Paid ads or organic content marketing - which drives more valuable users long-term?

Both paid ads and organic content marketing have their advantages. Content marketing has the most long-term value, great content leads to more followers and will increase your brands trust and authority (would you purchase off someone that had an Instagram account with 1 picture and 2 followers, probably not). And not only that, good content can continue to attract organic traffic and generate leads long after it's published. TikTok videos from 2021 still show up on my FYP. But remember just because you aren't spending money doesn't mean you aren't spending resources and the biggest resource that you are spending time. Here are a few considerations: - Time: Content marketing requires consistent effort. You need to make new content, adapt based on performance, and communicate with your target market almost daily. Plus it will take time to grow, your chances of going from 0 to 1000 followers overnight is low. -The Competition: It is super competitive to get your users attention. Content is cheap to make, the barriers to entry are extremely low, and may people are doing it. So if you are making content you can't do a mediocre job, it needs to be good. So my recommendation is focus on content marketing and every once in a while do targeted ads to help boost visibility.