Facebook Ads vs Organic Reach: Striking the Right Balance

In the ever-expanding world of marketing, Facebook stands tall as the most popular social media platform, with 2.93 billion daily active users. And for an impressive 54.9% of its users, Facebook is the primary hub for researching brands. In fact, an astonishing 66% of all its users explore local business pages once a week. Furthermore, more than six million advertisers promote their brand on Facebook.

What does this mean for you? Well, it makes Facebook a pretty safe bet to have a presence on social media. But when it comes to marketing, choosing Facebook ads vs organic reach is a real head-scratcher. Both seek to achieve the same goals: increase brand awareness, ensure higher engagement, and improve revenue. But for each goal, you have to target the audience differently.

So, which option should you choose, and how do you know you've made the right choice? Let's explore the main features of both types, the advantages and disadvantages, and ways to leverage both for growing your brand presence.

Understanding Organic Reach on Facebook

Organic reach involves posting content for your followers or potential customers without paid promotion. In simple terms, it refers to the number of people who naturally see content from your page on their feeds.

Some of the positives of organic reach on Facebook are as follows:

• Builds a community around your brand, fostering brand loyalty

• Establishes social proof

• Staying on top of the audience feed

On the flip side, organic Facebook marketing has the given drawbacks:

• Takes a long time to become effective

• Not as precise for specific audience targeting

• Limits brand exposure and visibility

How to Maximise Organic Reach on Facebook?

Organic reach often faces setbacks because of changing algorithms and rising competition. Here are a few ways to reach your full potential:

• Focus on Under-Utilised Features

Most companies aren't making the most of Facebook's underutilised features, like Stories, Groups, Live and Watch. This is an opportunity for you to leverage and drive organic traffic.

Participate in Facebook groups that fall within your niche. Share tips and knowledge to demonstrate expertise and build authority.

• Online Reputation Management (ORM)

Implementing an effective ORM (Online Reputation Management) strategy on Meta platforms can significantly enhance organic reach. By cultivating a positive online image through strategic content creation and engagement, businesses can build trust and credibility among users.

A favorable reputation often translates into increased visibility in Meta's algorithms, leading to a broader organic reach. Proactive ORM efforts, including monitoring and addressing feedback, contribute to a healthier online presence, fostering user engagement and ultimately amplifying the organic reach on Meta platforms.

• Publish Timeless Content

Creating timeless content is easier said than done, but it is one of the best ways to enhance reach on the platform. Timeless content helps ensure prolonged engagement. With longer exposure, the Facebook algorithm multiplies the post's reach further, keeping it on audience feeds for more time.

Solve persistent problems prevalent in your industry. Or, come up with educational content with your brand's unique twist. Use elements like humour, awe, or shock to ensure your content goes a long way.

• Develop Native Facebook Videos

Native Facebook videos secure a higher engagement rate. The trick is to deliver the most valuable, compelling information in the first three to five seconds of the video to engage the viewers. Add Facebook hashtags and captions to make the videos easier to consume.

• Mix Up the Post Formats

Mixing post formats is essential to keeping the feed attractive and the audience interested. Remember – the more diverse and interesting the content, the higher the chance followers will share it, enhancing organic reach. Popular post types to work on include stories, visuals, videos, looped images, polls, and blog posts.

Diving into the World of Facebook Ads

Facebook ads are a form of paid advertising on the platform, enabling brands to show up in more people's news feeds as opposed to organic methods. It allows brands to target ads towards the ideal audience and potential customers. You can tell if a post is paid for by finding the "Sponsored" tag at the top of the ad.

Facebook ads have the following notable benefits for brands, such as:

• Expands your audience

• Generates higher sales and leads

• Optimises content for achieving specific business goals

But paid advertising also has the following drawbacks:

• Requires dedicated time for tracking analytics

• Requires a budget, and ROI depends on the success of the campaign

• Does not ensure long–term growth for the brand

How to Maximise Performance with Facebook Ads?

