I don't spend a lot of time browsing on social media - I like it more as an advertiser than I do as a consumer. When it comes to Facebook and Instagram, I prefer to be "the customer, not the product."

Recently, I've noticed that my social feeds are full of social media experts. Actually, roughly 20-30% of everybody's feed are paid ads with another possible 20-40% of the feed being recommendations or suggestions ("discovery" posts that Instagram puts there to try to make you stay on the platform longer). So, we all might only see things we signed up for about 30-40% of the time.

The types of posts I see the most are from "social media experts" everywhere. Their posts are ads. There's nothing wrong with ads per se, I run them; I recommend targeted social ad campaigns for clients.

What strikes me about these ads is that they tout their expertise in teaching organic growth - while they are demonstrating the opposite of organic growth skills.

They might even have terrible post metrics and engagement on the very account they're posting from.

Is this dishonest? No. But it's a good time to pause and be skeptical.

The tell is heavy funnel language, which is very sales-y. The worst offenders push interested customers towards courses, their "system", or methods. Red alert is when they offer zero advice or credibility that isn't behind a paywall.

But those are the bad ones. Generally when you see these ads, they're demonstrating great marketing skill. The skill is running well-designed digital campaigns, not necessarily organic marketing chops.


Why It Works

Most people don't distinguish reach vs paid impressions. And if the paid posts are deftly written, they won't necessarily seem like ads.

When we see a marketing expert on social media, they seem like an authority. Authority is inferred from visibility, not anything they've said or their actual ability to deliver for you.


The Nuance

There’s nothing wrong with paid advertising. And when you do it, you can club people over the head with a sales pitch, or you can try to make it seem like it isn't an ad.

Just remember that when you're paying for social media ads, you can forget about loading it with keywords. You've given Meta your ad dollars, they'll get it in front of the promised number of people; so, don't sweat the algorithm with paid content. This could seem obvious, but everybody on social is so conditioned for fooling the algorithm, it can become a habit.

Am I critiquing these marketing experts for running paid ads? Not at all. Media buying and funnel building are two valuable yet different skills.

A lot of "experts" are really: media buyers and funnel builders. That's not inherently bad, but it's not the same skillset they're selling. They are not building an engaged organic audience.

If your first exposure to a "social media expert" is a sponsored post, you should at least pause before trusting them to teach organic growth.


The Old Tricks Don't Work As Well

Organic reach is not as game-able these days like it used to be. Sure, there are optimal ways to post.

What actually matters is not reach; it's engagement quality.

Social media has shifted from an expression platform to a distribution system. Paid and organic both can work. Organic takes time, paid ads take money. Of the two, paid social media marketing certainly is the easier one.

If they always got organic growth with their methods, then these organic reach "experts" would have reached you organically.