Organic reach vs. Facebook Ads – which is better?

Facebook is cutting ranges and everyone who works on it for more than a year has noticed it. So-called organic is starting to raise more and more doubts, also among experienced specialists. But is paid reach really a cure-all? In this article you will learn the difference between organic and Facebook Ads and which of these options makes more sense.

It used to be…
In the past, all you had to do was prepare an interesting post and publish it, and likes and reach skyrocketed. You could really achieve a lot with organic efforts alone, and ads were just a bonus. For those who have a budget and want to boost sales.

Today, it is not so easy anymore. Some even claim that Facebook no longer gives you a choice – either you pay or you have no reach.

This is also supported by data that shows that the average reach of an organic post is declining every year. In 2020, it was just 5.2%. This is due to a variety of factors, most notably changes in Facebook’s algorithm, to which we dedicated a separate article.

So marketers are up against the wall. Using Facebook Ads is almost a must, which doesn’t mean, however, that organic actions don’t make sense.

What is the difference between organic and paid reach?
So-called organic Facebook marketing are actions that you can take without paying for them. These are mainly posts added to the page, but also everything around e.g. news handling, page optimization, etc.

Organic reach on Facebook can be compared to optimizing a website for SEO. Everyone can fight for a better position of the website by adjusting it to Google’s guidelines and constantly developing it within the framework of free actions. It is the same on Facebook – by adding organic posts on a regular basis and taking care of your page maintenance, you can gain reach and, most importantly, build your brand position in this medium.

It is also worth mentioning that Facebook divides organic reach into two types:

viral – reach gained through the interactions of friends,
non-viral – reach not related to the “spreading” of content.
Facebook Ads, on the other hand, is a powerful tool that includes paid activities. Thanks to them you can increase the reach of posts, as well as advertise specific products or services. Ads can have very different purposes and formats, which gives great opportunities for promotion tailored to the needs of a particular business. Besides, Facebook Ads allows you to precisely reach your target group (thanks to extensive targeting options).

Advantages of organic marketing on Facebook
It is a basic tool for building brand awareness. Being active on Facebook and having regular contact with your followers is extremely important in the age of social media. This allows you to create a connection between your brand and your customer.
Organic marketing allows you to create the image of a “human” brand. Thanks to posts, users have a chance to get to know the brand as something more than a logo or a store.
Organic actions are more memorable. The user does not have a reflex to ignore them (as in the case of advertising). Besides, adding posts regularly constantly reminds the observers about the brand.
Organic posts are the place to show what is not shown in ads. They are where you can tell the story of the brand, address your followers, show the business from the inside and talk more broadly about the products. By doing this well, you can convince more people to buy than an ad.
Organic posts are usually more engaging because they cover more interesting topics than ads.
Organic marketing is free unless you hire professionals to handle it.

Disadvantages of organic actions
Reaches built with organic marketing are not constant. It is difficult to keep them at the same level because it depends on many factors that the marketer may not have any influence on. Besides, the watchers have to interact with the posts constantly for the algorithm to show them.
Organic posts are only shown to your followers and possibly their friends if they interact with the post. There is no targeting option.
It is difficult to gain new fans and reach with organic.
Improperly conducted organic actions do not result in financial losses, but they may be wasted time. Adding posts that nobody sees and nobody reacts to makes no sense.
Advantages of Facebook Ads
Paid ads can be targeted to precisely defined users, which increases the chances of sales. With extensive matching options, your message reaches people who may actually be interested in your products or services.
Facebook Ads gives you more control over your promotional efforts and budget. You can target ads with the best fit for your business, within the budget you have. You can also optimize campaigns at any time to find the best setup while reducing costs.
Paid action formats are more varied than classic posts. These include carousels, dynamic ads or collections. You can choose the exact one that works best for your target audience.
Using paid ads, you can get much larger reach than organics alone. This is favored by Facebook’s algorithm.
Disadvantages of paid ads
To make the use of Facebook Ads worthwhile, you need to entrust it to someone who has at least minimal knowledge of how this tool works. Improperly optimized campaigns can be a waste of time and money.
You need to spend a lot of time analyzing and optimizing your campaigns. This is the key to finding the golden mean between cost and profit.
Despite the variety of formats, Facebook Ads can be reflexively ignored by users (the so-called banner blindness phenomenon).
You need to have a budget for ads and possibly for maintenance if you entrust it to a specialist.
Which solution is better?
The question of what is better is a tricky one. In fact, it is impossible to answer it unequivocally, because each option has its advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, they also already perform different tasks, although in the past the boundary was not so clear.

Organic actions are the best solution to build brand image and establish contact with your audience. Paid ads, on the other hand, give the opportunity to focus on sales goals. As a result, only a combination of these two options will allow you to fully exploit the potential of Facebook and achieve the best results. This is the solution we recommend to our clients, but it is worth remembering that much also depends on the industry, budget and specifics of a given brand.

How to combine organic with Facebook Ads?
There is no single recipe, so if you want to find out more and do it in the context of your brand, write to us. We will be happy to provide you with a strategy that will make your brand’s Facebook experience come alive again.

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