The social media outburst has created a powerful platform for businesses to connect to their customers. By allowing businesses to market their brand to a targeted and interested audience, social media has become one of the most effective brand-building tools available today. Any post that manages to become an overnight sensation has the potential to result in huge sales for a company. It is well known that potential consumers don’t stumble upon a company’s content by chance. This usually happens because they encounter it on social media or because of a friend’s recommendation.
What’s the Difference Between Natural and Paid Social Media?
Having natural social media means that you have followers and likes from people who have chosen to do so by themselves. For example, you post a photo and people or friends who find it interesting might like it or share it. As your friends or others like and share the photo, the publisher’s reach might increase naturally to people who might not have heard about them. You can use different free tools provided by each social media network to build and interact with a social community.
If you think that viral content can be generated naturally by using such tools, think again! A lot of time and effort is needed to generate content which you intend to go viral. This is where paid social media comes in. Having paid social media means investing money in enhancing your online content. A lot of things fall withing the category of paid social media marketing. This also includes paying for your followers on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc. You can read right here why and how to get a large audience of followers for your Instagram account.
Is Paid Social Media Good For Your Business?
Social media marketing started with natural traffic. The social media giant, Facebook, initially implanted natural reach and audience engagement for free before they decided to make businesses pay for it. It can be argued that informative and helpful natural social media content can retain customers. However, it’s paid social media content that actually gets the best results. Paid advertisement results in higher returns on investment. Usually natural content isn’t even viewed by the target community. Paid social media nets in traffic while organic social media keeps them reeled in.
A few years ago, Reed Hastings, CEO of a small DVD-by-mail service approached John Antioco, CEO of Blockbuster Video, to partner up together because his company was in financial crisis. He offered him to manage Blockbuster’s online rental business but Antioco turned down the offer. Did we mention that this small DVD-by-mail service was called Netflix? Today Blockbuster video no longer exists, while Netflix, a $32.5 billion company, is one of the most popular companies around the globe! The moral of this story is that Blockbuster failed to see the changes and change their strategy. Getting back to our debate: your need to keep up with the changes in market and adjust to the current and upcoming flows if you want your business to survive.
In order to reach their audience, companies must prioritize paid social media otherwise their messages will be lost in the multitude of millions of other messages. With paid social media, your marketing efforts will be quickly rewarded. Natural content gives you little control over the audience who sees it, unlike paid strategies which allow you to put your massage right in the center of the people you want to interact with. A lot of people buy from advertisements and offers they see on social media. Marketers agree that paid social media marketing is much more effective than natural social media. Using paid social media to put appealing content in front of your targeted audience converts potential customers right away. Another benefit of using paid social media is the easy tracking of sales, likes, and click-through rates. Perception of the effectiveness of paid social media campaign come from the measurable benefits a company gains within a relatively short time after using its services.