January 30th, 2021
There are two marketing strategies when it comes to social media growth: organic and inorganic, otherwise known as free and paid strategies, respectively. Which one presents greater growth opportunities? Why would you pay for social growth when you can get it for free? The answer: You need both strategies to access a new market and succeed.
Organic Growth
Organic social media growth is a way of expanding your online presence for free. This method of business growth can be difficult. It might take a long time to build up to a big base, especially with the social media platforms' ever-changing algorithms.
However, customers are going to trust organic marketing more than paid advertisements because it's much more authentic. So, even if you're reaching a smaller audience at first, this type of growth strategy could be better in the long run.
Organic growth allows you to build engagement and develop a community with your customers and followers. Some ways in which you can use organic marketing to build your brand include hashtags, creating social media stories, livestreams, word-of-mouth marketing, and reviews.
Any post you make that hasn't been paid for is considered to be organic. This could be a blog post, article, or industry news. You can talk about new products or an upcoming launch on your Instagram channel, or plan a live event on Facebook and invite your followers to attend. All of these strategies are considered organic social media marketing.
Why You Need Organic Social Media Marketing
Posting organically shows your followers what your business is about and allows you to provide them with more information.
Building brand awareness helps build a loyal following. The more you engage with your followers, the more you'll end up on their timelines, giving you a better chance of appearing on some of their followers' timelines and growing your following.
By posting organically, you can get more information out to your customers. You can also build excitement for the upcoming launch of a new product by posting a teaser for your followers, for example.
Organic social media marketing can be extremely effective if you have a large following. This is how influencers are so successful - all of their posts are organic. However, they have thousands, and in some cases, millions, of followers.
Inorganic Growth
Inorganic growth involves paying for advertisements that you might see on Facebook, Instagram, or Google. While you can reach a larger audience with paid advertisements, there's a bit of science behind getting the most out of inorganic marketing.
One of the great things about inorganic growth is that you can reach a larger audience while catering to your niche. You don't want to waste money reaching out to people you know won't be a customer.
For example, if you're selling cuts of beef for local delivery from your farm, you're going to choose a certain radius in which you'll be willing to deliver. You're not going to find customers or earn revenue through individuals or groups associated with PETA, vegetarianism, or veganism.
Even though these posts cost money, they're generally inexpensive. You also get to set the budget, so the ads will stop running once you hit your budgeted amount. However, people are more skeptical of inorganic marketing compared to an authentic, organic post.
Why You Need Inorganic Social Media Marketing
Just like organic social media, there are several reasons why inorganic social media marketing is important, and everyone can benefit from it.
First, paid social media marketing is a great way to get leads and conversions for your business. You'll get what you put into it, so the more money you pay, the more likely you'll benefit from the ad campaigns. You're also likely to increase your leads and conversions due to your ad targeting.
Additionally, paid advertisements allow you to retarget your customers who've shown interest in your products by using cookies so that they'll see your ads pop up in their feeds. Organic content, on the other hand, just sits there once it's been posted.
Another feature of paid advertisements, as we mentioned above, is the ability to target the customers you want. You can focus on demographics, interests, online behaviors, education level, and so much more. This, along with a call-to-action (CTA) button, will give your company a better chance of getting people to your website. The CTA, specifically, will also encourage your customers to fill out a form, learn more about the company, buy now, contact now, or sign up for a newsletter.
Which Should You Choose?
You should utilize both organic and inorganic growth if you want to make the most of social media marketing. This will allow your establishment to reach the most potential customers while providing them with an authentic look at your business.
It may take time to build your following, but if you keep consistent and engage with your loyal followers, you'll see your revenue increase and your market strategy succeed.