By David Wharram, CEO of Coast Digital

Research has shown that 93% of internet users have at least one social media account, highlighting a substantial opportunity that businesses have to connect with their audiences. Building a strong social media strategy can help you improve brand awareness and drive sales to your website. Although paid social media is an effective way to create sales, it is vital not to lose sight of organic social media marketing and run both in conjunction with each other to reap the full potential.

Social media marketing is a great way to show off relevant content to your audience, as well as announce new products or services. These users already interact with your brand on social media. Therefore, we can assume they are usually further along in the customer journey and more likely to click through to the website.

The question is often raised as to which social platform is the most effective to use. The simple answer to that question is, it entirely depends on what objectives your business has and what you want to achieve from social media marketing. B2B organisations often favour LinkedIn and Twitter as audiences are more likely to be active and present on them. However, if you are a B2C organisation, Facebook and Instagram may be better suited to you.

In addition to navigating the number of platforms available and refining which is best for your business, you then need to consider how to drive traffic to these platforms. At the very top level you have 2 main options – organic and paid. In order to determine which strategy is best, you first need to have an understanding of each.

Organic social strategy

An organic social strategy can be hugely beneficial and effective. You don’t always have to spend lots of money to get results. However, we’d recommend running a paid plan alongside an organic strategy. This can be more beneficial when trying to engage with your customers and outshine competitors.

One of the most significant benefits of running an organic social campaign is the ability to showcase brand value and nurture relationships. Organic social media allows you to build a community of followers while posting content that is relevant to your audience. It will enable you to interact with those that are interested in your brand, as well as being an efficient way to encourage word of mouth marketing and user-generated content.

Paid social strategy

Paid social allows you to create and improve social campaigns on one or more platforms while being able to target potential customers with more accuracy, as well as generate substantial ROI and boost leads. Paid advertising guarantees visibility, which is why it is such a popular marketing method. Not only can you target your particular audience, but you can also expand the reach to specific locations – this could be on an international scale. Organisations of all sizes can invest in paid social media. If you are a small business with a lower budget, the campaign can be scaled down. At the same time, larger firms who have a more substantial budget can afford to launch a social campaign on a bigger scale.

Before carrying out a paid social media campaign, it is essential to do your research to gain insights into your audience’s interests and behaviours. By doing this, you can see which social platforms will be the best suited for your target audience.

Advertising options on social media

Some examples of paid social media methods include pay-per-click advertising (PPC), influencer generated content and display advertisements.

Pay-per-click advertising is one of the most popular methods many businesses use on social media. Adverts can be targeted to specific groups of people, which can be based on interests or any other data you may choose to gather. These adverts are typically found on a user’s timeline or social feed, and advertisers simply pay a fee each time their advert is clicked on. One of the main benefits of PPC is its ability to track and measure results efficiently. Therefore, you can see precisely how your adverts are performing on social and make any changes if necessary.

Influencer generated content is any content created by people, rather than the brand. This content is shared with the influencers’ audiences and aims to increase sales and generate credibility for the brand – this approach is often preferred by B2C organisations.

Display advertising uses creativity such as banners, images and videos to serve a brand message or advert to the right people, at the right time. It is a great way to let your potential customer know you exist and promote customer engagement.

Those that want to grow need to have both an organic and paid social strategy to thrive. Managing both an organic and paid social strategy can be time-consuming, however the benefits it can offer are well worth the time. An organic strategy is able to help improve your brand’s reputation, while a paid strategy allows you to target your specific audience and increase reach. By leveraging different social media channels, you can increase sales and drive brand awareness.