The term “organic growth” is tossed around a lot in social media marketing. Achieving such growth is a key element that drives social media marketing success in the larger picture of using social media as a tool to cultivate business. That said, how does one achieve this mysterious “organic growth”? There are hundreds of blog write-ups out there that list a wide variety of tips and tactics on this topic. For now, we’ll keep it simple and give you three easy strategies that have shown proven success for us time and time again.
1) Interacting and Strong Content Welcomes Growth
Like anything, achieving growth on social media platforms requires a little bit of work. Just having an account and posting once a week won’t cut it. Before you can expect substantial growth, you have to be engaged. This means creating meaningful posts, following pages that matter to your audience, liking and commenting on other posts, sharing other posts, and establishing a well-rounded presence for yourself every day.
Anytime you comment on a post or engage on social media, that can expose you to hundreds of more eyeballs that wouldn’t have had that exposure otherwise. Also, keep in mind that as your audience interacts with your content, engage back! Facebook and Instagram algorithms favor posts and rank them based on back and forth interactions in the form of comments, DM’s, likes, etc.
Strong content is also a key to social media growth. You can’t grow or excel without heavy investment in original content and the right people to use that content. Murray Road Productions has the creative and strategic capabilities to create high-quality content tailored to your brand, as well as the influencer and affiliate relationships necessary to put that content in front of the right consumers.
2) Partnerships and Collaborations
Perhaps one of the best ways to achieve organic growth is through collaborations and partnerships. No matter what vertical your business is in, you probably have some relationships with other people and organizations. Leverage these! Creating and cross-promoting content in collaboration with other organizations and influencers is a simple and effective way to grow your following and gain organic exposure to new people.
As an example, one of our clients, Gundog Grind coffee, has some fantastic partnerships with several nonprofit organizations in the conservation space including the Ruffed Grouse Society and Delta Waterfowl. We continuously collaborate with these organizations on giveaways and other opportunities that we cross-promote through our channels. As a result, we gain exposure to the thousands of followers that engage with those nonprofits, and in turn, drive more sales while supporting a great cause. Talk about a win-win, with little to no money spent!
3) Contests and Giveaways
It is no secret, but contests and giveaways will always be one of the best ways to social media drive growth. By nature, people are competitive and like getting free stuff. When you have a plan and establish a goal, running contests and giveaways can generate a ton of engagement. As mentioned before, anytime you can collaborate with other entities on these initiatives, your efforts will be that much more optimized.
Even without collaboration, there are plenty of opportunities to create growth through contests and giveaways. For example, running a photo contest relevant to your brand is an easy and low-risk way to drive engagement through your social media channels. That said, having a strategic plan for any contest or giveaway is a must. What goal are you trying to accomplish? Email signups, increasing your following and brand awareness, driving website traffic, or simply sourcing “free” content are all great reasons to pursue these initiatives.
Once you have a goal in mind, make sure you have a plan in place to achieve that goal accordingly. For example, say you are running a photo contest to source photo content for your own future use and acquire email signups. Make sure your audience is required to submit their email address along with their photos. Also, clearly state that they are permitting you to use those photos on your platforms. With that in mind, you may even want to create a dedicated rules page on your website that outlines all rules and caveats. Doing so will help you avoid any questions or future legal issues. It will also act as another reason for your audience to visit your website, thus driving more traffic.
Want to schedule a call with us?
Driving organic growth through social media can be easy, yet still requires strategy and effort. Some aspects of the process are as effortless as a double tap on your phone screen, while others require more legwork. A successful strategy for social media growth, engagement, and ultimately the end goal of added business is a culmination of time, planning, and many other variables. Hopefully, this article gave you a few higher-level strategies you can employ to achieve growth of your own.
**If you or your team want to schedule any time to discuss these items, or want to explore other strategies, please don’t hesitate to reach out directly via email. The team and I are standing by to assist however needed and have the capacity to expand our input and/or contributions.