Paying for Ads vs Growing Organic Followers

The Reality That Every Business Owner Should Know

In the great fight for grabbing attention online, a business owner now have to choose between two paths.

Path A, you throw advertising money at Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and hope that the algorithm is good to you today and customers actually respond.

Path B, you DIY everything, hustle like mad every day, break your back to build a community using your unique personality and stamina, and pray that your page goes viral instead of becoming a digital ghost town.

Both are very possible, both have upsides as well as downsides, and both will definitely come with pain.

Here, we have a realistic look at the pros and cons of each choice.

Paying for Ads: The “I Want Results Fast, but My Wallet Will Cry” Method

Pros

1. Immediate eyeballs

   
   

   When you pay for ads, the platforms treat you like a VIP customer at a siamdiu flower hanging bar. Suddenly, your posts appear everywhere. People you have never met before will see your content. You become an overnight superstar, in your own ad dashboard.

2. Targeting that feels (almost) like stalking

   
   

   Ads these days let you target people by their age, interests, shopping behavior, and possibly whether they had laksa or chicken rice for lunch. It’s super creepy, but it really works. You can focus on the right crowd instead of shouting uselessly into the void.

3. Scalable

   
   

   If one ad works, you can always choose to pump in more money. Boom, suddenly you’ve got more leads. It’s like adding chilli padi, just keep adding until you cry and your face turns green.

4. Predictable results

   
   

   With ads, you can calculate things more clearly. Cost per click, cost per lead, cost per conversion. It suddenly becomes very neat and nice for those bosses who prefer spreadsheets over creativity.

5. You can outrun competitors

   
   

   If the market is crowded with competitors like rush hour on the MRT, ads will let you jump the queue and push your brand ahead of the crowd. While everyone else is praying and burning joss sticks for organic reach, you can just whip out your card and do your thing.

Cons

1. It’s not cheap

   
   

   Ads today will cost more and more. Every year, the prices of everything go up like clockwork, but the results don’t always appear.

2. People scroll past ads like mosquitoes

   
   

   Today’s audience has advanced ad-ignoring powers. They see an ad and their instant reaction is to scroll faster.

3. You’re renting reach

   
   

   The moment you stop paying for the ads, the party ends, the lights go on like the police raiding a club and everyone goes home. Your website goes silent and it’s like shutting off the oxygen.

4. Bad ads burn money

   
   

   And if you choose a cheap marketing agency and your ad copy or creatives are damn KNS lousy, you’re not “testing the market”, you’re just donating free money to Meta and the Zuck’s retirement fund.

5. Fatigue hits fast

   
   

   When people see your ad appear way too many times, they get irritated. Very, very irritated. Suddenly you’re not a brand any more, you’re that annoying fella who keeps trying to meet long-time friends to sell life insurance.

Organic Community Building: The “I Dun Want to Spend Money” Marathon

Pros

1. Authenticity, the magic word everyone loves

   
   

   When you grow your crowd organically, people know that they’re following an actual real live human being. This will be far more preferable to a cold, impersonal ad banner.

2. Loyal followers

   
   

   A community that you build slowly tends to stick around. These people who voluntarily tapped “Follow” will do so willingly and that means something in this cold digital world.

3. Zero cost, only your time and sanity

   
   

   You don’t pay money, but you do have to sacrifice hours of effort, brain juice, and your will to live trying to come up with content daily and engaging with your community.

4. You get better at storytelling

   
   

   Organic growth forces you to constantly find new ways to be interesting. You can’t hide behind paid ads and you don’t have the luxury of deep pockets, so your content must be good, relatable, maybe even funny out of pure necessity.

5. Long term stability

   
   

   A strong organic base of followers means you aren’t fully at the mercy of fluctuating ad prices. Your community can even help to carry your brand across diverse platforms by word of mouth.

Cons

1. It takes forever

   
   

   Organic growth is like the gym membership of marketing. Everyone signs up with big dreams at first (new year, new me), then they start to realise that progress is very slow unless they choose to suffer consistently to make gains.

2. Algorithms treat you like a peasant

   
   

   Platforms will always, always prioritise advertisers, not the dreamers with zero budget. So your reach gets squeezed like a tube of toothpaste with nothing left inside.

3. You need constant creativity

   
   

   One post goes viral? Good. Congratulations. Now you have to repeat that miracle 200 or 300 more times. People’s attention spans are short and reset daily, and you need to find something new to excite and entertain them every day.

4. You might still have to spend money anyway

   
   

   Eventually, you’ll hit a ceiling where results aren’t improving. Organic growth alone sometimes ain’t enough. You might find yourself paying to boost posts… which is basically spending ad money, all the while lying to yourself that you’re ‘not advertising’.

5. Trolls, haters and random noise

   
   

   When you build a community, you would also attract all types of people. keyboard warriors, trolls, jealous haters, confused uncles and time wasters who comment “pm price” on everything in hopes of finding a deal, any deal.

So… Which One Is Better?

Honestly, both choices have their place. Paying for ads is like using Grab. Fast, convenient, expensive but it gets the job done. Organic community building is like taking the MRT. It’s crowded, often uncomfortable, but it builds character (for you) and costs nothing.

The real winners? They combine both.

Grow your brand’s voice, build your loyal following, show some personality. Then you can use ads to amplify and augment (not replace) your content.

Ads without a brand voice and engagement are just noise and organic content without reach often is just you talking to yourself. In the end, you shouldn’t choose one path blindly.

Try to do a mix of both that makes sense to you and your target audience, helps your brand grow, and doesn’t make your wallet cry father cry mother too loudly.

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Disclaimer

This article is only meant for general information and educational purposes only. It is definitely not financial advice, investment advice, legal advice or professional guidance of any kind. Every business and financial situation is different and readers should always do their own research or speak to a qualified professional before making decisions. The views and opinions expressed here are based on historical patterns, public information and general observations, and may not apply to your unique specific circumstances. The writer is not responsible for any losses, actions or decisions made based on the content of this article. Use the information at your own discretion and risk.