Paid vs Organic Social Media Marketing in 2024

It's no surprise that we're seeing a shift in organic and paid social media marketing. Lately, there has been a push for businesses to start paying more in advertising to get their content seen. This has gradually been happening for years now, but we're really starting to feel the effect in 2024.

You might be wondering, "Are you saying organic social media marketing is dead?" and the answer to that is no! Definitely not. Organic social media marketing is still effective and a must for *most businesses today.

Organic Social Media Marketing

Organic marketing is the real, authentic way to connect with your audience. This is where you want to ask yourself the question, "Why would I want to follow my brand account?" and "What value and/or entertainment can I offer my audience?". Your audience doesn't want to be sold to. They want quick, valuable takeaways or to share funny videos with their friends.

Think of your organic social media marketing content as "top of funnel" in your sales funnel. You're attracting and nurturing the right audience so when you do share that offer they're excited to hear about it because you've built that trust with them.

Unlike paid advertising, organic growth requires a lot of patience and a strategic approach. "It's a marathon, not a sprint" is the best saying. However, those few followers that sprinkle in are going to be way more valuable to you!

Paid Social Media Marketing

At the end of the day, we still need to sell our products and/or services to keep things alive! Paid Social Media Marketing is an effective way to reach your very specific target audience.

The key to any effective paid campaign is how well you know your target audience. If you're casting a wide net, you're not going to see the results you'd like (unless you have a reallllly big budget).

With a deep understanding of your target audience, using paid ads is the next step. If you're reaching the right people with the right message, you should start seeing those conversions... and your follower count will rise a bit quicker as a bonus ;).

The Sweet Combo of Organic and Paid

Finding that perfect blend of organic and paid advertising on social media is a game-changer!

The first thing a lot of people will do when they see your paid ad is visit your social media profile to do some quick vetting. If your organic content isn't speaking to them, they'll quickly move on. Therefore, you need that awesome organic content to confirm your product or service is just as awesome!

Organic posting is also a great way to uncover what content and messaging resonate with your audience before you start spending hard-earned dollars on ads. Before creating that ad, take a look back at some of your top-performing posts and turn those into ads or use them as inspiration.

Lastly, the audience you attract through your organic content is a great tool to use when selecting an audience to target with your ads. This will save you a whole lot of time and money on A/B testing.

When used together, a paid and organic strategy is going to yield the best results. The key is finding what works for you and your brand.

Before diving in, take a moment to do an audience analysis to understand exactly who your content is attracting so you can be more thoughtful about your messaging and the ads you create. Our Audience Analysis Template will help you outline key demographics, uncover "micro-details" about your audience, understand their pain points, map out the customer journey, and create your audience persona so you can ensure EVERYTHING you create aligns with that person. CLICK HERE to get started.