Organic reach is the Holy Grail for brands in the social media marketing world. After all, boosting brand visibility for free is better than using any paid promotional tools for the company’s marketing budget and its bottom line.
This powerful metric refers to the number of people who have viewed the brand’s content (social media posts, Stories, News Feed, etc.) without them having to spend a penny.
However, research indicates that organic reach has plummeted over the years. As per Ignite Social Media, Facebook’s organic reach declined by 44% in 2013. Today, the average organic rate is estimated to be anywhere between 1.1% to 2.2% for Facebook, 5.3% for LinkedIn, and 9.4% for Instagram:
If you’re looking for natural, non-paid ways to boost your brand’s reach and visibility, the following best practices are a good place to start.
Your brand could create the best content in the world, but if it’s not wired to the relevant target audience, all that effort is already a failure. To make the most of your content marketing efforts, do your research:
One of social media marketers’ biggest mistakes is not investing enough time and effort into creating a content marketing strategy for organic marketing campaigns. Granted, these campaigns may not get the same ROI as paid marketing, but they drive user engagement with the brand and help in brand-building. The thumb rule is to drive quality posts over quantity to keep the channel active and your audience engaged. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when building a content marketing strategy:
It doesn’t take much to drive user engagement. That said, there is a strategic approach brands can adopt:
As preachy as it may sound, inculcate a culture of agility and proactiveness within your team. Every comment or like should be responded to instantly as social media algorithms prioritize posts that drive early engagement. Once you post a piece of content, always stick around to respond to the immediate reader posts – this can encourage users to spend 3–20% more on an average-priced item from said business in the future. Additionally, call out abusive or insensitive posts. This helps establish your core values and purpose, creates a safe space for your audience, and builds reader trust as well as brand loyalty. It’s also profitable for the brand as Deloitte suggests that purpose-driven brands grow 3x more than competitors.
The more you interact one-on-one with your audience, the better the chances of boosting engagement, driving brand visibility, and creating a community of like-minded people.
Zeroing down the right metrics for organic marketing success is an important piece of the puzzle. Brands should leverage “growth” and “interaction” as key indicators to measure marketing success. At the heart of an organic marketing strategy lies the ability to build customer relationships and not aggressively sell products every chance marketers get.
Organic marketing is the foundation on which your paid marketing strategy rests. Using both models can optimize your content marketing efforts while building a trusting, loyal, and passionate user base of self-confessed brand advocates. Despite shoestring ad budgets, brands can still maintain their competitive edge with organic marketing if done right.