Getting your brand noticed on social media is more challenging than ever, with the constant flood of content on feeds. Social media managers face a significant obstacle: how to increase visibility while dealing with rising ad costs and shrinking budgets. In this environment, combining organic and paid social media strategies is no longer an option, but a necessity. It’s essential for getting noticed, standing out from the competition, and driving a stronger return on investment.
Social media strategy success relies on knowing when to use organic and paid social media efforts across networks to drive the strongest return on investment. Organic social media refers to the free content shared on social networks, such as text posts, images, and videos, without paying for promotion. It relies on the network’s algorithm to get content in front of an audience that will engage with the brand.
The benefits of organic social media include being cost-effective, helping brands build relationships and earn consumers’ trust, and feeling more authentic and less intrusive. User-generated content is a prime example, with a study by Stackla revealing that 79% of respondents favored it when making purchasing decisions. However, the highest hurdle to clear with organic social media is getting noticed, with average organic reach dropping by around 62% between 2020 and 2023, according to a study by Neil Patel at Demand Curve.
Paid social media, on the other hand, involves paying social networks to push content and ads to a larger, targeted audience with a specific goal in mind. It provides more control over who sees the content and how it performs, with benefits including precise targeting, conversion-ready formats, and detailed analytics. Paid social media is especially powerful for rapid audience reach and driving action beyond a user’s feed.
The challenges of paid social media include taking a big bite out of the advertising budget, with paid social spend spiking 13% year-over-year in 2024, according to Search Engine Land. To build genuine, long-lasting connections, a mix of organic and paid media helps develop and sustain the audience over time.
The main differences between organic and paid social media come down to cost, distribution, reach, targeting, speed, analytics, and purpose. Organic social media is free, algorithm-driven, and limited in its targeting capabilities, while paid social media is paid, audience-driven, and provides custom targeting options.
Knowing how organic and paid complement each other is only half the equation; the other half is figuring out when to use each one based on goals, budget, and timeline. Both organic and paid social are priorities for leadership, with 75% of marketing leaders ranking them as top priorities, according to the 2025 Sprout Social Index.
A straightforward way to approach social media investment strategy is to start by understanding the audience, goals, and budget. Recognize organic as the foundation for building trust and audience connection, and understand when to integrate paid for broader reach and to drive conversions. Build a cohesive social media content strategy that integrates organic and paid efforts, maximizing results without competing for budget and resources.
A strong hybrid strategy is about knowing when to apply a particular tactic—and why. This can be achieved by starting with organic, making the brand cohesive across organic and paid, using paid to boost organic social media marketing efforts, and using paid where organic can’t go. It’s also essential to treat social as full-funnel, not just top-funnel, and tie paid and organic efforts to outcomes that matter.
To optimize organic and paid strategies, continually test different approaches, including swapping static images with short-form video, rewriting captions, and adjusting posting times. Use data and analysis to refine messaging and see what resonates without ad spend, and scale proven strategies with paid social to reach the right audience and get detailed performance data.
Ultimately, it’s not about organic vs. paid social media—it’s about the competitive edge gained from combining the power of both. By looking for ways one strategy could support the other, you’ll get to the bottom of what drives social media ROI.
