What’s the difference between organic and paid-for social posts?

This is one of the key questions we hear from stakeholders when discussing their social media strategy. And it’s easier to explain than most people think.

In short, organic social media posts are those which are shared on your platforms and are not supported by spending money. They appear in the feeds of those people who follow you or your page but will not be seen by a wider audience. Organic social media activity includes using your channel to build a following and community by interacting, sharing, and commenting on content. 

So far, so good?

Organic social media activations are also very cost-effective. In fact, they’re free! So, publishing content direct to your page is a great place to start spreading the word about your business.

But what about those boosted posts you keep seeing on your timeline?

They’re the work of cold, hard, cash. Paid-for social media activity, as it sounds, is any content posted to your platforms which you choose to boost via paid-for promotion. And with the constant algorithm tweaks from the larger social media networks, it’s becoming harder and harder to get your campaigns seen without it.

As the effectiveness of monetised social media marketing continues to grow, businesses are making the decision to ‘pay to play’. And the good news is, it doesn’t take enormous budgets to put you in front of a whole new audience. Little and often does the trick. 

The simplest way to create paid-for social media content is to repurpose organic posts already live on your feed. These can be ‘boosted’ by allocating a small spend, and targeted to a fresh, new audience specified by you.

Alternatively, another way to social media campaign success, is to create specific sponsored ad content, written with a clear purpose in mind and a strong call to action.

The question is, do you need to use paid-for social media? And the answer these days, is pretty simple. Yes! If you want to reach more people, grow awareness of your brand, drive more traffic to your website and increase sales, paid-for posts are the way to go.

But a social media strategy which harnesses both organic and paid-for posting is where the sweet spot is. Making the most of both methods of communication will certainly give you a better ROI. Organic social media activations will help to maintain those new followers once paid-for has pulled them in. It will help reinforce the messaging your paid-for content hinted at. And it will regularly remind them who you are and what you do.

Don’t be left in the dark about social media. Find out more about what it is and what it can do for your business here.

Even better, get in touch with the team at Torque to see how we can help you on your way.