Your business matters. The right marketing can not only grow your business but also help you reach the audience that most benefits from your goods or services. Most people understand the important role digital marketing plays in driving new traffic, but how can social media and digital marketing be used more effectively?
Two of the leading tools in digital marketing are paid and organic social media marketing, but which one is right for your growing business? Understanding the methodologies of these tools and how they differ can help you learn how to use them to reach new audiences and maintain consistent growth and engagement for your business.
Defining Paid Social Media Marketing
Paid social media refers to sponsored advertising that is paid for and displayed on social media channels. An integral part of an effective marketing strategy, paid social media allows your business to broaden its visibility by targeting your desired audience with ads that feel custom to their needs and wants.
Why pay for social media advertising? It allows your brand to stand out and gain visibility in an oversaturated market. Without sponsored ads, your brand can easily get lost amidst inundated social media feeds. Paid social media marketing customizes the experience for potential customers with targeted ads. It allows your brand to reach the right audience, those users who are more likely to become customers.
Traditional marketing operates with a one-size-fits-all mentality, creating general ads without putting them in front of an audience more inclined to use your goods or services. With paid media marketing, you are able to gain market insight. This data shows who is more likely to click on your ad and which social media platforms they use. With this insight, you can focus your advertising on the right audience, increasing visibility, brand awareness, and brand loyalty.
Defining Organic Social Media Marketing
Conversely, organic social media is the use of free services offered by social media platforms. It’s free content that all users have access to and can be shared on their feeds. This can include status update posts, photos, videos, links, memes, and Stories.
While paid social media aims to increase visibility, organic social media aims to make a connection and engage its audience. It’s an opportunity to interact with followers and build a community of loyal customers. It’s also fundamental to a successful marketing strategy, as it provides a space to share your brand’s values, culture, and personality. It establishes a relationship with your audience, as they too are able to communicate their values.
Paid vs. Organic Social Media: Comparing Methodology
Both social media strategies play an important role in your marketing strategy. Once a customer sees an ad, the natural next step is to visit the brand’s social media profile. Depending on a brand’s social media presence, potential customers choose to either engage or click away. Without a strategy for organic media, you may lose customers and waste the efforts of paid ads.
Conversely, your brand may have an effective organic social media strategy with meaningful posts and a clear brand voice. However, without paid ads, your posts can fall to the wayside and go unseen.
Paid advertising is a chance to boost your posts to the top of the page, increasing visibility and driving more traffic to your page, where you can make a connection with your audience and build brand loyalty. The pair work symbiotically as a part of your digital marketing strategy.
Strategies for Organic Social Media
Organic social media allows you to create brand validity, connect with your customers, and promote word-of-mouth advertising, all while using a cost-effective strategy. You don’t have to have a large budget to have a successful presence on social media.
Here are a few effective strategies when using organic media:
- Establish your brand voice and culture while being transparent about your values and practices.
- Clearly post positive reviews and customer experiences.
- Answer questions and respond to customer concerns, prioritizing customer service.
- Share information, inspirational content, or tutorials.
- Create engaging and entertaining videos.
- Provide fun hashtags as a way for customers to share their experiences.
The possibilities are endless. Just remember, organic media is an opportunity to establish brand validity and connect with your customers while providing helpful customer service.
Target Goals: Organic Social Media
You may consider partnering with a digital marketing agency for the most effective social media strategies. Their experience and knowledge of the industry will help you with creative strategies and measurable, practical goals.
Some of these goals include:
- Posting content consistently while creating a realistic and attainable posting schedule
- Answering questions
- Providing feedback by responding to both positive and negative reviews
- Using data collected through paid advertising to create relevant content for your target audience
Strategies for Paid Social Media
Use paid social media advertising to increase visibility and gain customer insight. Paid advertising helps your brand rise above the noise and stand out in an oversaturated market. Effective strategies enable your brand to gain awareness and increase website traffic while obtaining important insight and data about your audience.
You may want to implement these strategies:
- Create image and video ads with supporting text. Use image ads for products and video ads for informative or entertaining content.
- Use Instagram Stories for limited-time-only ads and advertising discounts.
- Advertise on core platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Utilizecarousel ads and interesting content that doesn’t feel like a sales pitch.
- Remember emerging platforms for your target audience. Does your audience use Spotify, YouTube, or Pinterest? Use paid ads to reach your audience on the platforms they use most.
Target Goals: Paid Social Media
Your goals can include:
- Defining your objectives: Do you want to generate leads, boost website traffic, or increase email subscriptions?
- Learning your target audience
- Creating a budget for paid ads
- Making ads mobile-responsive
- Surveying organic posts to learn what methods work best for your brand
The right media is essential for your brand’s success. For unique media placement and creative strategies that work, partner with InnoVision Marketing Group. With competitive prices and years of experience, we can take your growing business to the next level. Contact us today for full-service marketing and innovative strategies.
