Organic vs paid social media: Everything you need to know

Trying to decide between organic vs. paid social media as a part of your strategy? We’ll let you in on a secret: you’re probably going to want to do a bit of both.

Let’s explore organic vs. paid social media, the benefits and drawbacks of each, and how you can create a hybrid strategy to get the best of both.

What is organic social media?

Organic social media refers to unpaid content that individuals and brands share on social media to engage audiences without paid ads or direct selling.

Organic social media activities include:

• Sharing non-boosted content to your social media feeds
• Encouraging your team to share company content on their own feeds (employee advocacy)
• Engaging with your audience by responding to comments and DMs
• Sharing user-generated content (UGC) that your community has organically shared with their own followers

Who sees organic social media content?

When you post organic content, it’s typically shown to:

• A percentage of your followers (your “organic reach”)
• People who visit your social media profile
• Your followers’ followers (if they share your content)
• People following relevant hashtags
• People who see your content by platform algorithms (i.e., “suggested content”)

What is organic social media used for?

Organic social media content can be used to:

• Generate awareness and conversation around your products or services
• Show off your brand personality and voice
• Build relationships with informative, entertaining, and/or inspiring content
• Engage customers at every stage of their buying journey
• Support customers with customer service

It sounds pretty simple, but the reason that organic social media is the foundation of every digital marketing strategy is because it’s the best way to nurture community with your followers.

Examples of organic content

First, we have an Instagram post where Asian Fusion restaurant CO shares a photo of a dinner dish perfect for the weather:

Below is an image Notion shared to its X/Twitter feed of stickers representing its three different products:

And here, we have another Instagram post from our own account sharing a carousel of graphics with different social media hooks to grab attention:

Each of these posts was shared organically to the brand’s feed so that people who land on your social media profile or are shown your post in their home feed are able to see it.

What are the benefits of organic social media?

The main benefit of organic social media is the ability to build relationships with your audience over time, rather than pushing sales or conversions.

Organic social media also helps:

• Build trust and authority with your audience
• Maintain a social media presence without ad spend
• Support community engagement and loyalty

Build trust and authority with your audience

Organic social media builds trust because no one wants to feel pummeled with endless advertisements online.

Because organic content isn’t designed to push a conversion, it gives you more room to:

• Share opinions and perspectives
• Show up in a more authentic, human voice
• Build brand awareness over time

As Peter Murphy Lewis, Fractional CMO at Strategic Pete, puts it, “Organic is where your voice, values, and vibe come through. It’s where your audience says, ‘I like how this brand thinks.’ It creates that layer of trust.”

TL;DR: Showing up consistently helps people see your brand as more than just a transaction, and that’s what keeps them coming back.

Maintain a social media presence without ad spend

One of the biggest advantages of organic social media is that it doesn’t require an advertising budget. Anyone can create a social media account and start posting with no upfront costs.

That doesn’t mean it’s effortless — organic social still takes time and consistency — but the payoff compounds. Organic content can:

• Continue generating engagement long after you hit “publish”
• Reach new audiences organically through sharing or algorithmic discovery
• Grow in value as your following increases

As Brian Futral, Founder and Head of Content at The Marketing Heaven, says, “Organic social isn’t just cheap, it’s sticky. That’s the long game.”

“When audiences see a brand consistently showing up on their terms, with a real voice, and without an aggressive CTA, it builds something money can’t buy: emotional residue,” he adds.

And while paid social is often easier to measure and predict, organic content still has something ads don’t: the chance to take off on its own and reach audiences you never could imagine.

Support community engagement and loyalty

Organic social media helps you to build an engaged and loyal audience.

Through comments, replies, and direct messages, you can:

• Build ongoing conversations with followers
• Encourage repeat engagement
• Create a real sense of community around your brand

Shanté Gorman, Founder at Sugarpunch Marketing, explains, “I’ve found that nothing beats organic social for building real connections with your audience. There’s something special about the trust and loyalty that develops when people engage with content that isn’t obviously promotional.” 

She adds, “In my experience, these authentic interactions create a community feeling that paid efforts just can’t replicate on their own.”

By consistently showing up, sharing organically, and responding to your audience, you can turn passive followers into loyal customers — and, over time, real advocates for your brand.

