Organic or paid social: where should a small business start?

“Should we just post more, or should we start running ads?” It’s one of the questions we hear most. The honest answer is that organic and paid social do different jobs, and most businesses eventually need both. What matters is knowing which one to lean on first.

What organic social is good at

Organic social means the posts, stories and videos you publish for free. It is good for:

• building trust: people check your profile before they call, book or buy;
• staying in touch with existing customers and followers;
• showing your work, your team and the reviews you’ve earned;
• answering questions and handling customer service in public.

Its limit is reach. Platforms show your posts to only some of your followers, and growing an audience from nothing takes months of steady posting.

What paid social is good at

Paid social means ads on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or TikTok. It is good for:

• reaching people who have never heard of you;
• targeting by location, interests, job title or past visits to your website;
• getting results quickly, such as leads for a new service or bookings for an event;
• measuring exactly what each euro brought in.

Its limit is that results stop when the budget stops, and ads work far better when people who click find an active, credible profile and a website that makes it easy to act.

Start with organic if

• your brand is new and your profiles are empty or out of date;
• your customers usually look you up on social media before buying;
• your budget is small and you need to learn what your audience responds to.

Start with paid if

• you have a clear offer and a landing page that turns visitors into enquiries;
• you need leads or sales this month, not next year;
• you’re promoting something with a deadline, such as an opening, an event or a seasonal offer.

Make them work together

The best results usually come from using each to help the other:

1. Post regularly and watch which posts get the most saves, shares and comments.
2. Turn the best performers into ads, because they’ve already shown they work.
3. Show ads to people who visited your website or engaged with your profile but didn’t get in touch.
4. Use ads to grow the audience your organic posts can then reach.

Choose the right platforms

You don’t need to be everywhere. Facebook and Instagram suit most local consumer businesses, LinkedIn suits business-to-business services, and TikTok can work well if your audience is younger and you’re comfortable making short videos. Two platforms done well beat five done half-heartedly.

Organic social earns trust. Paid social buys attention. Growth comes from using both on purpose.

A note on the “Boost” button

Boosting a post is a quick way to get more people to see it, and it’s fine for simple goals. For leads and sales, the platforms’ full ad tools give you better control over who sees the ad, what result you’re paying for, and testing different versions.

Not sure where to start?

Our social media marketing team can review your profiles, plan your content and run campaigns that are measured on leads, not likes. Book a free chat and we’ll tell you where we’d start.