Organic vs Paid Social Media: Which Channel is Best for Your Business?

With over half of the world’s population being active on at least one social media platform, social media is essential for businesses looking to connect and engage with their audiences online.

With the right strategy, social media can help you increase your brand’s online visibility, generate high-intent leads, and create stronger customer relationships.

But what is the right strategy for your business?

Well, there are two main routes you can go down: organic social and paid social.

Both have some great benefits and can help you increase your brand awareness, drive more inbound leads and sales, and help you grow your business, but there are some key differences you should be aware of.

In this article, we’ve explored the core differences between organic vs paid social media, highlighted when to use each channel, and explained how you can decide which strategy best aligns with your business goals.

Let’s start by looking at what organic social media is exactly. 👇

What is Organic Social Media?

Organic social media involves unpaid content that naturally appears in users’ feeds, such as text and image posts, stories, and videos, without paid promotion.

It forms the foundation of a brand’s social media presence, allowing businesses to engage with their audience, share valuable content, and build authority in their industry.

Here’s an example of what a typical organic social media post looks like:

Benefits of Organic Social Media

Build brand loyalty

Organic posts let you interact directly with your audience, share value, and build trust. By consistently offering helpful content and engaging authentically, you can create a loyal community of followers you can consistently nurture with valuable content.

Cost-effective for small businesses

Organic social is free to use, meaning smaller businesses with limited budgets can establish their presence without dropping thousands on ad spend. The investment here is time and consistency, which are vital to making organic social work for your business.

Encourages engagement and feedback

Social platforms are designed for interaction. Using organic posts to ask questions, reply to comments, and share user-generated content builds a two-way connection that creates stronger relationships over standard transactional interactions.

According to Sprout Social, 51% of consumers feel the most memorable thing a company can do is respond to their comments on social media.

Strengthens brand identity

Regular organic posts help solidify your brand’s voice and personality, giving followers a sense of what you stand for. This can set your business apart, particularly in competitive markets, by creating a distinct identity that resonates with your audience.

Drawbacks of Organic Social Media

Limited reach

With organic reach averaging just 4% and 2.6% on platforms like Instagram and Facebook, social media algorithms can make it difficult for posts to reach new audiences. Organic content largely depends on engagement from existing followers, limiting your reach and making it harder to grow.

Slower growth

Unlike paid ads, organic strategies require time and patience. Building a solid following can take months, which might feel slow for businesses that want quick visibility.

What is Paid Social Media?

Paid social media involves promoting social media content through advertisements to reach a larger or more targeted audience. Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram allow businesses to create paid campaigns that appear in users’ feeds, Stories, and as sponsored content.

Here’s an example of a paid social ad on LinkedIn:

Benefits of Paid Social Media

Reach new audiences instantly

Paid ads aren’t limited by a platform’s algorithm, meaning you can reach large audiences who aren’t already following your brand. For campaigns that need immediate impact, like product launches, paid social is excellent for reaching a broader audience and quickly establishing brand awareness.

Increased traffic cand conversions

Paid social campaigns are great for driving traffic and conversions to your website. 52% of online brand discovery now happens through social media, so creating engaging paid social ad campaigns targeting your ideal customers can have a huge impact on your lead generation efforts.

Precise targeting options

Platforms like Facebook offer advanced targeting options, allowing you to customise ads based on demographics, location, interests, and online behaviour. You can also retarget users who have previously visited your website or engaged with your brand, increasing conversions and recovering lost revenue.

Measurable ROI with real-time data

With paid social campaigns, performance metrics like impressions, clicks, and conversions are easy to track. Analytics tools provide insights into which ads perform best, helping you optimise your budget and maximise ROI.

Drawbacks of Paid Social Media

Cost-dependent results

Unlike organic social, paid ads require a dedicated budget. Costs can rise quickly, especially in competitive industries where businesses are willing to spend heavily on constant ads.

Potential for ad fatigue

Over time, your audience can grow tired of seeing your ads repeatedly. This can lead to less engagement and wasted ad spend. So, rotating ad creatives, regular A/B testing, and adjusting targeting can stop this from happening.

Organic vs Paid Social Media: Key Differences

Here’s a table with a quick-look breakdown of the key factors and differences between organic and paid social media:

When Should You Use Organic vs Paid Social Media?

Start-ups and small businesses

Organic Social: For new businesses, organic social is a budget-friendly way to establish a brand voice and begin building a loyal audience. Engaging posts and behind-the-scenes content can help create familiarity and trust with your early followers.

Paid Social: Use paid ads selectively to amplify key content, like a product launch or a time-sensitive promotion. Even a small ad budget can provide valuable reach and drive traffic and leads to your website.

Mid-sized businesses

Organic Social

Continue nurturing your audience with educational content, customer success stories, and company updates. At this stage, organic posts should focus on deepening relationships with existing customers and consistently adding value.

Paid Social

Paid campaigns can be used more strategically, like retargeting ads to website visitors or showcasing case studies to attract new customers. You should dedicate some of your budget to A/B testing different ad types to find what works best.

Large businesses and established brands

Organic Social: With a solid organic presence, you can use your direct line to your large audience of followers to manage your reputation, share important updates, and utilise user-generated content. Many bigger brands also use organic social to support their customers and wider audiences.

Paid Social: You can use paid social for wider reach using data-driven campaigns with segmented targeting. This can help you create paid social strategies that align with your customer acquisition and retention goals, using performance data to continuously optimise for better results.

Combining Organic & Paid Social for Maximum Impact

We recommend using a combination of organic and paid social media as part of a more comprehensive and holistic marketing strategy.

Here’s how to make organic and paid social media work together:

Test with organic first

Start with organic posts to see which topics and formats resonate with your audience. High-performing posts can then be boosted to maximise your reach. For example, if a product demo performs well organically, you can also run it as a paid campaign.

Use retargeting to maximise conversions

Paid social ads are great for re-engaging website visitors. You can run campaigns that target people who have landed on your website, or engaged with your organic social content, and give them a reason to come back and complete their conversion, like a discount code or personalised offers.

Nurture with organic, convert with paid

Using organic social media to build trust with your followers, prove your expertise through sharing case studies and reviews, and provide value through educational content is a great way to nurture your audience and develop their interest.

With established trust and interest from your organic social, your paid social ads can have a much bigger impact, driving more engagement, conversions, and revenue.

Choosing the Right Strategy for Your Business

Start-ups and small businesses

Organic social media is crucial for establishing a foundation of brand awareness and trust, with selective paid campaigns for driving leads and growth. Start small and track which campaigns drive the best results, and adjust your approach based on the performance.

Growing businesses

Use a combination of organic and paid social media strategies, with regular organic engagement supplemented by paid campaigns for generating leads and sales. Invest in retargeting ads to nurture leads and recover lost revenue.

Established brands

If you’re a larger brand, you could dedicate more paid social budgets for consistent, targeted social reach. Your organic strategy can further support brand loyalty and reputation, generating brand awareness and interest that your paid social ads can use to drive engagement and customer acquisition.

Looking to generate leads and sales through Paid Social?

As a leading Paid Social agency, our in-house Specialists can handle all of the setup, optimisation, and maintenance of your ad campaigns across LinkedIn Ads and Meta Ads, helping you maximise your ROI and generate more online revenue without having to understand the ins and outs of social media advertising yourself.

Interested in learning more? Get in touch with our Specialists to discuss your project and get a tailored quote.