In the world of social media there are two main types of content – organic and paid. Organic content is content posted to your page or feed that will reach your existing followers and audience. Paid content is delivered to new audiences through targeted advertising.

Each has its own strengths and it’s important for businesses to understand how both paid and organic content can work harmoniously to reach potential customers or clients.

Organic content

Organic content can be posted natively to your platforms or via a scheduling service but all organic content is delivered to your existing fans and followers without being boosted or as part of a targeted advertising campaign that would gain a larger audience or reach. Organic content is free to post.

With engagement dropping consistently across all platforms as they preference passively-consumed video content rather than static “engageable” content, your accounts will need volume and consistency for organic content alone to have any cut-though.  This means time!

Unlike paid content, it will take time to work. Organic content  should focus on brand awareness and always aim for valuable, information-based content – in other words, no fake news or clickbait. Best practice is to avoid overt “sales” in your organic content and only educate and inform your audience. Native content can be very effective at keeping your followers on the platform and engaging in your page. Consider all media – posts, blogs, information and don’t forget – VIDEO IS A MUST.

Paid/Targeted Advertising

These are campaigns created within the backend of the platform and are delivered to a pre-determined audience that you set within your audience metrics. Best practice is to avoid boosting posts in favour of crafting specific campaigns and advertising sub-sets within the platform that have specific goals and aims.

Because of the “pay-to-play” nature of most social media platforms, the algorithms will recognise brands that undertake regular advertising programs and this will help the frequency of delivery within your organic content. So, paid or targeted advertising can support organic activity.

The campaigns and the content of your paid advertising will very much depend on your product or service and your audience and this is why we recommend a carefully-crafted campaign rather than boosting posts. With paid or targeting advertising, it is imperative you only use high-quality images and videos and have a clear picture of your target market.

 

For maximum effectiveness, it is essential to have a good combination of both organic and paid content. Use your analytics to track what’s working and what’s not, and don’t forget to do a deep dive into keywords or phrases that are particularly relevant to your industry. Both paid and organic content need to work closely together to gain maximum traction while taking advantage of what is working well to reach your potential customers.

If you are thinking of investing in a targeted advertising campaign, let’s have a chat! We can help with determining budgets, creating strategies, running specialist campaigns and so much more!