Marketing 101: Organic Content vs. Social Media Ads. Social Media is a vital part of building a business, and the trends show it’s not going anywhere. One of the main pieces of the social media puzzle that seems to confuse and overwhelm businesses the most is whether social media ads are more efficient than straightforward organic content. Many people feel that if they throw money into advertising, it will automatically increase their followers. In turn, this alone should translate into business conversions. However, if it were that easy, social media would be flooded with ads, and business would be booming. The fact of the matter is that if a consumer sees one of your social media ads and thinks it’s weak, it will devalue your company’s branding and hurt potential conversions. So, let’s dive into the world of organic content and paid advertising on social media.

What is Organic Content?

Organic content is just about anything about your business that you post on social media. This approach includes status updates, photos, videos, and even blog reposts. Gaining followers through organic content can be a time-consuming process. It is unlikely that you will increase your fan base by the hundreds overnight by only posting new marketing content consistently. However, that is part of the social media game. People think you have to understand the algorithms each social media platform uses to post productive media. That’s not necessarily the case. Don’t get me wrong, knowing some algorithm strategies is helpful when creating marketing content and making social media plans. But realistically, if you only remember one word, remember engagement. This alone is a large percentage of what social media looks for when placing content. Just about every social media platform is trying to promote the best content to the most relevant people.

Create Engagement

If your business does not have a marketing budget to work with, you can still be successful by ramping up your engagement. There are a few things to keep in mind if you prefer to stick with organic content. First of all, no one will engage if you have boring marketing content. As you can probably see for yourself, the most intriguing posts are usually visual. Photos and videos do a much better job capturing attention than text content does, so keep that in mind. A smartphone is a powerful content-making machine. All you need to do is download a few apps, shoot a quick video, edit with those apps, and post. You don’t need a professional photographer or videographer to make exciting content. Don’t forget that you have Google at your fingertips. Run a search for what makes great content on social media and try it. Just don’t forget about that word we discussed earlier. Make sure you are engaging with everyone that comments on your page or posts.

Should you Buy Ads?

Paid ads seem like an easy way to increase traffic and generate leads. People still believe in the old adage, “build it, and they will come.” That translates to, make an ad, and customers and clients will flock to you! I hope you know that is too good to be true. But the truth is, paid ads can and will increase who sees your page. That’s what they do. But conversion-making content is the determining factor as to whether someone follows you, likes your page, or attends an event. A good thing about paid social media ads is that they usually have different campaigns that will allow you to create an ad tailored to your needs, like brand awareness. This way of advertising may give you a jump start on visibility in your industry. Or it may increase website traffic by getting followers of your social media page to browse your website. Perhaps you have a special offer you’d like to bring awareness to. All of these things, plus more, can be promoted on the ad platforms.

Find Your Target

No one wants to invest their hard-earned money only to get less than expected results on any given ad. Although the creation process is straightforward, you want to target your audience. Marketing content should be created around the targeted audience.This step could make or break an ad campaign. You will want to make a list of people who you think will be interested in your product. If you’re selling a BDR solution, 18-year-old females interested in cosmetics will not yield the results you’re hoping to get. That one is a bit obvious, but this is the step that takes the most time. How many miles from your business would you like it to reach? What are some of the interests and behaviors of your target audience? What is their age range? Are you targeting males and females? All of these things make a huge difference in your results. Be sure to do your research before you throw money at an ad.

Social Media Content

Then finally, as mentioned with organic content, DON’T BE BORING. Your ad, or any other piece of marketing content, means nothing if it’s not visually appealing or the content isn’t compelling. Meet with your staff to discuss what your company’s strengths are. Decide on how to turn those strengths into advertising content. This strength will be your Brand. Let people know you can solve their problems because you’re the best-Managed Service Provider in the area! Let people know what areas you’re best at fixing. Don’t be too shy to boast about yourself.

In Marketing, there is no “one size fits all” social media strategy. Each business is unique and will need to go through some trial and error before understanding what tactics work. The key is to be consistent, monitor feedback, and pay attention to the results you are getting, regardless of whether it’s from paid ads or organic content. Understand what your audience finds as engaging content. Through all of this, remember to have fun with it, and you’ll be off to a great start!

If you’re struggling with your MSP Marketing, we can help! And we have two great choices:

  1. Attend CharTec’s Academy, December 8th-9th. We are offering Training Classes in Marketing, as well as smaller “break-out” sessions where you can ask all the questions you want. Plus, we will hand you the “Keys to the Castle!” This is your opportunity to walk into any department you please and sit down with any employee you’d like to chat with. You don’t find these offerings at MSP conventions! You can Register Here
  2. Or, we can do the Marketing for you. Contact us at: membership@CharTec.net for more info.