HubSpot Guide to Organic vs. Paid Social Media
Understanding the difference between organic and paid social media is essential for any business using HubSpot to grow traffic, generate leads, and close more customers. This guide breaks down how each approach works and how to combine them for a powerful, measurable social strategy.
What Is Organic Social Media in HubSpot?
Organic social media refers to any unpaid content you share on social platforms. Inside a HubSpot-powered marketing program, organic content builds brand awareness, trust, and long-term engagement.
Typical organic posts include:
- Educational blog posts and resources
- How-to videos and livestreams
- Customer stories and case studies
- Behind-the-scenes photos and updates
- Polls, questions, and community conversations
Organic distribution is limited by each platform’s algorithm, so not all followers will see every post. However, organic content is critical for nurturing relationships and supporting your paid campaigns.
What Is Paid Social Media in HubSpot?
Paid social media uses advertising tools on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X to promote content or offers to a targeted audience. When integrated with HubSpot, you can connect ad performance directly to contacts, deals, and revenue.
Common paid social formats include:
- Feed and story ads
- Sponsored posts and sponsored InMail
- Lead generation ads
- Retargeting and remarketing campaigns
- Carousel, video, and collection ads
Paid social extends your reach quickly and lets you target specific segments by demographics, interests, and behaviors, then attribute conversions inside your CRM.
Key Differences: Organic vs. Paid Social with HubSpot
Both approaches are important, but they serve different roles. A combined strategy in HubSpot helps you get the best of both.
Audience Reach and Visibility in HubSpot Campaigns
Organic posts rely on existing followers and algorithmic reach. Paid campaigns let you reach new audiences instantly, especially when you promote high-performing organic content you are already tracking in HubSpot.
Cost and Investment Strategy
Organic social does not require a media budget, but it does demand time and consistent content creation. Paid social requires ongoing ad spend, yet can drive faster, more predictable results when you manage and optimize campaigns through HubSpot reporting.
Speed of Results and Lead Generation
Organic social generally takes longer to show ROI, since you are building a community and engagement over time. Paid social can generate leads immediately, especially when ads direct users to landing pages, forms, and offers you track in HubSpot.
Measurement and Attribution in HubSpot
When you connect your social accounts and ad accounts, HubSpot helps you attribute:
- Clicks and traffic from social posts
- New contacts created from ads
- Deals and revenue influenced by social
- Lifecycle stage progression
With unified reporting, you can compare which organic posts and paid campaigns contribute most to pipeline and revenue.
How to Build an Organic Social Strategy in HubSpot
Use this step-by-step framework to grow your organic presence while tracking performance through your HubSpot portal.
1. Define Goals and KPIs
Decide what you want organic social to achieve. Common goals include:
- Increase brand awareness and reach
- Drive blog and resource center traffic
- Grow email subscribers or newsletter signups
- Support product launches and events
Map each goal to metrics inside HubSpot, such as sessions, new contacts, or engagement.
2. Map Your Audience and Content Themes
Use CRM data and existing contact lists to understand what your audience cares about. Then define a few content pillars, such as:
- Educational how-to content
- Customer success and testimonials
- Industry news and thought leadership
- Culture, team stories, and brand values
Plan posts that link back to landing pages and blog articles you already track in HubSpot.
3. Create a Consistent Posting Schedule
Consistency is essential. Publish regularly across your best-performing channels. You can use any scheduling tool, then review metrics like clicks, sessions, and new contacts to see which posts perform best.
4. Engage and Build Community
Organic social is two-way. Respond to comments, answer questions, and join conversations. Over time, this engagement will improve reach, trust, and the performance of your paid audiences built from engaged followers.
How to Build a Paid Social Strategy with HubSpot
Paid social amplifies your best content and offers. Combining ad tools with HubSpot data gives you a complete view from first click to closed deal.
1. Set Clear Paid Social Objectives
Align paid social goals with your funnel. Examples:
- Top of funnel: drive traffic to educational content
- Middle of funnel: promote webinars, ebooks, or demos
- Bottom of funnel: retarget engaged visitors with trial or consultation offers
Tie each objective to a conversion you can track, such as form submissions or demo requests captured in HubSpot.
2. Build Targeted Audiences
Use CRM insights to design audience segments. Ideas include:
- Lookalike audiences based on your best customers
- Remarketing audiences of past site visitors
- Engagement-based audiences from people who interacted with your social content
- Industry or role-based audiences aligned to your ICP
The more precisely you target, the more efficient your ad spend will be.
3. Align Creative with Offers and Journeys
Match each ad to a specific stage of the buyer journey:
- Awareness: educational videos, blogs, or checklists
- Consideration: detailed guides, case studies, or comparison pages
- Decision: free trials, assessments, or consultations
Ensure the landing pages, forms, and follow-up nurturing are all tracked and measured within your marketing tools.
4. Track, Test, and Optimize with Data
Monitor ad performance consistently. Key metrics include:
- Impressions and reach
- Click-through rate and cost per click
- Cost per lead and cost per customer
- Revenue and ROI by campaign
Run A/B tests on creative, offers, and targeting. Use insights to refine both your ads and the organic content you promote.
Combining Organic and Paid Social in a HubSpot Strategy
The strongest programs integrate both channels into a single, data-driven plan. Here’s how to align them.
Promote High-Performing Organic Posts
Identify the organic posts that already earn strong engagement. Turn these into paid campaigns to reach new audiences, maximizing the value of proven content.
Use Paid Social to Accelerate Organic Insights
Run short paid tests on new messages and creatives. Use the results to inform your long-term organic content calendar, focusing on the topics that resonate most.
Create a Unified Social Funnel
Map your funnel so that:
- Organic content educates and engages new followers.
- Paid campaigns retarget engaged users with lead magnets and offers.
- Nurture sequences and email campaigns convert those leads into customers.
This approach creates a continuous loop of traffic, engagement, and conversion.
Next Steps and Additional Resources
To dive deeper into the nuances of organic vs. paid social media, review the detailed breakdown in the original guide from HubSpot at this resource. It offers further examples and best practices you can adapt to your own channels.
If you want expert help implementing a complete social strategy and connecting it with your broader digital marketing and SEO, consider partnering with a specialist agency like Consultevo. Combining a strong social presence with a robust CRM and analytics process will help you drive measurable growth over time.
Need Help With Hubspot?
If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your Hubspot , work with ConsultEvo, a team who has a decade of Hubspot experience.
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