Forging Connections with Organic Social Media

What is Organic Social Media?

Organic Social Media refers content that is free and posted to any sort of social media platform(s). Or as Forbes puts it, "Organic social media content is any free content shared on social media profiles including posts, videos, stories and more." A great way to think about organic social media is viewing the posts of your friend's recent vacation that they post. Great organic content delivers value in a unique and engaging way to the user.

There are varying reasons as to why a brand would use organic social media. According to HootSuite, some of these reasons include:

• Finding brand personality and voice
• Establish relationships by providing relevant and unique content
• Make every step of the Customer Journey (Awareness, Interest, Consideration, Action)
• Customer service

Apart from the reasons listed above; the most commons uses of organic social media are to build brand awareness. But there are other beneficial uses as well!

Other Uses of Organic Media

Organic Media will always tie back into increasing brand awareness, but there are more layers to this. According to WebFX there are four uses for organic social media:

• Maintain and nurture existing customer relationships: Existing customers are just as important as segmenting new customers. They already have a built in value and cost less to retain.
• Tell the story behind the brand: Take the consumer on a journey of your brand, allowing them to establish that deeper connection.
• Establish brand credibility: This one goes without saying, having great content will help increase credibility.
• Offer customer service to existing customer base: Much like the first point, this use is catered around your existing clients.

Paid social media is a great way to increase your brand reach and awareness, using organic social media helps cement your brand image.

What are the Benefits?

Organic social media has many benefits that may not be as apparent to other forms of media such as paid social. Here are some benefits of organic social media courtesy of WebFX:

• Sharing your brand story to a wider audience for free
• Establishing your brand’s personality, values, and positioning
• Building and strengthening connections with your customers and prospects by sharing informative, inspiring, entertaining, and shareable content
• Engaging with your customers
• Supporting your customers with their concerns or questions
• Cultivating a community surrounding your brand

Organic Social Media offers many benefits that can create a loyal following among your users.

What Constitutes Organic Content?

Now that we have established what Organic Social Media is and some of the benefits and uses of it, let's delve into some examples of organic content. Here is a list with some examples to better represent this:

• "Meet the team" posts
• DIY (Do it Yourself) posts with unique uses for your product
• Posts highlighting customer reviews
• Relevant information to consumers

References:

• https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-customer-service/
• https://sproutsocial.com/insights/how-to-use-social-listening-tools/
• https://blog.hootsuite.com/organic-vs-paid-social-media/#:~:text=that%20really%20work.-,What%20is%20organic%20social%20media%3F,each%20other%20on%20their%20feeds.
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2022/05/06/the-differences-between-paid-and-organic-content-on-social-media/?sh=5aeb2a131526
• https://www.webfx.com/blog/social-media/organic-social-media-strategy/