Digital Marketing: Organic social versus paid social? Do I need to drop extra bucks for likes? - by Kimberly Zar Bloorian

Social media marketing, particularly real estate marketing, has evolved drastically over the past few years. Rather than solely focusing on engagement, social media can help you acquire deals, market your services, build a presence and reconnect with leads.

Given the complexities, it’s important to put a hybrid social strategy in place that combines organic social (a strategy that uses free social media tools to build and engage with an online following) and paid social (anything on social media that’s influenced by advertising dollars, like advertisements or sponsored posts that reach audiences beyond followers). But how does a hybrid approach to social media work? Where should you be investing your time and money, and what are your goals for using social media?

A: Determine the most popular content and boost them as paid ads to maximize results.

B: Set an ideal posting time based on peak times and time zones of your target audience.

C: Use social-media analytics tools to determine demographics (i.e. buyers, brokers, lenders) based on the results of your social campaigns.

D: Keep followers engaged through relevant and thought-provoking organic content.

Would you rather cough up some cash now to see instant results or are you in it for the long haul? The key is finding what social tactics work best for your business. Paid and organic social strategies work best in tandem to simultaneously engage with and nurture your followers while extending your reach to a broader audience.

Kimberly Zar Bloorian is founder and CEO of Kloud, a full-service marketing agency based in New York City.