Social Allies

There are several different ways to promote your business on social media. You may have seen terms like “organic,” “paid,” or even “boosted” posts and advertisements. Before we jump into the pros and cons of each of these types of social media marketing, let’s learn what each one is.

Organic reach is “the number of people who have seen your post through unpaid distribution.” This means that your post has organically (without payment) reached a number of people.

Paid reach prefers to posts, advertisements, and other ways that you have paid for social media marketing. This may be an ad or a boosted or sponsored post. Facebook describes the difference between paid ads and boosted posts as, “Boosted posts differ from Facebook ads because they are not created in Ads Manager and don't have all of the same customisation features.” Unlike a Facebook ad, a boosted post is just a regular Facebook post that you pay to reach a wider audience.

Now, let’s dive into the pros and cons of paid and organic marketing/reach. Here are 5 key differences between paid marketing and organic marketing.

The most obvious difference is that paid marketing costs money and organic marketing is completely free.
With paid marketing you can create different target markets. Whereas with organic marketing, you cannot target specific types of followers, customers, or people.
With organic marketing, you’re targeting your existing following while also building brand awareness. With paid marketing, you can draw more potential customers to your page that don’t already follow you (your post will be seen by more people)!
Because paid marketing is used to target specific audiences, you have several ways you can customise your ads (what they display, where they lead, what they look like, etc). In organic marketing, you’re more limited.
Lastly, organic marketing doesn't require extra work (just post like you would anyways) whereas with paid marketing, you need to run ads in addition to posting on your social media platforms.

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