Happy New Year!
Whether you make resolutions or not, I want you to consider something that will help you build your business, grow your reputation, and once you achieve it, there’s nothing and no one that can take it away from you. It’s: Continuing Education.
Through this blog, I want to teach you about the value and importance of strategic marketing and help clarify the “things” you hear from other entrepreneurs and fads you are exposed to by the media but are clueless about what they are and how to use them. I want you to become a student of strategic marketing so that you can decide what’s right for you and your business. I hope that you and I will be able to dive deeper into these topics through one-on-one consulting and apply data to manage the ways to use social media to get you to your goals. In the near future, I will be offering an opportunity for you to “come to school with me” where you will have 24/7 access to resources that will get you answers about trends and tools. And, if there is a topic you want to learn about, I will be glad to share my knowledge.
Our first lesson of 2023 will give you an idea what’s to expect:
What’s the difference between organic social content v. paid?
In simple terms: Organic social content is posted for free while Paid social content uses your advertisings dollars to help you reach a larger audience.
You are probably thinking: That’s a no brainer.
Why would I spend money if I don’t need to? In many cases organic advertising works. There’s little to no risk involved except for the time invested. For example in the case of the social media platform Instagram using organic (non-paid) posts is effective. However, Instagram’s organic posts only appear on a small percentage of your followers’ feeds or the people who already follow you. In order to expand your reach, your followers (audience) must share and engage your posts with their followers. To get your content out organically you need to create a group of close-knit followers. So my question to you is: How well do you know your followers, and are they willing to help?
With paid social media, your posts will appear on the feeds of whomever you pay to have targeted. Like with all advertising you can target an audience based on demographics, location, interests, among others. These posts can cost you from hundreds to thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars and require three to six months or two to three touches to see its impact.
What’s interesting about these tactics is that they can work together to give you extra bang. If one of your organic social posts is doing well you can pay to “boost” it so that it gets in front of more people. This strategy often works well because it started out organically (meaning it related well with your audience) so why not see how far it goes?
It’s important to note that once you work with either of these two methods you will need to retrieve ongoing data about the social media advertising campaign so that you can analyze it. You can also continue to build upon other organic marketing strategies. There are many organic methods there – social media is just the tip of the iceberg. To discover how other organic social media tactics can help you, contact me. Blogs, networking opportunities, attending events, posting on other websites, and more will support your online efforts.
So, if you are ready to learn, discover, and prove to yourself that you “can teach an old dog new tricks,” continue following my blog, and consider registering for an upcoming class this semester!
