Social Media Mastery - Should you pay for Social Media Views + Follows? - Episode 24

Episode 24. Welcome to the new week!

I am super excited this week, as I am currently working on super secret projects, that I’ll hopefully be able to announce soon! I have also been posting consistently, and have been really enjoying that - as always 🙂

My organic growth has been strong recently, and I did recently get asked:

“Is it better to pay for views or wait to build an organic audience?”

Firstly, if you do not know, organic growth simply means expanding your brand’s reach and engagement through authentic content and interaction - without spending on ads. It’s a long-term strategy built on trust and consistency.

So, before anyone asks - yes, my content is 100% organic, and I’ve never actually paid for a social media boost or ad in my life. Why? I’ve just never needed to. I’ve found success in organic content and haven’t felt the desire to part with my cash for more views.

However, does that mean paid ads are useless and should be avoided?

Of course not.

Let’s dive into it!

The Positives for Paid Ads:

1. Speed up your growth
Organic reach is amazing - but can be slow. If you want fast traction, ads can put you in front of thousands instantly.

2. Targeted audience
With platforms like Meta and TikTok, you can show your content to exactly who you want - by age, interests, location, and more.

3. Scalable & flexible
You can test campaigns with a small budget, and if they work, scale them up. You’re always in control.

4. Valuable insights
Running ads gives you access to detailed data. You’ll learn what actually works with your audience, then apply that knowledge elsewhere.

The Negatives for Paid Ads:

1. It can get expensive
Without the right setup or strategy, money can vanish fast with little to show for it.

2. It’s not always sustainable
Ads might boost numbers quickly, but won’t necessarily build a loyal community that sticks around.

3. It’s a time commitment
Running successful ad campaigns means testing, tweaking, and analysing data constantly.

4. Easy to become dependent
If you rely too much on paid reach, your organic content can suffer, which might be your foundation.

Overall:

Very simply, paid ads can either work for or against you. If that’s the avenue you’d like to explore to generate an audience or leads, they can work brilliantly. However, I wouldn’t recommend taking the approach of: “We’ll do some paid ads, some email marketing, a few online quizzes, and a couple of in-person events.”

For small businesses, I believe focusing on one growth channel at a time should be rule number one.

Even if you’re running paid ads, I’d always encourage creating organic content alongside it. The two can absolutely work together. For example, if you have a successful organic short form video, you can repurpose it as an ad. That way, you already know it works, and it could bring in a lot of clients!

Do I currently use paid ads?

No.

Will I ever use paid ads?

Most likely.

If I was just starting on social media, would I instantly go straight to paid ads, over learning organic?

Probably not.

Make sure to subscribe, and remember - "The best things in life are built slowly, not suddenly. Trust the process."

- Jacob

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