Here's a secret social media platforms don't want you to know. If your brand is looking for social media success, it's in your organic reach.
It's no secret that social media has had an impact on marketing. In this case, many marketers would call it a blessing. In fact, a study found that 73% of marketers believe that their efforts through social media marketing have been “somewhat effective” or “very effective” for their business (Buffer). That's because social media has allowed brands to place themselves right in front of consumers, as long as you play by their rules. People use social media as a source of news, entertainment, and as a reference for products. So much so that, 54% of users use social media to research products (GlobalWebIndex), and 71% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend the brand to their friends and family (Lyfemarketing). Unfortunately for a lot of smaller brands, pay-to-play is the name of the game for many of these platforms. That means that for businesses the best way to reach your customer is typically through ad spend, but there are ways you can save money by increasing your organic reach.
What is Organic Reach?
Organic reach is a metric we use in social media marketing to measure the number of times your content was viewed by a unique pair of eyes, not including paid promotion. The reason why organic reach is so important is that it can calculate your brand's engagement rate. The more reach you have, the more engagement you might receive.
Truthfully, organic reach is low for businesses because of the pay-to-play model mentioned earlier. Since platforms generate revenue off of advertising, they prioritize paid content over organic content. Based on different algorithms, your reach can be as low as 1%-6% of your following. This disadvantage has led many brands to dismiss the importance of organic content in their marketing strategy. So why are we telling you that you need it? Because you need a consistently eye-catching social presence that allows you to build a relationship with consumers after your ad brings them in. You see, organic is the key to more loyal consumers and a higher conversion rate.
How to Measure it?
Since organic reach is simply the number of people who viewed your content once, that number is usually easy to find using the analytics built into a social media platform. If you're looking for cross-platform analytics or just a more extensive report, here are some analytic tools great for businesses: Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Hubspot, and Unbox Social.
You can also measure your engagement rate using organic reach. Here's the equation:
Number of Engagements/Reach= Engagement Rate
Engagement rate tells you how many of your followers enjoy your content enough to engage with it. The higher the engagement rate, the better your content is performing with your audience. If you calculate your engagement rate, you will see that when you turn the focus back to organic reach, your social media presence will begin to grow significantly.
Tips to Improve Organic Reach on Social Media.
Now that we know what organic reach is and how to measure it, let's go through some ways to improve your reach. Of course, it is important to note that every platform uses its algorithm, therefore, it's important to know the ins and outs of each platform, but we'll provide you with tips that work across the board.
Create a Content Strategy
This your starting point, and everything you will accomplish comes from how much thought you put into your strategy. Take the time to build this out, and you will reap the benefits in the end. You can begin building a strategy by getting to know your audience. Keep track of demographics, interests, and behaviors. Once you know who your audience is, listen to them. Find out what your target loves and engages with the most on social, so you can tailor your content to their needs. Then establish some goals to keep you moving in the right direction.
Be Consistent
If you want to beat the algorithm, you need to be consistent. You don't need to post daily, just regularly. As long as you post on the right days at the right time based on when your audience is most active, they'll see your content. Regular posting gives structure to your campaigns and content for your followers to look forward to. If your content is performing well on a specific day, we recommend you create a series and make sure to add that catchy hashtag so users can follow it.
Make it Valuable
You need to offer some sort of value with your organic content like you would with your product. Give users a reason to follow you. Value can come in many forms, such as entertainment, motivation, tips, opportunities, or even deals.
Build Relationships
Your followers are not only brand advocates but sometimes your best salespeople. Give users the content they can connect with and then engage back with them. When you respond to consumers in comments and DM's you're building a connection that keeps the conversation going. When engaging with users your brand should sound human. That means be charismatic in your conversations and helpful like a friend when answering questions.
Just Ask
This one is the easiest of them all. If you're looking to boost your social media presence, just ask your followers. You get a boost in organic reach when your content performs well. So use a call to action or several! Ask for likes, shares, reposts, and follows! The truth is people don't know what you want them to do unless you tell them. Sometimes consumers just need to see you ask, and they'll be more than happy to oblige.
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