Growing business organically on Social Media - Fact or Myth?

If you’ve been in the Digital World long enough, you’ve probably witnessed that driving organic social traffic is getting harder by the day due to algorithms. Some experts might argue that organic social media is dead. Truth be told, organic social traffic has been on the decline in the past few years, but that doesn’t mean it is dead or a thing of the past. 

The social web is massive and captures billions of eyes all around the globe. It is considered to be a fruitful channel to enhance business profitability in a short span. Fast-forward today, many brands and marketers believe that paid social media is indeed the need of the hour. It’s the only way to get the bang for the buck on the money you’ve invested. The paid social formula is very simple – you spend a buck, you get more in return.  

While organic social traffic takes time, I believe it is still effective. Here is a guide for implementing effective tactics on various social platforms that might break the inane myths about social traffic being dead.  

• Pinterest – If you are looking at generating organic traffic with social media, start with Pinterest. It’s very effective for people and businesses that are in the B2B niche. If reports are to be believed, Pinterest has an astonishing user base that is only growing exponentially with every passing day. The first thing to bear in mind is to pin multiple times a day. The more engaged you are with the Pinterest community, the better it is for traffic. Curate infographics, visual guides, collections regularly to stay ahead. Pins have proven to have a longer lifespan than platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  

While pinning, ensure you pin images that are relevant to the products and services you are selling. Optimise your profile pins and board to increase visibility. By doing this, you will attract lots of visitors and leads. Lastly, participate in other people’s activities to get them to participate in your activity. These helpful tips can help grow organic traffic exponentially on Pinterest. 

• LinkedIn – LinkedIn is an amazing platform to grow your business, especially if you are in the B2B business. I consider LinkedIn as one of the best weapons for marketers to achieve organic growth. Content Marketing is an important aspect to grow a business, and LinkedIn can help you achieve just that. It is not only effective in finding jobs, but also helps in generating leads and customers.  

Post engaging content daily (ideally 3-4 times a day), giving a gap of 2-3 hours between each. Try experimenting with different types of posts, like video, text content, podcast links, and visual content. This will help build engagement. Try and post content related to your niche. This will help you inevitably earn followers and traffic. Lastly, be part of groups and discussions related to your niche, promote your content on those groups. But don’t overdo it. For every 3 pieces of content, you post reshare at least one that isn’t yours. This will help grow your network. 

• YouTube – YouTube is an excellent source to generate organic social traffic. Yes, you heard it right! Create videos and focus on YouTube ranking rather than Google, optimise your channel for YouTube search. Crank up quality content videos which are 5 minutes or above, this can keep your viewers hooked onto your channel for longer. This makes YouTube happy as it gets them ad revenue. Use a healthy mix of keywords in your headlines and description to rank higher and gain more subscribers.  

• Twitter – Twitter is one of the most popular websites, according to Alexa. If you enjoy a healthy fanbase on Twitter, congrats! That’s a job half done already. Ensure you keep tweeting consistently – ideally 10 times a day to maintain engagement amongst your followers. Make it a habit – it doesn’t matter even if it is old content from your website or something you had already shared a while back. Queue tweets by using apps like Buffer, so that you don’t have to log in to Twitter multiple times to post.  

Mix up your tweets, don’t just stick to sharing URLs. Make your feed engaging by sharing videos, polls, and images. Use industry-specific hashtags, leverage current trends to create opinion tweets. Try to post tweets over the weekend to see more traction and make use of services like Buzzsumo.com for analytics that would give deeper insights into what topics work and what don’t. 

• Facebook – Consistency is key when it comes to a Facebook post, but that doesn’t mean that you post 10 times a day. Always emphasise on quality rather than quantity. Use Facebook Insights to figure what time of the day your audience engages the most on your page, post content during those specific times.  

Keep self-promotion to a minimum as it tends to bore your audience and can hurt your organic traffic. Know what your audience is looking for and target them accordingly, content curation is very tricky. Try a lot of variety with your content. 

• Instagram – Instagram is one of the best visual platforms and an excellent platform to drive organic reach to your website. Ensure you add your website link below your bio, check your Instagram insights regularly to understand your audience’s behaviour, the best time to post, and the type of content that is engaging them. Using the right hashtags is key to generating traffic. Don’t just stick to posts, make use of the stories feature to give your audience a sneak peek into your daily operations, and to highlight key events.  

Conclusion

Getting your voice heard on social media does not have to be an expensive affair. With a bit of patience and by being present where your audience is, you too can grow your business organically. 

The author is Pradeep Kumaar, CEO, NPD India & Stan Ventures