How Much Should You Spend on Social Media Marketing?It's a valuable tool, but don't forget about these other (sometimes free!) ways to reach your clients.

Q: When it comes to customer acquisition, how important is paidsocial mediacompared with other digital channels? --John L., Houston

Social media has created a beautiful opportunity for entrepreneurs: It's never been easier to get your message in front of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people. But if you want to reach all those people, it's going to costa lot.

It's a simple case of supply and demand, and social media platforms are limiting the supply. Organic reach -- that is, your ability to speak directly to the audience thatchoosesto follow and interact with your business -- has dwindled to almost nothing. On Facebook, for example, organic reach touches less than 5 percent of your audience on average. Facebook simply doesn't show your posts to most of your followers … unless you pay for the privilege. That's one of the reasons whyadvertisinginside social media has become increasingly expensive, as brands outbid each other in a competition for users'attention.