Some ways to improve the performance of Facebook ads and secure higher ROI include:

• Optimise Ad Schedule

Monitor your campaign's results to understand which hours and days perform the best for your content. Analyse these results to note when the audience engages the most with your Facebook lead ads. Once you learn which ad receives the most engagement, develop a custom schedule for the campaign.

• Eliminate Audiences that Don't Convert

With the "exclude audience" feature, you can remove certain audiences from seeing your ad, optimising your budget. For instance, there is little ROI if you target people who have already converted or displayed no signs of interest.

• Make Use of Facebook's Dynamic Features

With Facebook's dynamic creative features, you can upload different versions of ad elements – including videos, images, descriptions, headlines, and primary text. Then, the platform will display ads using the components likely to drive the desired results.

If you further switch on the "Optimise Creative for Each Person" in Facebook Ads Manager, the platform will make minor edits to your creative Facebook ads.

• Perform A/B Testing for Ad Campaigns

A/B testing is critical to Facebook ad optimisation techniques. You can test different elements of your ad campaigns to check if they're driving tangible results. Experimenting with these ad elements, such as CTA, images, design, and others, will ensure you create the best Facebook ads that perform well. With access to the Facebook ad library, find inspiration for creating your ad campaigns.

Facebook Ads vs Organic Reach: Which is the Better Choice?

In the continuous battle of aiming for organic reach vs Facebook ads optimisation, you may wonder where to put your resources. The truth is that without balancing both, you're unlikely to see tangible long–term results. Each works with the other to drive your brand forward on the platform.

Organic reach ensures you are fostering long–term brand loyalty, while strategic paid advertising expedites the process and targets the right people at the right time. You may lean towards focusing solely on paid ads for quick growth, but users will perceive your content as an ingenuine marketing gimmick if you don't have organic reach. So, how do you strike that balance?

Integrate Organic Posts with a Facebook Ad Strategy

The discussion above makes it clear that unless you strategically integrate both, you miss out on a powerful combination to push your brand's growth. So, here are some practical ways to combine the two for maximum results:

1. Start with Organic Posts to Build Relationships

With organic posts, the content is published consistently and created to inform or provide value to followers. This helps to win trust and build relationships with your audience. As such, they're more likely to pay attention to your ads and follow through with the CTA.

2. Begin Placing Facebook Ads

Earlier, brands would produce organic content and apply paid campaigns if they performed well. But consider flipping that order. Start by creating an ad and conduct A/B testing on different ad elements such as copy, image, and CTA. With these insights, modify your organic content to drive traffic.

3. Use Paid Data to Create Organic Content

With paid advertising, you get extensive information through ad performance and metrics. This is a treasure trove of data about how users interacted with your content, what performed well, and where your customers are coming from. Leverage these powerful insights and come up with relevant organic to amplify engagement.

The Bottom Line

The battle between Facebook ads and organic reach is an ongoing one. The correct answer depends on your business goals, audience, and resources. While organic reach is valuable for engagement and authenticity, Facebook ads offer scalability and relevant brand exposure. Finding the right balance is the key to a successful Facebook marketing strategy that increases ROI and brand engagement. Get in touch with Growth Jockey to secure the right support, right now. Watch your social media presence expand!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Which type of Facebook ads are the most effective?

Facebook allows its users to run different types of ads on the platform depending on marketing objectives, such as awareness, consideration or conversion. However, video ads are one of the most effective ad formats, no matter your industry. Carousel and collection ads are also great for boosting sales and conversions.

2. When should you use paid ads vs organic content?

Paid advertising is your best bet when you wish to reach your audience quickly, such as when you have a new product coming up. It is also a good idea if you're just starting out with your business. In contrast, you can use organic reach to consistently nurture your brand and build a lasting connection with your customers.

3. Can you promote organic posts on Facebook?

By using Facebook's "boost post” option, you can quickly turn your existing organic content into a paid ad. Facebook boost posts are a simple way to promote your existing organic content and broaden your brand reach.