June 29, 2016: “Paid social” especially on Facebook, has become the hot item for marketers and brands. With the buzz around video marketing and the organic reach of business pages dropping, many are turning to paid Facebook ads for reach instead of relying on traditional organic posting calendars, and shelling out a ton of money to keep up with competition.
As a content creator and a user, I take a lot of issue with the trajectory that Facebook (and, in turn, Instagram) has recently taken. The true meaning of social, in my opinion, has muddied by the current focus on the “paid” aspects of the network—hypertargeting, click-bait, and the constant cluttering of newfeeds with multiple adverts. In this strip-mall environment, low-rent money-grubbers are flourishing: in fact, Facebook has come under fire for allowing scams, stolen content, and general spamminess to take over, all for the sake of clicks. Buzzfeed recently covered a retail spam epidemic that has Facebook users questioning the validity of retailers, and for good reason: Facebook ads have turned into misleading, ugly click-bait whose ultimate aim is nothing more than bait-and-switch!
Organic social has been ditched for the “guaranteed results” method, which is no surprise. At the end of the day, businesses want traffic and ROI – and Facebook ads can deliver those results. But I have a question for businesses only dealing in paid: Are your customers returning? If the answer is no, it’s not surprising either. Paid social is a fleeting, costly, and impulsive way to do business, not a way to gain a loyal fanbase. Here’s a hint: to counteract the flakiness of your paid customers, you must supplement your paid ads with an organic social presence.
Think of it this way: while paid social is great for bringing in the traffic, only quality organic content can keep them there. Your organic social content should be helpful, captivating, informative, and represent your brand. If one of your goals is brand awareness (which it should be), organic social is where you should shine. Infographics, images, video content, blog articles, reviews and customer service should all be a part of your organic mix.
Facebook has actually published its own content indicating that having an engaged organic audience on your business page does help the success of your paid efforts. Brian Boland, Facebook’s VP of Advertising, covered it in a blog:
- Fans make your ads more effective. When an ad has social context — in other words, when a person sees their friend likes your business — your ads drive, on average, 50% more recall and 35% higher online sales lift.
- Fans also make the ads you run on Facebook more efficient in our ads auction. Ads with social context are a signal of positive quality of the ad, and lead to better auction prices.
- You can use insights about your fans — like where they live, and their likes and interests — to inform decisions about reaching your current and prospective customers
- Fans can give your business credibility
Long story short: having fans and an engaged following can boost the success of your paid Facebook ads. Combining organic and paid efforts is using Facebook the way it’s meant to be used: as a social sharing outlet…not a click-bait ad farm. It’s likely that your ROI will improve if you invest in organic efforts such as creative designs, customer service, and content. With the latest algorithm announcement, it’s going to be more imporatnt than ever o have an engaged audience that will share and support your content.
Instead of making a sale, you may gain a loyal customer with a high LTV (Lifetime Value); one that can deliver many sales, plus favorable references, and brand loyalty. That’s what real social media marketing is about, isn’t it? And only a balanced approach – one that uses paid intelligently – along with organic content – can get you there.
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