What are the drawbacks of organic social media?

Organic social media has a few drawbacks, especially when it comes to reach and scalability.

Let’s dive more into these limitations below:

Slower to scale

Organic social media might be cost-effective, but it certainly takes its time to bring in results. It relies on consistency, repetition, and long-term audience building. 

Futral explains, “Organic growth takes forever to gain momentum. You can post five times a week, craft perfect captions, ride trends, even sprinkle memes, and still, reach crawls at a snail’s pace.”

It’s no secret: organic content is a grind. But small efforts add up, and eventually your growth becomes quicker.

Limited reach due to algorithms

Most social platforms give priority to paid content, which means organic posts are often shown to only a small portion of your existing followers.

As a result:

• Even strong content can get limited visibility
• Reach can fluctuate from post to post
• Brands have little control over who sees organic posts

It can be frustrating, but it’s also the reality of how these platforms work.

The upside? This is where paid social can support organic. When a post is performing well but not getting the reach it deserves, adding ad spend can help it reach the right audience without starting from scratch.

What is paid social media?

Paid social media refers to sponsored or promoted content (ads, boosted posts, influencer campaigns, etc.) that brands pay to reach more people.

Unlike organic social media, paid social media uses advertising budgets and targeting to control who sees content and how often it appears.

Examples of paid social media activities include:

• Boosting posts to reach audiences beyond your followers
• Running targeted ad campaigns based on demographics, interests, or behavior
• Promoting events, products, or services through sponsored posts
• Partnering with influencers and creators through paid collaborations

Social media ad spending is expected to grow 15.6% in 2026, reaching $124.88 billion. This tells us that social media advertising is a huge market that’s not going anywhere.

At the same time, this also means people are seeing ads more than ever — and it’s exactly why organic social still matters alongside paid. We’ll get into how they work together in a bit.

What is paid social media used for?

Paid social media can be used to:

• Generate leads
• Boost brand awareness and reach a wider audience
• Drive traffic, sales, and conversions
• Promote a new deal, event, piece of content, etc.

Examples of paid social media

First, we have an Instagram ad from ecommerce company Estelle Colored Glass. 

This ad is promoting a couple of styles that the company won’t be making anymore, drumming up interest and creating a sense of urgency for people who want to be sure to grab those styles before they can’t anymore.

Next is a Facebook ad from clothing subscription brand Stitch Fix. The brand used a carousel ad format to showcase different outfits viewers could create by restarting their subscription. It’s one way to create intrigue and generate conversions.

And finally, we have a Facebook ad from Typeform sharing tips for creating successful forms. This ad is meant to generate clicks and traffic to the company’s website, leading users to a blog post with even more lead generation tips.

Each of these ads serves its own purpose, aligning with the company’s business goals — whether it’s to generate awareness, traffic, or revenue.

What are the benefits of paid social media?

The main benefit of paid social media is the ability to reach specific audiences at scale and drive results quickly.

In addition, paid social media:

• Allows advanced ad targeting
• Has clear ROI
• Is easy to track

Allows advanced ad targeting

Paid social media allows brands to control exactly who sees their content.

You can choose to show your paid ads to people in a specific age bracket, location, and even niche down further to target specific behavior types (shops at a grocery that sells your product, for example). 

You can also run retargeting ads that put your business in front of potential customers who are already considering buying your product.

Gorman says, “The targeting capabilities of paid social are honestly why we use it so much.”

“For example, we could reach 35-year-old dog owners in Seattle who like camping and have recently bought outdoor gear. This level of precision helps ensure you’re not wasting resources on people who aren’t interested in what you offer,” she adds.

Has clear ROI

Unlike organic social media, paid advertising campaigns are designed to deliver results quickly. Performance for individual ads is constantly tracked and recorded, showing you exactly how much you paid for every click, sale, and lead.

From there, all you need to do is choose the social media platform that gives you the best return on investment, and slowly improve and optimize your ads based on the data you collect.

Is easy to track

All social media platforms offer basic ads tracking and analytics. 

Facebook and Instagram have the Meta Business Suite, X/Twitter has X Ads and Analytics, LinkedIn has LinkedIn Ads and Analytics, and TikTok has TikTok Ads Manager and Analytics.

