place to showcase customer service
  • Helps attract new customers and followers

Pro Tip: While promoting products and services should be a part of an organic social media strategy, it is essential to balance the sales pitches with engaging posts to avoid losing customers’ interest.

What is paid social media?
Paid social media is content that includes a monetary budget to increase its results. The two kinds of paid social content available to advertisers are social boosts and social ads.

Boosted content is when money is added to an organic social post that has already been published. Boosting a post allows it to break through the limitations set by algorithms and helps it reach a slightly wider, more detailed portion of a brand’s audience.

Benefits of social boosts:

  • Widens the reach of organic content
  • Allows for some detailed targeting
  • Increases engagement, brand awareness, and visibility
  • Drives leads and conversions
  • Helps attract new customers
  • Presents a more affordable paid social option

Social ads are a more advanced social media advertising option that allows brands to create custom ads with specific objectives, audiences, and placements. They are a great way for them to reach new customers who are likely to be interested in their products or services.

Benefits of social ads:

  • Offers advanced, detailed targeting and placement options
  • Helps reach new, relevant audiences quickly
  • Increase brand awareness and visibility
  • Drives leads and conversions
  • Helps attract new customers and followers


Why do organic and paid social work best when paired together?
To put it simply, organic and paid social go hand-in-hand.

A great way to think about the relationship between the two strategies is in terms of exercise. Organic social media is the daily movement necessary to get you through your day. You can get by keeping that consistent yet essential movement in your life, but it won’t create groundbreaking results alone. Paid social media is the advanced exercise you add to your routine to see change. When you pair it with your daily movement, you notice results and reach your goals.

Organic social media is crucial to your client’s online presence, but alone it can limit them and their success. On the other hand, paid social can bring them great value, but it shouldn’t stand alone. Pairing it with a consistent and engaging organic social strategy is the best route.

Incorporating both organic and paid content into a social media strategy will help them create the perfect balance between awareness and conversion while allowing them to nurture existing customers and reach new ones.

About the Author

Jade Druse - Social Media Strategist

Jade Druse is one of our social media strategists and has been a member of the 44i Digital team since December 2021. She loves using her creativity to help our clients grow their businesses through enticing social posts, strategic social ads, and even a little email marketing. Outside of the office, Jade loves keeping up with the latest fashion trends, sipping on coffee, reading a good book, and spending time with her husband, Austin, and their dog, Lambeau.

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