Where organic and paid sit in the social funnel

Key takeaways

In a simple social funnel, paid ads do most awareness work with new audiences, organic content does most consideration work by showing proof and answering questions, and retargeting ads plus direct messages close the decision. Organic also keeps existing customers coming back. Mapping each piece of content to a stage stops you asking one post to do everything.

• Awareness: paid reaches new people; organic reaches some.
• Consideration: organic proof and answers do most work.
• Decision: retargeting ads and fast replies close.
• Loyalty: organic keeps customers returning.

What is a social media funnel?

A social media funnel describes the stages people pass through: becoming aware of you, considering you, deciding to buy and returning. Different content and spending suit each stage. It is a planning tool, not a rigid path; people jump around.

• Organic social media vs paid advertising: which to choose?
• Social media content for each stage of the buyer journey

What does each stage need?

Each stage needs a different job done.

• Awareness: reach new, relevant people.
• Consideration: proof, answers and personality.
• Decision: a clear offer and easy next step.
• Loyalty: reasons to come back and recommend.

• How organic and paid social work together

Where does paid fit best?

Paid fits best at awareness, reaching people who will not find you organically, and at decision, retargeting engaged people with a clear offer. Meta's engagement audiences let you retarget people who interacted with organic posts.

• Retarget people who engaged with your organic posts

Where does organic fit best?

Organic fits best at consideration and loyalty: showing real work, answering questions and staying in touch with customers. It also contributes to awareness through shares and recommendation feeds. The IPA's work supports balancing long-term brand building with short-term activation.

• What is organic social media, and what can it do?

How do you measure a funnel?

Measure each stage on its own: reach for awareness, engagement and profile visits for consideration, enquiries and sales for decision, repeat rate for loyalty. GA4 attribution helps see how channels contribute along the way.

• Organic vs paid social KPIs: measure each on its own terms

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: a garden landscaping firm ran ads straight to a quote form with little success. Mapping a funnel, awareness ads with project videos, organic posts answering cost and timing questions, and retargeting ads offering a free design visit, produced more quote requests at a lower cost.

• See client work
• Social Media Marketing for UK businesses

Funnel checklist

• List your content by funnel stage.
• Use paid for awareness to new audiences.
• Use organic for proof and answers.
• Retarget engagers with a clear offer.
• Reply to messages within hours.
• Measure each stage on its own terms.

• One message across organic and paid social
• Using customer posts in your ads: rules and results

Next step

Sort last month's posts and ads into the four stages. Fill the emptiest stage first, usually consideration content or a retargeting offer.