Why You Should Sync Organic and Paid Social Media

The alignment of paid and organic media can make or break a company’s social media image. Content strategy is shifting and the balance between paid posts on Facebook and organic content requires planning and communication.

Organic Social

Differentiating between the purpose of posts is the first step. Organic social is the perfect tool for brand building. Allowing for interaction between the brand and the customer creates a stronger, more loyal relationship. The thought is not to bombard Facebook followers with promotional content. Instead, think of it as portraying the lifestyle of your brand through posts. A firm goes from just a name to a personality. Try posting articles, helpful tips, funny or entertaining posts, or inspirational quotes. Let your customers engage with the brand.

Give them a reason to connect on a more personal level. The objective is engagement and, therefore, posts should follow the 80%, 20% rule. That being 80% of posts should be fun, enhancing page value and 20% can be sales oriented. Comment control is also a huge aspect of maintaining a trusting page. When there are negative comments on posts, viewers who read them will lose confidence in your brand. Comment control is as simple as periodically scrolling through to “hide” or “delete” comments. Strengthening organic social is the cheapest, yet effective avenue for brand growth.

Related: Organic Boosted Posts vs. Facebook Ads – What’s the Difference?

Paid Social

Now, Paid- Social is where you can tap into your budget. Ads target demographics of your choice in order to optimize positive interaction. This means you can send one ad to men and then a different one towards women. You can categorize the targeted viewers by age, location, interests, gender, and even by their past engagement.

Another targeting advantage is choosing an objective for your advertisement. Examples would include growing website traffic, gaining leads, increasing purchases, engagement, or views. Facebook uses your goal to optimize your ad by sending it to users who are more likely to act in alignment with that objective.

There is no better way to advertise specific products or services than to the very people who are most likely to purchase them- a great way to get new users eyes on your brand, especially if your company is young and you are trying to grow your following.

Related: How To Make a Successful Social Media Campaign: Real Life Examples

Paid And Organic

The two shouldn’t be thought of as separate entities because they typically go hand in hand. Sync content by having complimentary posts. If you organically post about an upcoming sale, communicate that through paid-social advertisements as well. That may mean sending an ad featuring a specific sale item to a particular group of people.

An ad should act as a reinforcement for the organic content, offering that particular viewer a more personalized experience. The organic usually increases traffic, meaning the most action you should expect is a “like” or “comment”, but the paid-media yields purchases or website visits (or whatever your advertising objective is set as).

Let’s say there is a company that creates keys- a simple, one product company. To reach a greater demographic than just current key purchasers, we create organic content that aligns with the brand, like “Where to Hide the Spare Key” or “A Guide for First-Time Homeowners”. Both posts will engage different kinds of people. That’s two sets of potential future key purchasers. We want to engage with them before they need the product. Later on, paid media is used to send them an ad regarding a first-time customer discount code.

Brilliant, right? Gain customer loyalty with a future customer by creating the right kind of media content. That is why it is crucial to align organic and paid media; they are the dynamic duo of media advertising. Furthermore, if someone sees the ad and then clicks on your profile, the profile page should portray the same brand image. This social proof builds trust and positive brand presence.

A viewer should not question the validity of a company because their facebook page is not up to par. Instead, it should grasp the attention of that user just as much as the ad did. This is also why comment control is relevant to all social accounts. Often times, companies wonder if they should be paying a marketing agency and/or in-house marketers to manage organic content if the posts do not bring in any revenue on their own. The answer is yes! Yes, you should invest in both organic and paid content. It is critical to build an engaged following of people who trust your brand through a synced social account.