As a small or medium-sized business owner, we know that you don’t always have the budget to boost posts and spend money on paid advertising campaigns on social media. Sometimes, the best that you can do is use your social media platforms to market yourself organically without spending any money.
Many people will tell you that there is no hope for organic social media because these platforms are already so saturated with content. However, as experts in organic social media, we are happy to tell you that this isn’t the case. You can do plenty on social media from an organic perspective to make your digital marketing activities successful.
We’ve put together four tips and tricks, with input from our expert social media managers, to help you succeed in your organic social media marketing.
Tip #1: Keep it consistent
You may have heard about how often the algorithm on various social media channels changes. But, instead of trying to keep up with the latest update, we have a simple hack that can help you stay ahead: post consistently.
Despite algorithm updates, social media platforms will always favour those who post regularly. The more content you put out there, the more chance you have of getting noticed.
However, it’s worth noting that there is a fine balance between posting to get enough content out there and posting with purpose.
Our advice: Post at least three times per week.
Tip #2: You don’t have to be on all the platforms
Successful organic social media marketing doesn’t mean being active on every platform. If your product or service is aimed at a business to business (B2B) market, there’s little point in being active on Instagram (unless you know your audience is active on the platform) – LinkedIn and Twitter are your best bet. If you’re a business to customer (B2C) organisation, you can consider adding Facebook and Instagram to your repertoire.
Being active on every social media channel means you’re spreading your resources thin rather than focusing all your energy on one or two purposefully chosen channels. Choosing the channels that resonate best with your business is the best strategy.
Our advice: Choose platforms that are relevant to your brand.
Tip #3: Simplicity is your best bet
With tools like Canva available to business owners who want to venture into designing their own social media posts, it can be tempting to go all out and add every possible element to your design. Our rule to thumb is to limit the number of elements on your design to three at a maximum.
Your designs should be catchy, but they should also be easy for people to digest. Adding too much text or making your designs too busy can make users scroll past your posts.
Remember that your audience’s attention span is short. They can only focus on one post for so long. Get your message across quickly with simple graphics.
Our advice: You don’t need to include your logo and URL on every post.
Tip #3: Keep selling to a minimum
This may sound totally counterintuitive, but successful organic social media marketing is not only about the hard sell. If all your posts are about selling your product or service, your followers will lose interest quickly.
The best organic social media strategy is to provide value before extracting it. You can do this by posting:
- How-to’s and tutorials
- Interest-based content
- Industry-related news, insight, and updates
- Content that encourages people to engage with your brand
- Behind-the-scenes content and staff profiles.
Our advice: Ideally, only one in every three posts should be promotional; the rest should be educational, informative, and inspiring.
Tip #4: Have a plan
You might not be a social media strategist, but it’s vital that you have some sort of strategy in place for your organic social media marketing. You should know how often you’re going to post, the best days to post based on research, the kinds of content you want to post, and what audience you’re speaking to.
Without a strategy or even just a plan, your efforts are directionless, the quickest way to lose traction on social media.
Our advice: Outsource your social media strategy and management to a digital marketing agency with a specific focus on organic social media for small- to medium-sized businesses.
At PrimePixels, our social media managers are total whizzes at making organic social media marketing work. Beyond the tips we’ve shared above, there is so much more that can be done to make your social media efforts successful, and we know how to get this right. Contact us to hire a qualified social media manager, with no agency fees required.
