Who does what when you run organic and paid together?

Key takeaways

Running organic and paid together involves five jobs: setting the message, making content, posting and replying, running ads, and reviewing results. In a small team one or two people may cover all five, but each needs a named owner. Most problems come from gaps between jobs, such as ad comments nobody answers or ads that ignore organic results.

• Five jobs: message, content, posting and replies, ads, review.
• Every job needs one named owner, even in a team of one.
• Ad comments and lead replies are the jobs most often dropped.
• One person should own the overall result across both.

What jobs does running organic and paid involve?

Running both involves five distinct jobs, whoever does them.

• Message: what you say this quarter and to whom.
• Content: photos, video and copy for posts and ads.
• Posting and replies: publishing and answering comments and messages.
• Ads: campaigns, budgets, tracking and ad comments.
• Review: results by source and decisions.

• Organic social media vs paid advertising: which to choose?
• How organic and paid social work together

Who should own each job in a small team?

In a small team, the owner or manager usually owns the message and the review, a staff member or freelancer owns content and posting, and an agency or specialist owns ads. What matters is that each job has one named person, so nothing is assumed to be someone else's.

• First social media hire: organic or paid specialist?
• In-house versus agency social media for UK businesses

Which jobs fall through the gaps?

The jobs most often dropped are replying to comments on ads, following up leads quickly and feeding organic results into ad choices. Meta's learning phase also means someone must resist editing ads constantly, which needs one clear decision-maker.

• Comments on your ads: reply, hide or ignore?
• Switching ads off too soon: the learning phase mistake

How do agencies fit in?

If an agency runs ads or organic, write down which of the five jobs it owns and which stay with you. If it handles customer data, such as lead form details, the ICO's guidance on controller and processor contracts applies.

• Separate agencies for paid and organic social: the cost
• Questions to ask an agency about organic and paid social

Who should own the overall result?

One person should own the overall result across organic and paid: enquiries by source and cost per enquiry. Without that, organic and paid compete for credit and nobody acts on the whole picture.

• An organic vs paid social report template for owners

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: a dental practice had a receptionist posting organically, an agency running ads and the practice manager reading reports. Nobody answered comments on ads, and the agency never saw which organic posts brought bookings. Naming an owner for each job and holding one monthly review fixed both within weeks.

• See client work
• Social Media Marketing for UK businesses

Roles checklist

• List the five jobs.
• Name one owner for each.
• Give ad comments and lead replies a clear owner.
• Write down what any agency owns.
• Name one person for the overall result.
• Review roles every quarter.

• Use organic insights to sharpen your ad targeting
• Organic vs paid social KPIs: measure each on its own terms

Next step

Write the five jobs down and put one name against each. Share the list with everyone involved, including any agency, and check it at your next monthly review.