Adding paid to organic social: the first 90 days

Key takeaways

Adding paid to organic social works best as a 90-day test. Month one: set up tracking and run ads behind your best organic post. Month two: let the campaign learn and test a second ad. Month three: compare cost per enquiry with organic and decide to scale, change or stop. Keep organic running throughout.

• Month 1: tracking set up and ads behind your best post.
• Month 2: let it learn and test one more ad.
• Month 3: compare cost per enquiry and decide.
• Keep organic posting going the whole time.

How do you add paid to existing organic social?

Add paid by choosing one platform, one objective and the one or two posts that brought the most enquiries organically. Set a budget you can hold for three months and set up tracking first. Treat it as a test with a review date, not a permanent change.

• Organic social media vs paid advertising: which to choose?
• When should a small business start paying for social?

What happens in month one?

In month one, set up the pixel or conversion tracking, pick your best organic posts as ad creative and launch one campaign with a clear objective. Meta's pixel guidance explains how to measure actions on your website; for messages or lead forms, tracking is built in.

• Install tracking and test it.
• Choose one objective.
• Use your top organic post as the ad.
• Set a capped monthly budget.

• Meta pixel mistakes: tracking ads without breaking the law

What happens in month two?

In month two, leave the campaign alone to learn. Meta explains that edits during the learning phase restart learning. Add one new ad based on another strong organic post, and check results weekly without making big changes.

• Switching ads off too soon: the learning phase mistake

What happens in month three?

In month three, compare cost per enquiry from paid with your organic cost per enquiry and with what a customer is worth. If paid is profitable, increase budget gradually. If not, change the offer or creative, or pause and return to organic.

• Organic vs paid cost per lead: comparing like with like

How does organic change once ads run?

Organic should keep doing its job: testing new content and keeping the profile credible. It now also supplies fresh ad creative. Expect more profile visits from ads, so make sure recent posts show your best work.

• How organic and paid social work together

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: a bathroom fitter had posted consistently for a year without ads. A 90-day test behind his two best before-and-after videos brought enquiries from areas his organic posts never reached. By month three, cost per enquiry was clear and he raised the budget in steps.

• See client work
• Social Media Marketing for UK businesses

First 90 days checklist

• Choose one platform and objective.
• Set up and test tracking.
• Advertise your best organic post.
• Leave the campaign to learn in month two.
• Compare cost per enquiry in month three.
• Keep posting organically throughout.

• New business: start with organic or paid social?
• Too reliant on ads? Shift the balance back to organic

Next step

Pick the organic post that brought the most enquiries in the last six months and set a 90-day test budget behind it, with a review date in your diary.