5 Reasons Why Organic Social Media Still Matters

Organic and paid social media marketing go together like yin and yang - both of these methods work together to create a successful social media strategy. Whilst sponsored posts have been on the rise, you can't use paid social media without anything to back it up with.

If you need some motivation to up your organic social media game, here it is!

1. It Can Show Where You're Making Errors

We've all scrolled through Instagram and seen an "I never received my order, help!" comment on a brand's post. Followers who have experienced an issue are likely to comment very publicly in order to get a response. If you are regularly uploading and checking your organic feed, you're posting more opportunities to see what people are having issues with.

This is a helpful opportunity to communicate with your followers. It shows that you are working on these issues, which will ease their mind. It also shows others who view your posts that you are supportive and problem-solving.

This is all part of the marketing funnel, maintaining the loyalty of your customers. If they have a positive response after making a complaint, they are likely to buy from you again.

2. Social Media Creates Conversations

Paid social media can sometimes feel like you're talking to users rather than with them. Unless your ad has a specific "contact us" call to action, you might not even converse with the viewer of the post at all.

Organic social media can be used to boost engagement in simple ways, such as creating polls, asking for opinions or even a simple shout-out. Whilst your organic posts might not reach as many users as your paid ads, they will be reaching followers who are highly likely to engage with your content.

Social media allows you and your customers to get to know each other, leading to more trust and loyalty. Say your website is down and you're worried your customers will get frustrated and go somewhere else for their needs - write a social media post explaining the situation and maybe offer a discount code to encourage customers to wait until you're back up and running.

3. It Validates Your Brand

If a user finds your ad and wants to learn more, they'll likely visit your profile next. If they get there and see limited posts that aren't relevant to your brand at all, they might think it's a bit suspicious and choose not to progress with their journey.

Instead, you should utilise all aspects of social media that will add to your brand validity. A good example of using social media in this way is to use Facebook reviews. 88% of people trust online reviews, showing that they really make an impact on whether a lead becomes a customer.

Alongside this, 81% of people are influenced by what their friends share on social media. Create a social media strategy that emphasises customer praise and produces engaging and shareable content.

4. Social Media Affects Your SEO

Studies show that social media links to search rankings on Google. This is likely because social media websites are seen as highly credible, so any links posted are seen as credible back-links to your website.

Posting your website's content on social media is just one step of the process. You need to have an organic social media strategy that creates a loyal, engaging fanbase. This means that when you post your links, people will be there to engage and share them.

This works even better if other users are sharing links to your content. Encouraging users to share their reviews is the easiest way to get credible links posted on your behalf.

Not only do social media links affect your website's SEO, but social media profiles themselves can rank in a search engine. If your Facebook page has lots of positive engagement and relevant content, it can rise in the search engine results alongside your website.

Social media profiles are highly likely to be placed at the top of search results. For example, if I Google "Topshop" right now, these are the three top search results:

1. Topshop Website
2. Their Twitter Account
3. Their Instagram Account

5. It's Cost-Effective

The best thing about organic social media is that you don't need a large budget to make it work. Simply taking the time to research your audience, hashtags and content can lead to amazing success.

Even if it's simply replying to comments or asking engaging questions, utilising organic social media is the sure-fire way to improve your relationship with your audience. This will, in turn, increase your online reputation.

Written by Suzie Letts