How to Get the Most from Social Media Organically

The role of social media marketing in the success of modern day businesses is undeniable. This is regardless of scale, niche, or marketing budget. For one, it allows businesses to reach their target audience in a personal level. Another, it allows them to actually build tangible relationships with their prospect & current clientele.

While you can always pay for ads, there are at least 5 amazing things you can do organically to get the most of your social media efforts.

Join Facebook Groups
The ultimate benefit of joining Facebook groups is the value of community. Make it a point to find & join groups that are highly relevant to your niche & your brand. You can think of these social communities as “tribes”.

Just like in a “tribe”, you are able to find support in the form of insights, sound advice, & even promotion & collaboration opportunities with those in your niche.

The trick to getting the most of Facebook groups is to abide by the rules, help where you genuinely can, & to keep an eye for promotion opportunities.

Spend time on Twitter Parties
Twitter parties can be considered the Twitter counterpart of Facebook groups. However, the members of this “community” only meet once each week for an hour to discuss a pre-announced topic.

Should the time come that life & the universe only allows you an hour to do social media for that particular week, spend it on a Twitter party.

Engagement, impressions of your content and even your following can spike up during these events. Also, because these parties are meant for a specific group of people that share the same interest, the likeliness of finding leads & prospects can be quite high.

Post content during optimal times
You can post the most interesting content to all your social media platforms. However, in order for your content to be consumed they need to get published when your audience is around.

Better start incorporating a “best times to post” bit in your social media marketing strategy if you are not doing that yet.

It is easy to find out when these optimal posting times are by simply looking at your insights or analytics pages per social network.

If you do not have enough data to work with in determining when your optimal posting times are, here is a hack for you: mimic your competitors.

Determine your top competitors per social network you are on. If you are solely an eCommerce business, be sure to pick competitors who serve the same time zones as you do.

Observe the times when they publish content. Look for overlaps. For instance, competitors A & B may be posting around 7 to 9 AM EST. That should hint you that they are gaining the most traction for their content during those times.

Post Curated Content
Whether time allows you to post as much original content as you like, try to make room for curated content.

What is curated content? This is simply an original content shared by someone else who is preferably by an influencer in the industry as you.

Not only will posting curated content lessen the time it takes for you create social media content, it will also give your audience variety. You can work this variety to show the values your brand stand for.

For example, a company that sells artisan scented candles can share content about the benefits of meditation.

When posting these types of content, be sure to mention or tag the owner of the content. You might just get retweeted or reposted by them. That means exposure of your brand to an audience who will most likely be interested in what you have to offer.

Always give value
Content, in the context of social media, this is not only what you publish. Content also includes the comments you make on other users’ posts.

In all forms of engagement, always seek to add value to the content or the conversation on the comments section.

This is especially when interacting with posts of social communities like in Facebook groups & even in Twitter Parties. Be intentional with your comments. Do not just leave empty statements like “nice”, “great” or “yeah!” Giving value means so much more than giving an affirmation.

Sometimes, giving value can mean pointing them to another group member (as in a referral) who can help them out better.

Remember that followers or fans are only a by-product of value. This means that the more you invest in giving value the better you get at attracting the right crowds to your brand.

Now if you want to get the best of your social media marketing efforts, better start incorporating any or all of these 5 organic social media tactics ASAP.

About the Author
Catherine was a nationally recognized Healthcare Executive with success increasing market share through innovative product offerings. She has over 10 years leadership experience in facilitating evidence-based strategic planning, product development, brand management, legislative communications, and medial policy. Catherine’s scholarly interests focused on the prevention and management of chronic disease through data-driven, population health management and wellness strategies. Catherine holds a doctorate degree in Applied Statistics, Research Design and Program Evaluation from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and is married with four children. http://20four7va.com/ | twitter.com/20Four7VA