“As social becomes even more of a pay-to-play game, ‘organic social is dead’ has become a popular catchphrase for marketing thought-leaders. While organic social media definitely isn’t what it used to be, it certainly isn’t dead. ”
– Ronnie Gomez, Sprout Social
Often underestimated, organic social media is the hidden gem of social media marketing, and it has the power to drive revolutionary results for your business.
In this first instalment of our organic social media guide series, you’ll find out:
- What organic social media is
- Why businesses use it
- The benefits of organic social media
- How to integrate organic into your paid social media strategy
Join us as we explore the world of organic social media and discover how Elixirr Digital can help you harness its power.
What is organic social media?
Organic social media is all about sharing free, non-sponsored content on your social media platforms. This content encompasses a wide range of formats, including photos, videos, stories, reels, polls, and even memes.
Unlike paid advertisements, organic social media focuses on building authentic, meaningful connections with users through engaging content. It’s an effective way to showcase your brand’s personality and values while establishing meaningful relationships with your followers.
When you post organically, your content has the potential to reach various audiences, including:
- Users who follow your account and engage with your posts.
- Users who visit your business or brand profile and explore your content.
- People within your followers’ network if they share or interact with your posts.
- Users targeted by the platform’s algorithms based on their interests and online behaviour.
- Users who search for hashtags included in your posts, increasing the chances of your content being discovered.
Managing business accounts on social media platforms allows you to harness the power of third-party sites and software. These tools offer enhanced control over your social media presence and access to valuable metrics to monitor post performance and follower interaction.
What is the purpose of organic social media?
Organic social media plays a vital role in nurturing connections with your existing customers and building a loyal community of followers. By consistently sharing original and relevant content and actively engaging with users who resonate with your business, you can establish a strong bond with your followers.
Through organic social media, you have the opportunity to create a positive and influential presence. By showcasing your brand’s expertise, values and personality, you can build trust and position your business as a reliable source of information.
This, in turn, can greatly impact the decision-making process for potential customers who turn to social media platforms to gather information before making a purchase.
Plus, by fostering genuine connections and providing valuable content, you not only strengthen customer loyalty, but also create brand advocates who promote your business.
Word-of-mouth recommendations have a significant impact on attracting new customers. In fact, research shows that 71% of customers who have a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend it to friends and family*. This highlights the significant impact organic social media can have on your business.
* Source: https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/social-media-marketing-statistics/, June 2022
Why do businesses use organic social?
You can benefit from utilising organic social media for a multitude of reasons, but these reasons are driven by key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your marketing strategies.
Attracting new customers and building authenticity
One primary objective for your business is to acquire new customers, and organic social media can play a significant role in achieving this goal. Here’s how it can benefit your business:
1. Showcasing your unique voice:
Through organic social media, you can showcase your brand’s unique voice, explore creativity, and demonstrate authenticity. This approach allows you to stand out from the crowd and differentiate yourself from your competition.
2. Demonstrating authenticity:
When you concentrate on engagement-focused posts, your audience gets to witness the genuine nature and personality of your brand. This authenticity helps build a community of engaged followers, as 90% of customers consider authenticity when choosing which brands to support*.
An engaged audience acts as social proof, instilling confidence in potential new customers and can ultimately drive conversions.
* Source: https://bstro.com/organic-social-media-value/, July 2021
Leveraging user-generated content
An active brand presence on social media encourages users to share their experiences through user-generated content (UGC). Here’s why UGC matters:
1. Influencing purchasing decisions:
UGC holds immense value as it significantly influences purchasing decisions for a lot of people. When customers share positive experiences, it creates a positive feedback loop that can work wonders for your brand’s growth.
2. Testimonials and endorsements:
By capturing the attention of the right audience with organic posts, you can attract followers who make purchases and share their experiences. These testimonials and endorsements become invaluable assets, gained without spending a penny.
The benefits of organic social media
In an increasingly competitive landscape, organic social media can offer your business a whole host of benefits, including:
It’s cost-effective
Organic social media is a cost-effective way to reach and engage with your audience. It doesn’t require a substantial budget to create and share content, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes.
It encourages brand loyalty
When you effectively utilise organic social media, you can foster a loyal community of followers who connect with your brand values and messaging. By constantly sharing valuable content, you can strengthen their loyalty and keep them engaged with your brand.
It helps to support your brand’s reputation
Organic social media gives you the power to shape and enhance your brand’s reputation. By actively engaging with your audience, addressing their concerns, and providing valuable insights, you can establish a positive brand image.
It allows you to establish trust
Authentic and engaging content helps foster relationships and create a sense of reliability and credibility.
It influences purchase decisions
By showcasing your products and services, sharing customer testimonials and UGC, you can encourage customers to choose your brand over competitors.
It helps to ‘humanise’ your brand
Sharing behind-the-scenes moments, highlighting your team, and engaging in conversations with your audience allows you to create a relatable and personable brand image.
It helps you attract new customers
Consistently delivering valuable, shareable content and engaging with your target audience means you can expand your reach and capture the attention of potential customers.
How to integrate organic into your paid strategy
Organic social media can effectively complement your paid social media advertising strategy. By incorporating the following elements, you can create a consistent and positive brand impression on your potential customers.
Update social media pages with engaging content
While running paid ads, it’s crucial to continuously update your social media pages with interesting, high-quality non-paid content. This ensures that potential customers, who click on your profile after viewing an ad, can find relevant and engaging content that further reinforces your brand’s value.
Align organic and paid strategies
Integrating organic and paid social media strategies can help you achieve your overall marketing goals. The goals of organic and paid social media are ultimately the same, but they employ slightly different methods to achieve the right results for your business.
While paid social campaigns are effective in advertising specific products or services and attracting new customers, organic strategies focus on increasing brand presence and nurturing relationships with existing customers, encouraging their loyalty. Key organic objectives include awareness and engagement, which indirectly contribute to sales and lead generation.
Leverage your organic following
Although organic posts may not reach 100% of your target audience, you can leverage your organic following to maximise your message’s reach. For instance, if a particular post gains momentum and starts generating significant engagement, it can be beneficial to invest some advertising budget to boost its reach and ensure it reaches a wider audience.
Effective social media management
While managing organic social media may seem straightforward, it requires strategic planning, creative content development, audience analysis and specialist expertise to achieve the best results.
At Elixirr Digital, our social media specialists have an in-depth understanding of the social media landscape, platform algorithms and best practices that can help your brand stand out and thrive in the online sphere.
Key points: How organic social media contributes to business success
Businesses are constantly seeking strategies that can help them grow their online presence and drive meaningful results. Organic social media can be a great tool to meet these goals.
Let’s recap the key takeaways of this guide:
- Organic social media has the power to convert low-quality leads into long-term customers, making it an essential component of online business expansion.
- Maintaining a positive online presence is crucial, given the vast number of social media users worldwide.
- A successful marketing strategy combines both organic and paid social media approaches, leveraging the strengths of each to drive audience growth and business expansion.
- Paid social media can be used to drive leads and high-performing organic content can be amplified for broader exposure.
Let us help you handle your organic social media
Don’t let the complexities of organic social media overwhelm you. It’s time to bring in the experts to transform your social media presence into a captivating and results-driven powerhouse.
At Elixirr Digital, we live and breathe organic social media, and we’re here to help you achieve extraordinary results by offering:
- Strategic guidance to help you meet your goals
- Compelling content creation that resonates with your audience
- Expert insights and data-driven recommendations
- Continuous support and adaptability to evolving trends
Unlock the full potential of your organic social media
Ready to take the plunge? Get in touch with our social media experts today to kick off your organic social media activity.
