Organic vs Paid Social Media: Which One’s Right for You?

As of January 2025, a huge 79.9% of the UK’s population were active social media users. So, I think it’s safe to say that knowing effective social media marketing strategies that help grow your business can make the difference in becoming a success. In fact, I’d go as far to say that if you’re not embracing the online world, you’ll get left behind.

When it comes to businesses operating on social media, you can typically split their efforts into organic or paid. But what are they, and what’s the difference? Which one suits your business better and is worth focusing your efforts on?

Find out what you need to know in this article.

Why Social Media Marketing is Essential for Businesses

The online world is where decisions are made. From who people vote for to what restaurant they’ll be eating dinner at tonight, social media plays a part in so many of those choices. For businesses, that is a golden opportunity.

Social media isn’t just a platform for posting updates anymore. It’s a very powerful tool for connecting with your audience, building brand awareness in ways that traditional marketing can’t, and driving sales. Plus, it allows you to build a reputation by engaging directly with your community, showing your brand’s personality, and staying on top of trends in real-time.

Even more, social media can help bridge your online and offline presence, allowing you to create a seamless brand experience that resonates across all channels.

When it comes to engagement, businesses typically use two approaches. These are organic social media strategies and paid social advertising. Both have their place, and when used together, they can amplify your reach and boost your impact.

What is Organic Social Media Marketing?

Organic social media is all about using platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X to post content that’s natural, meaning no paid ads. Think of it as building your brand’s reputation without throwing money at it. Instead, you’re focused on creating content that genuinely connects with your audience and builds a loyal following over time.

The main goal with this approach is to grow your brand organically through content that sparks real, genuine engagement and leaves a lasting impression on your audience.

Organic social media content includes:

• Posts, stories, and reels.
• Community engagement (comments, replies, shares).
• Hashtag strategies and user-generated content.
• SEO optimised social media profiles.

Is There a Downside?

Focusing solely on organic social strategies doesn’t work for every business. For example, if you were an online clothing shop, you’d be missing a massive opportunity if you were to just ignore the potential of paid strategies. So, it’s helpful to weigh the pros and cons to see if it’s the right fit for your plan.

Pros:

• Cost-effective marketing: You don’t need to spend money on ads with organic social. Your results will come down to how well your content connects with your audience.
• Authentic relationship building: Organic content lets you engage with followers in a way that feels natural and genuine. It’s not just about pushing sales, it’s about fostering trust and loyalty.
• Long-term brand credibility: Over time, your organic social efforts will help solidify your brand’s reputation. This kind of content builds trust and boosts awareness without the hard sell.

Cons:

• It’ll take a bit of time to see results: Unlike paid ads, where you can see results almost immediately, organic social is a long game. You’ll need patience as you build your community and establish a presence.
• Algorithm limitations: Similar to what us SEOs are always talking about, social media algorithms are always evolving. For example, if Instagram shifts its algorithm, you might see a dip in engagement. It’s not always predictable.
• Limited scalability: Without paid promotions, your content’s reach is limited to your current followers. So, while it’s great for building a community, it might not be the quickest way to reach new customers.

What is Paid Social Media Marketing?

Okay, now onto paid social. This is when you pay social platforms (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or TikTok) to show your ads to a specific audience. Very much like PPC or Google Ads, where you target users based on search queries. Paid social lets you target people based on their interests and behaviours on social platforms.

Paid ads can come in all kinds of formats, but they typically show up with a sponsored or ad tag, so users know it’s a paid promotion.

Your goal with paid social is to reach the right people, boost conversions, and increase both engagement and brand awareness.

Paid social media campaigns include (but are certainly not limited to):

• Sponsored posts and carousel ads.
• Lead generation ads and re-marketing campaigns.
• Influencer partnerships with paid sponsorships.
• Messenger ads.
• TikTok Live could actually count as a paid social strategy now. You can boost campaigns to drive people to your live, and do collaborations with other influencers on the platform, sell products, etc.

The Pros and Cons of Paid Social Media

Just like with organic social media, there are definite ups and downs to paid social.

Pros:

• Fast results: Paid ads let you get your content in front of people quickly. If you need immediate visibility, paid social is a fast track to engagement.
• Highly targeted: Ads can be super specific, targeting audiences based on their location, interests, behaviours, and preferences. This makes it easier to hit the right people. And, once you have that data, retargeting is a breeze.
• Scalable: If your campaign’s doing well, you can increase your budget to extend your reach and boost visibility. It’s a flexible way to grow your brand presence.

Cons:

• Will require ongoing investment: Paid social can bring quick wins, but it requires continuous budget to maintain that visibility. Without consistent investment, your content won’t stay in front of your audience.
• Ad fatigue: Running the same ads repeatedly can lead to engagement drops as people get tired of seeing them. This can also increase your cost-per-click, which might affect your ROI.
• Potentially lower trust: Not everyone loves seeing sponsored content in their feed. For some users, paid ads can feel intrusive, and that could turn them off your brand.

Organic vs Paid Social Media: The Key Differences

While there are many comparisons between organic and paid social media. There are also differences you should be aware of so you can decide how to increase social media reach in a way that suits you.

Should You Choose Organic or Paid Social Media?

When it comes to organic vs paid social media for businesses, what route you take depends on many factors.

Choose organic social media if:

• You want to build long-term brand trust and credibility.
• You’re focusing on engagement and community-building.
• You have a limited marketing budget.
• Establishing your brand voice.

Choose paid social media if:

• You want immediate results and conversions.
• You want to reach new potential customers quickly.
• You have a dedicated ad budget for marketing campaigns.
• You want to maximise ROI.

Best Strategy? A Combination of Both.

Generally speaking, the best social media marketing company in the UK wouldn’t limit itself to one avenue. Being smart and combining strategies can help you get the most out of social media.

Organic posts can help build a strong brand presence, while you use paid advertising to amplify your reach and conversions. You can use organic content to nurture that more loyal engagement and use paid ads to drive traffic to your website.

Combining both can help you maximise reach, help you identify your best-performing content, and drive sales in the short term whilst building that long-term trust with your audience.

How Maxweb Solutions Can Help You Succeed

At Maxweb Solutions, we offer both organic and paid social media strategies that will be tailored to your requests and needs. Our social media experts can help create engaging organic content and optimise ads as part of a data-driven strategy.

Outsourcing social media marketing to professionals will help you in the long run. It can ensure your social media marketing achieves maximum impact, increases ROI, saves you money, and provides a fresh perspective.

If you want to know more about us or are eager to improve your social media marketing, get in touch now. To book a no obligation consultation with our social media team, call us on 0151 652 4777.

Posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025 in Latest News.