This post was originally published on November 8, 2021 and was updated on May 6 2023.

Information for this blog post was obtained from Three Girls Media Blog, Strategy Lab Blog, LinkedIn Blog, and Hootsuite Blog.

Social media has become a significant aspect of our lives, and businesses have started realizing the potential of these platforms to interact with their consumers. While paid advertisements dominate social media, genuine, organic content can help build lasting relationships with your audience. But how do you make sure your content is relatable and relevant? Think of it like nurturing a plant- you have to keep at it to get the desired results. In this article, we’ll share with you our top 5 reasons to improve your organic social media game to complement your paid advertising efforts, and help your business grow.

The Power of a Green Thumb

How many of you scroll right on past a “paid” or “sponsored” advertisement on social media, but get sucked into a human interest story or Instagram reels and stories for hours? While paid advertising has increased exponentially in recent years, organic content can build relationships with your consumers that keeps them coming back. Think of those relationships like plants...you have to keep nurturing them to make them grow and flourish.

Don’t have a green thumb? Here are 5 reasons to improve your organic social media and start building those relationships to complement your paid advertising efforts.

1. Build your brand voice.

According to Three Girls Media, organic social media is a great way to develop

your brand voice creatively. This is especially important in building authenticity and telling your story. How do you want your customers to feel when they interact with you? You want them to be able to know who you are, what your business values are, and what drives your business’s passions. Evoking emotions in your consumers with this type of content makes your business relatable and relevant.

2. Tell your story.

Think about the brands that you regularly engage with, especially small businesses. Do you know how they started or who the owner behind them is? Do you know their story? Sandy Archer, author of The Importance of Organic Social Media in 2021 on LinkedIn’s blog wrote that “People do business with people, and when you share your real stories and day to day work, it helps build a personal connection that people can relate to.” The importance of making your content relevant and relatable to your customer base can start with becoming a person instead of a faceless corporation or business to them.

3. Promote authenticity.

Hand in hand with defining your brand voice and telling your story, is promoting authenticity across your social channels. People, in general, are social creatures. We want to feel involved and included and not as though we are constantly being sold. By providing a variety of organic content to engage consumers, your business can provide an inside look to followers and build connections. Strategy Lab Marketing was mentioned by Three Girls Media for advocating the “3 P’s” for promoting authenticity. Share your people, your projects, and your passion. 4Ocean is a great example of sharing all three across their social platforms. It informs their community of the purpose behind their organization and evokes an emotion that then leads into ways you can support their purpose by purchasing products.

4. Build engaged communities.

Connections are important, whether digital or in-person. Being able to provide referrals from current customers, reviews of products or customer-interest stories can also increase authenticity and authority with your follower base. Hootsuite Blog’s post Organic Reach is in Decline—Here’s What You Can Do About It includes 11 tips to increase your organic reach. Three of these tips talk about increasing your community engagement by connecting with people and asking for engagement through specific social posts like questions and polls. Also, including employees and brand advocates in your communities can help increase authenticity with prospective customers.

5. Cost-effective marketing.

Organic social media is a great way to complement paid advertising strategies. In addition to the value provided above, there’s also the benefit of reaching people throughout the buyer journey with organic social media. If you have an organic post that is performing better than others and really resonating with your followers, you can also boost that post for additional reach.

How many times have you gone to a company’s social media channels or website to research them before completing a call-to-action? Having organic content across your digital presence can help increase conversions without breaking the bank. While you wouldn’t want to stop using paid advertising campaigns, having the additional content that provides value, relevance, and provokes emotion with your consumers and followers can help your business grow organically.

These are just 5 of the reasons that a robust organic social media strategy is important. Do your own research and find which pieces work best for your company’s content strategy. Each business is different and your goals are too.

See? You don’t even need a green thumb!

For more information on growing your organic content and reach go read this article by Katlyn.

Resources

Montgomery, E. (August 9, 2021). Why Is Organic Social Media Important? Three Girls Media Blog. https://www.threegirlsmedia.com/2021/08/09/why-is-organic-social-media-important-2/

(February 2, 2018)The Ultimate Social Media Strategy For Any Company or Organization: “The 3 P’s”. Strategy Lab Blog. https://strategylab.ca/ultimate-social-media-strategy-company-organization/

Archer, S. (February 7, 2021) The Importance of Organic Social Media in 2021. LinkedIn Blog. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-organic-social-media-2021-sandy-archer/

Sehl, K. (August 24, 2021). Organic Reach is in Decline—Here’s What You Can Do About It. Hootsuite Blog. https://blog.hootsuite.com/organic-reach-declining/