The Difference Between Organic and Paid Social Media Marketing
There are 2 types of marketing on social media:
- Organic and paid.
Paid is when you buy ad space on someone else’s platform and use their traffic to drive attention to your productions and services.
Another example of paid marketing is when you request to do a paid collaboration with someone.
Imagine there is a popular YouTuber named Chris who interviews health experts.
You’re a health expert who doesn’t have that many followers.
To get more popularity for your brand, you pay Chris to go on his show.
Organic is when you let word of mouth and search engine optimization (SEO) catch up to you.
When you optimize your content effectively, then it will rank on search engines like Bing, YouTube, Google, etc.
Each path works.
Depending on your journey, you may be combining paid and organic.
Who is Organic Right For?
Organic is effective because it’s virtually free.
All you need are skills.
You can get some software, but that’s not always needed.
Most of the software to rank an article on Google is free.
All you do is find the right keyword phrase that the public is searching for.
So, let’s say you are trying to rank for.
- “Toastmasters table topics ideas.”
Well, you will include that phrase throughout the title and throughout the content piece, so the search engine knows what your piece is about.
There are more complexities to ranking an article for competitive keywords.
You may need advanced tools, link-building efforts, and a research team.
However, if it’s a keyword that’s not too competitive, then you can rank for free.
In the future, whenever someone types in that keyword in the search engine, and your post shows up on page one, then you increase the likelihood of being seen.
Organic is great for those who are:
- Great at creating content.
- Prolific.
- Looking to market for free.
Who is Paid For?
Paid marketing is for products and seasoned content creators.
Let’s start off with products.
Most ads out there are product-based.
You will see ads on:
- Toilet paper
- Fast food chains
- Perfumes etc.
These products are trying to stand out from the marketplace of competition.
So, they find creators that are similar to their brand, then they buy traffic space on that creator’s channel, and market their products there.
Before, paid marketing was super general.
It was difficult to get highly niched on the TV.
Nowadays, paid marketing is highly niched.
You can find the exact channel that suits your brand.
Other than products, seasoned creators often begin to dabble in paid more.
Because with social media, a lot of platforms are “pay to play.”
Platforms are forcing you to pay so your content can get more impressions.
The creators who have been in the game for a while have honed their message and are now willing to pay for marketing.
Which Path is Right for You?
It never hurts to start off with organic.
Knowing how to get organic traffic on your side is a skill.
Rather than just creating content, create content that contains certain keywords, has a meta-description, and is user-friendly.
Working on content like this will help you understand how the internet works.
Later, you’ll see whether or not you need paid marketing.
If you decide you need paid marketing, you’ll have a stronger understanding of how the internet works because of your literacy in organic.
Rather than just throwing a bunch of stuff in the air, you’ll be more strategic with how you spend your money.
I recommend you start off organic and expand to paid if needed.
Lessons from Doing Organic and Paid
I haven’t run any paid ads on ArmaniTalks.
Everything was organic.
I used Google, YouTube, Bing, Medium, Twitter, and all of that.
You either found me through search engine optimization, word of mouth, or both.
Organic is interesting because it requires you to take a long-term mindset.
You don’t immediately reap the rewards.
Instead, you create content, and let time do the trick.
A lot of content pieces are duds.
They sort of disappear even though I worked hard on optimizing them.
Other content pieces take off.
It’s hard to predict which content pieces will take off.
It’s just a game of being prolific and letting time do the trick.
With paid marketing, you can immediately tell if the campaign was successful or not.
You don’t need a long-term mindset.
If you were profitable, double down.
If you were not profitable, tweak.
Simple & straightforward.
But with paid marking, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows.
I used to do global affiliate marketing so I did a lot of media buying.
The problem with paid is that a platform can switch up on you.
Certain keywords can suddenly become super competitive, bid prices become expensive, and ad approval becomes strict.
So, don’t think paid marketing is easy because it’s fast.
All types of marketing on the internet come with their own problems.
Finding The Strategy For You
On the internet, you need to find the strategy for your brand.
Just because something is working for someone else doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you.
Likewise, just because something isn’t working for someone else doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
- Understand your brand identity.
- See what you are naturally good at.
- Look at your finances.
Then make your decision from there.
Organic is slow and comes over time.
While working on organic traffic, you will have a great chance to build your portfolio.
Paid is fast and you can assess the results immediately.
Paid will teach you how to run successful campaigns.
As you stack up years, don’t be surprised if you change your views on marketing.
You may be an organic guy right now who swears you’ll never do paid.
But in the future, that may change.
Or you may be a paid guy who thinks organic traffic is a waste of time.
In the future, that may change.
Ideas evolve, as do strategies.
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