If you want to take your data even further, third-party tools like Hootsuite Analytics let you track your paid social media efforts across platforms, and manage all of your data from within a single dashboard.

Plus, access detailed reporting features to learn how to improve them on the fly.

What are the drawbacks of paid social media?

Paid social media comes with a few drawbacks, especially around cost, upkeep, and ad fatigue.

Here are the main drawbacks:

Can be expensive

Paid social media has the potential to get expensive — and quickly. To keep costs down, you need to be strategic about your ad spend and consistently monitor your ad performance so you’re not overspending.

Requires continuous optimization

Paid social media isn’t a “set it and forget it” strategy. To perform well, paid campaigns typically require:

• Regular performance reviews
• Creative refreshes
• Audience and targeting adjustments

Businesses often need a dedicated team member whose sole responsibility is creating, optimizing, and analyzing paid ad campaigns. This is yet another expense that paid social media can cost your business.

Ad fatigue

Another major drawback is ad fatigue, or the idea that people are being advertised to so often that they simply don’t even notice or pay attention anymore.

As Gorman puts it, “I’ve noticed that as soon as people get a whiff that something is an ad, they tune out immediately. The dreaded ‘sponsored’ label can be a kiss of death for engagement.”

Organic vs. paid social media: How do they differ?

Let’s look at these two social media marketing strategies side-by-side and how they differ across several key areas.

	Organic social media	Paid social media
Goal	Relationship-building and brand trust	Awareness, traffic, leads, and conversions
Best for	Driving engagement and showcasing brand personality	Boosting posts, testing new audiences, and promoting events, product launches, and influencer campaigns
Reach	Limited to followers and organic reach	Can scale based on budget and targeting
Cost	Free, but requires consistent time and effort to create content	Requires ongoing ad budget
Control	High control of content and posting, limited control of reach	High control of content, posting, and audience targeting
Measurement	Often indirect or difficult to measure	Directly measurable through analytics and ROI tracking
Targeting	Limited to organic audience	Precise targeting based on demographics, behavior, interests

Key takeaway: Organic social media focuses on long-term engagement and trust, while paid social media offers reach, control, and measurable results.

How to combine organic and paid social media: 4 expert tips

A combined approach allows brands to use organic content for trust and engagement, while using paid campaigns to extend reach and drive results.

Here’s how to create a hybrid approach:

1. Boost your top organic posts

One of the easiest ways to connect organic and paid efforts is to put ad spend behind posts that already perform well organically.

This is generally considered an entry-level tactic because it’s low-risk — you don’t need to come up with an ad, let alone an ad campaign.

Gorman explains, “It’s like getting the best of both worlds — content that feels natural and authentic to the platform but with the targeting muscle of paid promotion. 

“I’ve seen dramatically better results with this method than with content created specifically as ads,” she shares.

Start by allocating a small budget to the top weekly or monthly post whenever you run your analytics report. Don’t just pay attention to likes, but also conversions, and profile views.

Pro tip 💡: With Hootsuite’s Boost tool you can customize triggers to automatically boost posts that are snowballing (for example, whenever your post gets shared 100 times).

2. Use organic insights to inform paid targeting

Organic performance data can act as a testing ground for paid strategy.

Lewis tells us, “We always test content themes on LinkedIn or Instagram Reels first. If a post gets traction organically, it becomes the blueprint for our paid campaigns.”

For example, if you test a new type of content as a part of your social media content strategy — like using Instagram Reels instead of static posts — and it performs well organically, you can start to incorporate some of those same assets into your paid ads.

Kris Flank, CEO of LunarLinks, agrees: “Utilize paid to enhance what’s already building momentum organically. What you won’t be doing is speculating — you’ll be investing in content that people have already indicated that they’ll be interested in.”

3. Run A/B tests

Before you allocate your entire social media budget to an ad, run versions of it by a smaller audience to see what lands. 

Testing can include:

• Copy and creative formats
• Calls to action
• Audience segments
• Placements across platforms

The benefit here is twofold: your ads feel more memorable for your audience, and they usually cost less for you.

Meanwhile, for organic posts, you can set up manual split tests and track results by using UTM parameters in your links. Our complete guide to A/B testing on social media is over here.

