Maximizing Impact and Navigating Challenges When it comes to social media marketing, two primary strategies stand out: paid advertising and organic marketing. This is a topic that comes up with my clients on a regular basis and it’s a dance that I do between both worlds of online marketing. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram play a crucial role in connecting businesses with their target audience. Today I will revisit the dynamics of paid vs organic social media marketing, highlighting their benefits, challenges, and considerations for maximizing their impact. Understanding Organic Marketing: This is where the Power of Social Proof can shine and how good content can establish trust. I’m talking about your social media news feeds, the posts and information you share freely on your Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and/or TikTok pages. The ones you hope will attract followers and be a testimonial to your loyal customers. If you are successful you can establish and build your brand which takes time but the benefits over time can be great. This marketing strategy takes time, consistency, and a lot of content. It may seem free at first but if you take into account the constant need for content, the daily check-in for engagement, and the roller coaster ride of likes and followers it can take its toll on your resources very quickly. Just maintaining a base level with little to no engagement is enough for most businesses. If you’re up to leveling up you can enter the game of engagement. It is a decision not to take lightly. Once you decide to go the influencer route you may find yourself locked in, not to mention the unpredictability and instability of depending on the general public to push your content to increase your reach. More info can be found in these articles. Paid vs. Organic. written in ’21 and To Be or Not To Be - An Influencer that dives into influencer marketing. One of my clients has really hit a nice balance between his organic feeds and paid advertising. He thrives on the connection with people so he’s always sending me videos that I post as reels. Hiring a professional videographer to be there twice a week is an expense he can’t justify, but sending me phone clips and letting me do my magic remotely works to keep his feed current while his paid ads are running. And his paid ads are always running. With organic, there are three things to keep in mind, consistency, sustainability, and time. You need to keep producing the content to keep it flowing at a pace you can maintain and the time it takes to build up a following. Unleashing the power of paid ads The essence of paid advertising is the ability to reach people that your organic posts just can not. With paid ads, you can drive traffic to where you need it without depending on the chance views of the organic world. When done properly it is highly effective. I have driven up the income of a business by as much as 70%, it was a fun ride. Do not underestimate the power of a mobile device in the pocket of a Tahoe traveler. Myth-buster: A viral video that will solve all your marketing problems is just that, a myth. Think about it, rolling the dice to see if you will go viral to the actual 1k people who want to connect or the other 4 billion who just like taking up your screen space and time. I prefer to set goals of 2K or so a week for people who may truly be interested in your services and then simply tell them the easiest way to connect to get what they want. The business model of all the platforms is advertising. If you build a platform that is fun to use by many people you will create an audience and when you have an audience you can sell advertising to make a profit. All of the platforms are in business so thinking that it’s the wild west and there are no rules will get you ousted. Losing an ad account pretty basically takes you out of the running, you lose the page as well, and starting over is the pits. It has happened to me once and there is no way back. So when I get the warnings it’s all hands on deck until the issue is resolved. Beware, that’s also the new scam. My clients constantly get fake Meta warnings, each of which I thoroughly research till I’m positive it is not from Meta before I report and trash it. Last but not least the beauty of tracking. Yes, there are those who yell foul but I for one am grateful for the algorithms. Personally, I am conscious of every click I make to curate my own personal experience. I can’t imagine what it would be like without these gatekeepers. In 2016 whoever paid the most was seeing the most no matter what the content created a nightmare and both Meta and Google paid the price for that lesson. People just left the platforms. A final note on track. Data tracking lets you know what is working and what is not, quickly and efficiently. It’s a business that has to prove itself just like our own businesses do. ROI counts. In the realm of social media marketing, the decision between paid advertising and organic strategies is a crucial one. While organic marketing builds brand credibility and long-term relationships, paid ads offer targeted reach and trackable data. Finding the right balance and understanding the unique benefits and challenges of each approach is key to developing a comprehensive social media marketing strategy. By combining the strengths of both paid and organic methods, businesses can maximize their impact, reach their desired audience, and achieve their marketing goals. If there is a topic you’d like to hear more about by all means comment below or direct message and I’ll do my best. Nothing better than a good question to jump into. Reach out for a talk over coffee or a hike I give information freely. I only ask to be paid when I do the work. tgold@bigwaterci.com Comment below or share. Trina Gold Master Creator