Is Paid Social Better Than Organic Social?

In this episode, the first with our Head of Paid Social, Matt Rubas, who brings over 10 years of experience managing accounts from £500 to £500,000 monthly spend, we explore why paid social advertising presents a unique opportunity for small businesses looking to grow and how it compares to focusing on organic social.

Benefits of starting with organic content:

Small businesses often already have a foundation to build upon, making the transition to paid advertising more natural:

• Most businesses already have an organic social presence
• Existing organic content can work well in paid campaigns
• No need for expensive, polished ad creative initially
• Can leverage authentic, behind-the-scenes content
• Ability to test what resonates before scaling spend

Understanding the difference between organic and paid strategies is crucial. While simply boosting posts is possible, it’s not always the optimal approach for growth.

The full-funnel advantage:

Paid social offers unique benefits across the entire customer journey:

• Awareness building at the top of the funnel
• Consideration phase targeting and retargeting
• Conversion-focused campaigns for sales
• Ability to segment audiences by funnel stage
• Complementary to Google search campaigns

This full-funnel capability allows businesses to nurture customers from initial awareness through to purchase, something that’s particularly valuable for growing brands.

Practical implementation tips:

For businesses looking to get started, here are key considerations for implementation:

• Start with £10/day minimum for meaningful data
• Run campaigns for 2-4 weeks minimum
• Test different creative formats (video, images, carousels)
• Use existing high-performing organic content
• Monitor engagement metrics to inform strategy

When evaluating performance, it’s important to align metrics with campaign objectives, whether that’s brand awareness, traffic, or conversions.

Budget considerations:

There are two primary approaches to budgeting:

• Small budget over a longer period (£10/day for several weeks)
• Larger budget over a shorter period
• Consider what you’re comfortable potentially losing initially
• Align spend with business revenue
• Start small and scale based on results

The key is maintaining consistency rather than making quick judgments based on short-term results.

By taking a strategic approach to paid social, small businesses can effectively grow their online presence and customer base without requiring massive initial investment. The key is starting with what works organically and gradually scaling based on data-driven insights.

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