The average person in the U.S. has over 7 social media accounts, and 11 new people start using a social media platform each second.
Are you looking to increase your reach and access more of these people? If you want to make an impact on social media, you need to focus on organic growth.
Read on to learn more about organic social media growth and why it matters. You’ll also find some tips on how to improve your organic growth over time.
What Is Organic Social Media Growth?
Organic social media growth is all about growing your business’s social media channels without relying on paid advertising. It involves using strategies like content creation, building a community, and regularly engaging with your audience, rather than investing in sponsored posts and paid ads.
Why Does Organic Growth Matter?
These days, lots of brands emphasize paid advertising to boost their presence and increase conversions. Paid ads definitely have their place, but organic growth matters, too.
The following are some of the top reasons why you need to prioritize organic social media growth:
- Increased credibility: When you focus on organic growth, you can share knowledge and value with your posts (rather than just promoting services or products), which adds credibility to your brand
- Stronger connections: Prioritizing organic growth can lead to stronger connections with your audience via comments, shares, DMs, etc.
- Cost-effective advertising: Organic social media growth doesn’t focus on paid advertising, so you don’t have to worry about creating a budget to pay for promotional posts
Keep in mind, too, that your competitors are likely already focusing on organic growth. If you haven’t been making it a priority, now is the time to do so.
How to Improve Organic Social Media Growth
If you want to experience the benefits that organic social media has to offer, you need to have the right growth strategy. Listed below are some tips that will help you maximize your brand’s growth:
Prioritize the Right Platforms
It’s easy to assume that, if you want to make a splash on social media, you need to have a presence on every single platform possible. Spreading yourself too thin could end up hindering your performance and preventing you from seeing results, though.
Pick a couple of platforms that your audience is most likely to be using, then focus on those. You can always expand later when you’re more comfortable with your strategy.
Update Your Profiles
Updating and optimizing your business’s social media profiles can help you to increase your visibility and make a better impression on potential customers or clients. The following are some tactics you can implement today to make your profiles more enticing:
- Create a username that’s easy to remember
- Add a recognizable photo or brand logo
- Write a description that contains popular keywords (but still sound natural)
- Add a trackable link to your business’s website
Focus on Evergreen Content
Evergreen content is content that will always be relevant to your audience. Examples include how-to posts, introduction posts, and posts answering frequently asked questions.
When you’re planning your content calendar and deciding what you want to post on your social media platforms, make sure the majority of your posts are centered around evergreen topics and concepts. You can add in the occasional seasonal post, of course, but place a bigger emphasis on evergreen content.
Avoid Excessive Posting
In the same way that having multiple social media accounts isn’t always a good thing, it’s also not always a good thing to post excessively on the accounts you do have.
Just because you can put up 15 posts and 50 stories per day, that doesn’t mean you should. If you overwhelm your audience with too much content (particularly low-quality content), you won’t see the kind of growth you’re hoping to achieve.
Post at the Right Times
If you post on social media during slower times, there’s a greater chance that you’ll be noticed and won’t have to compete as much for engagement.
Here are some rough guidelines to keep in mind when deciding on the best post times:
- Facebook: Thursdays and Fridays between 1 and 3 pm
- Twitter: Weekdays between 12 and 6 pm
- LinkedIn: Tuesday through Thursday between 7/8 am and 5/6 pm
- Instagram: Weekdays between 11 am and 2 pm
Vary Post Types
Make an effort to vary your post types regularly.
For example, if you always post photos on your Instagram feed, consider mixing it up and posting some videos every once in a while. If you regularly post statuses on your Facebook feed, shake things up and post photos and videos, too.
Varying post types will keep your audience interested. It also increases their likelihood of engaging with your content.
Don’t Be Too Promotional
When you’re planning your posts, make sure they’re not overly promotional.
It’s okay to put up a post or status every once in a while that’s advertising a specific product or service. However, the majority of your social media content should be entertaining or informational.
When you focus more on providing value to your audience, it helps you to build stronger connections and add credibility to your brand. This, in turn, will be more beneficial when it comes to improving organic growth.
Engage with Your Audience
Finally, make sure you’re engaging with your audience. Part of increasing organic growth is letting your audience know that you appreciate and care about them.
If someone takes the time to comment on one of your posts, respond to their comment. Don’t just leave an emoji or a “like.” Actually, connect with them and answer their question or ask a follow-up.
The same goes for shares. If someone is willing to share your post with their audience, respond and thank them for the promotion.
Boost Your Social Media Growth Today
Now that you know more about how to improve organic social media growth, are you ready to start making some changes? Keep the tips listed above in mind so you can start building your presence and seeing results sooner.
Image source: Unsplash
