Paid Social Media Ads vs. Unpaid Posts – Why You Need Both

Our team at McCauley Marketing Services works with clients in a variety of industries, and so many of them ask the same question: “Do we really need to pay for ads and boosted posts to get a strong return from our social media marketing?” While unpaid posts are very necessary, adding paid posts to your strategy can launch your social media presence into success in a short period of time. The key is having a healthy combination of both paid social media marketing and unpaid posts, also known as organic posts.

Grabbing Users with Paid Ads

Every business hopes that their social media marketing posts will be riveting enough to spread around the web and to reach thousands of people within their target audience. Unfortunately, with the overcrowded atmosphere on every major social media platform as well as the short attention span most people have, this simply isn’t realistic. To truly reach a large number of people who are potential customers or patients and who aren’t already following you, you need to invest in paid ads and boosted posts.

Keep in mind that most people will need to see your content and be interested in the content multiple times before they start following your page or take another step toward a conversion. For this reason, you need a steady flow of paid posts and ads on an ongoing basis. It’s also important to recognize that getting your name in front of users won’t be enough to gain those users’ business. They need to both see your name and be interested in you. The best way to do this is not only to use traditional paid ads but also to boost informative, engaging posts like your business’s latest blogs. This is why an organic social media campaign alone won’t produce the results you want.

Creating Loyal Customers

Let’s say you are reaching your goal of spreading the word about your business and more users are following your social media pages. Followers alone will not increase your revenue. You also need to keep those users engaged. You need to continuously remind them about your business and nurture your relationship with them. The best way to do that is by continuously posting interesting and helpful content in the form of unpaid posts.

Remember that it isn’t simply a matter of posting consistently: your posts also need to be well-written and attention-grabbing. If you post nothing but sales pitches, your followers will start feeling like they aren’t getting any value out of the connection. They will unfollow you and won’t be likely to give you their business in the future.

Some of our clients have asked, “If paid posts are so successful, why don’t I just pay to boost everything?” Unless you have a massive budget, that strategy isn’t practical. You would be spreading your budget too thin, so none of your boosted posts would have enough money behind it to make an impact. Additionally, the power of organic posts and organic traffic shouldn’t be underestimated. You will get better results if you boost a handful of posts for larger amounts.

Making a Continuing Impact

The vast majority of businesses want to increase their impact on social media. What if you’re happy with the followers you have, though? Do you still need to invest in paid advertising on social media? The short answer is “yes,” if you want to continue making revenue from your social media followers, paid ads are necessary.

Some businesses are under the mistaken assumption that when a user follows your social media page, everything you post will appear on that user’s newsfeed. In reality, according to Social Media Today, each of your Facebook posts only reach about 6% of your followers. As a result, organic posts alone won’t get enough of a reach to continuously bring in a reasonable revenue. You need to analyze your data along the way as well to determine how you can adjust your future posts to reach and influence more users.

It is also crucial to realize that numbers don’t always translate to revenue. Some types of attention-grabbing content may gather high numbers of likes and views, and this can make any business feel successful and well-noticed, but those users could be gawking at your content rather than becoming paying customers. For paid and organic posts alike, the right social media strategist can help you design content that will pull in revenue, rather than attracting likes that serve no purpose beyond inflating egos.

Getting Help from the Pros

Designing an effective social media strategy isn’t as simple as it may seem. This is why so many businesses rely on professional social media managers to help them create a budget, form a strategy, set goals, and execute their strategy with an ongoing flow of well-crafted posts that match your brand, your industry, and your overall strategy. If you want to build your online presence, call McCauley Marketing Services today. For more helpful tips, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.