Organic Social Media Strategy

Paid social ads vs. organic social media

There are many terms used in the social media marketing world, one of which you probably hear all of the time: organic social media. But what is organic social media you might ask? AdRoll defines organic social media as:

 “ …any social media activity without a paid promotion. It uses free social media tools to build and engage with an online following.

Organic social differs from paid social in the sense of, well, payment. Paid social ads, such as Facebook ads, are not only shared with your followers but are also shared with a larger audience promoted at a cost. With brands moving towards more paid social media, it might feel as though the organic world is being left behind. However, this is certainly not the case. There are benefits to utilizing organic social media tools and tactics in order to increase your account’s social presence.

Benefits of organic social media

Let’s take a look at the pros of implementing organic social media into your brand’s campaign: 

• It’s FREE! *No payment to a third party required. The most obvious pro is that organic can have more cost savings than utilizing paid social. It does not cost anything to post on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. If you’ve got a business that has a tight marketing budget and you’ve got a marketing team confident in their content, then taking the organic social approach will be right up your alley. 
• Directly engage with your followers and customers. Social media is a superb way to keep a continuous open line of communication with your audience in a non-invasive environment. They have chosen to follow you, and want to hear from you! So, be sure to keep your channels updated often with useful information for your followers. Having an active social media presence will assist in strengthening your organic reach.
• It’s a two-way street. Not only are they following you because they want to see what you have to say, but they can also talk to you directly about their concerns, complaints, and compliments via comments or direct messages. 

These benefits allow for a relationship of strong trust and transparency to develop between your brand and its followers. Brand trust is extremely important. Salesforce reports that 73% of customers say trust in companies matters more now than it did a year ago. However, this still begs the question, “How does one utilize organic social media for their brand?” Well, allow me to explain.

How to use organic social media for your brand

To the untrained eye, increasing organic social might seem as though it is a daunting task. When in reality, this is quite simple. It just takes a dedicated marketer to make it happen! To start, follow these steps:

Step 1: Focus your efforts in the correct place. Not every brand is built for every platform. First and foremost, you must know where your brand performs the best. Is it Facebook? Pinterest? Instagram? Facebook AND Pinterest? Answering this question will assist you in finding where your brand’s true audience lives and where they do not. After you’ve determined where your brand should live, one needs to begin the optimization process. 

Step 2: Optimize your profiles. From your brand’s username to logo to description, everything should be in alignment and cohesive. Also, reviewing your profiles for optimizations often is critical too. Plan to review them at least quarterly for ways you can adjust either seasonally, or simply because technology is changing and you have more features/functionality at your fingertips.

Step 3: Create relevant content. Easier said than done, am I right? When going the organic social route, one needs to keep in mind that your brand’s posts need to engage its audience. Even if your brand isn’t in a very exciting industry; your brand needs to create posts that stand out, regardless of the subject matter. Creating content that is timely (holidays, news, etc) is important, but also creating evergreen content should be the backbone of your strategy. What I am trying to get at here is, do not only publish content that has an expiration date. Some examples of this are trying to solve common or persistent problems within your brand’s industry. Or, try to be educational. An engaged audience is a happy audience. When your brand becomes complacent on social media is when you begin to lose engagement and, ultimately, followers. 

Step 4: Work smarter, not harder. Did you know that the average Facebook user is subjected to over 1,500 stories per DAY? This might prompt some brands to try and post more in hopes that their followers see their content and engage with it. But this is not always the answer. Quality over quantity. Instead of focusing on how many times your brand posts, focus on the type of content you are posting. Posting less with higher quality content will increase organic reach more than spamming your followers. 

Step 5: Respond quickly. The rule of thumb is to not let a comment or post go without a response for longer than 72-hours. If you have a team that can respond quicker, great! Otherwise, aim for this rule of thumb to help maintain a healthy relationship between you and your audience. Additionally, organic social also allows your brand to post UGC or user-generated content. This can promote positive interactions between brand and audience while simultaneously relieving your marketing team of content creation. Even though there isn’t a scientific formula on this, Buffer blog has suggested to post up to twice per day on your Facebook feed as long as you have relevant content. But not all businesses are the same, so practicing with posting frequencies to see what is best for your brand is always recommended.

Bottom line for organic social

Yes, you need organic social media for your business. However, at the end of the day, organic social does need to be complemented with paid social. Combining these two types of social marketing is ultimately the best way to promote your brand. As organic reach continues to decline, especially during elections, it becomes more prevalent than ever to also invest some of your marketing dollars into paid social to reach a broader audience. Still, to avoid spending an entire marketing budget on paid social, a brand does need organic because it is necessary for the ongoing success of your brand on any given social platform. Additionally, organic social is the perfect spot to experiment with content. This is the place to test out ideas because it is lower risk and the best performing content can move into a paid social realm to be promoted. 

Social media marketing shouldn’t have to break your brand’s bank. Tapping into a strong organic social campaign can definitely be beneficial for a brand of any size. Organic social is the ideal method to keep in touch with a brand’s audience and to gain insightful information from customers. Utilizing cost-effective methods of marketing, such as organic social, will assist your brand in the long run. As I stated previously, an engaged audience is a happy audience. Do just that. Engage, entertain, and inspire. Building a strong and engaged audience isn’t hard work, it’s simply smart work. Happy posting!