4. Create a full-scale strategy

Organic and paid social media have different goals, but they should align under a single strategy.

In an integrated approach:

• Organic content builds trust and authority
• Paid social media campaigns drive reach, traffic, and conversions
• Insights flow between both to improve results

As Jason Pack, CRO at Freedom Debt Relief, puts it, “Paid and organic work best hand-in-hand. You should run ads to drive sales and use organic content to build trust, engagement, and long-term loyalty.”

How to manage organic and paid social media with Hootsuite

When your organic and paid strategies operate separately, it’s tough to get a complete picture of what’s working and what’s not. That’s where Hootsuite comes in.

With Hootsuite, you can seamlessly manage all your paid content alongside your organic posts, allowing you to move quickly and capitalize on new opportunities before they slip away.

Here’s how Hootsuite can help you streamline your social media management:

A single advertising dashboard

Gone are the days of switching between multiple platforms to manage your advertising campaigns. With Hootsuite’s intuitive interface, you can publish, manage, analyze, boost, and report on ads — all from a single, user-friendly dashboard.

Streamline your workflow and save time by eliminating the need to navigate between different tabs or tools. Hootsuite brings all your advertising tools together in one convenient location, allowing you to focus on crafting compelling content and driving results.

Cross-channel publishing and planning

Say goodbye to toggling between different platforms to create and launch content. With Hootsuite Composer, you can streamline the process by crafting and scheduling your posts — organic and paid — for LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram at the same time.

Whether you’re targeting new customers or promoting a specific campaign, Hootsuite’s Composer makes it easy to create content that resonates with your specific audience.

Hyper-targeted organic boosting

With organic reach on the decline, boosting posts has become a key strategy for expanding your content’s reach on social media.

When you boost a post, you extend its reach beyond your followers, reaching a wider audience. You have the flexibility to choose your campaign goal, target audience based on demographics, location, and interests, set your budget, and determine the duration of the promotion.

With Hootsuite’s boosting feature, you can optimize your ad spend by targeting the right audience based on geographic and personal characteristics. Tailor your promotions to specific demographics, interests, and locations to ensure your content resonates with the right people.

Boosting is available for both Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, allowing you to extend the reach of your posts to new audiences.

Side-by-side analytics and reporting

Analytics is where the magic happens. Hootsuite allows you to review both organic and paid content side by side, giving you valuable insights into what’s working and what’s not.

By filtering campaign metrics and pulling data from your organic content, you can optimize your paid strategy and vice versa.

Plus, with the ability to create in-depth reports and schedule automated email delivery, Hootsuite takes the hassle out of reporting and allows you to focus on strategy.

FAQ: Organic vs paid social media

What is the difference between organic and paid social media marketing?

The difference between organic and paid social media marketing is how content is distributed and who sees it. Organic social media uses unpaid posts to build relationships and engagement over time, while paid social media uses advertising spend to reach specific audiences quickly and drive results like clicks or sales.

Is organic social media still worth it compared to paid ads for brands?

Yes, organic social media is still worth it for brands because it builds trust, loyalty, and long-term relationships that paid ads alone can’t create. While paid ads help you reach more people faster, organic content gives audiences a reason to trust and stick with your brand.

How should enterprises balance organic vs paid social media strategies?

Enterprises should balance organic and paid social media by using organic content to build credibility and community, and paid social to scale reach and support business goals. Organic helps maintain a strong brand presence, while paid makes sure important messages reach the right audiences.

When should businesses use paid social instead of organic social?

Businesses should use paid social instead of organic social when they need fast results, wider reach, or precise targeting. Paid social is useful for product launches, time-sensitive campaigns, and lead generation.

What are the pros and cons of organic vs paid social media for B2B companies?

Paid social helps B2B brands reach decision-makers faster and track ROI clearly, but it requires budget and ongoing optimization. Organic social is great for building trust, educating audiences, and supporting long sales cycles, but it can be slow to scale.

Integrate your paid and organic social strategies to strengthen connections with existing customers and reach new ones. Use Hootsuite Social Advertising to easily keep track of all of your social media activity—including ad campaigns—and get a complete view of your social ROI. Try it free today.