How to organically grow your social media reach in 2018
Written by Samantha Sherer on 6 minute read
With marketing becoming fiercer and more competitive each passing year
We’re sharing our top recommendations for how to organically grow your social media reach in 2018.
The affiliate marketing industry is constantly growing and changing. To be successful, one must be able to adapt easily and stay one step ahead of the game. While there is a big focus in 2018 on paid social media advertising, growing reach organically shouldn’t be thrown to the wayside. One advantage to using organic methods is that it supports relationships with your currently audience, fostering long-term loyalty.
Certain social media trends are likely to hit the headlines in 2018; make the most of these by using them tactically to build your followers on social media, without spending a fortune.
Go viral
Videos are everywhere on social media these day, and for good reason. People love them. From a marketer’s point of view, they can be inexpensive to create and easy to share. Besides, nothing helps you to grow your reach like a video gone viral. Viral videoing will continue to be a big trend in 2018. Although YouTube dominates the video race, Facebook’s live streaming may make a big impact moving forward.
According to SocialMediaToday, Facebook videos get 135% more organic views than photos. This trend is thought to grow well into the 2020’s, when 80% of internet content will be via video. Plan ahead and create a thoughtful video content calendar set to capture your audiences’ attention, regardless of whether you’re producing videos in advance or streaming live.
Support influencers
Asking influencers to give their seal of approval is not a new marketing practice, and should continue to be a big part of your strategy to grow organic reach. However, the focus will likely be on working with true authorities who genuinely believe in your product or service. Instead of considering it in terms of ROI, consider your ROR – return on relationship – or the value created by the nurturing process over time.
Read more about our recommendations for incorporating influencers in to your overall marketing strategy here.
Tell a story
Story telling via social media has been used very successfully to date. Instagram and Snapchat have had outstanding accomplishments with this concept, so why not use this to your own advantage? Create stories on social media about the products you’re promoting, experimenting with the different story platforms offered to see what your audience responds best to. Instagram and Snapchat are continually updating their stories features, providing additional ways to creatively produce content.
Use chatbots
The age of the robot is upon us. Use it to your benefit. Good customer service is always appreciated. If you find yourself repeatedly answering the same questions, introducing a chatbot to help with responding not only frees up your time but also provides a point of contact. Improved technology is likely to make this more mainstream in 2018; keep an eye out for further developments so you’re able to take advantage of this technology once readily accessible.
Connect with customers
Many companies make the mistake of using their social media as a sales pitch, instead of seeing it as an opportunity to connect and build relationships with your customers. Of course, social media is a great platform to showcase your products, but should not limited to this. Use social media to create a genuine, non-salesy rapport with your audience. Offer guidance and advice as they move through the purchase process. Doing this will lead to customers returning time and time again to buy from you because a relationship has been established. You’re no longer a cold, faceless entity simply trying to sell something but instead are invested in getting the perfect product in your customers’ hands.
Be responsive
Publishing posts is the easy part of social media. It’s your responses and interaction that create magic. When a prospect comments on something you’ve written, always respond (this goes hand in hand with connecting with customers.) You’ll build a better relationship and grow brand awareness and loyalty, all the while positioning yourself as an expert in your field. These same readers will continue to follow you, which according to the Social Habit, increases brand loyalty by 53%.
Manage your efforts
According to WalkerSands Communication, social media management tools were the most popular technical items of 2017, and there is no sign of this popularity slowing down. With good reason too. Social media management tools provide a convenient way to execute your content calendar. Many brands working globally and these tools make scheduling for optimum readership a breeze. With a range of tools available, including Hootsuite, Sendible, and CoSchedule, there’s no reason to not use these scheduling tools to your benefit to increase your organic reach.
Don’t underestimate content
Social media is nothing without content. To make it work you need to post quality content that your audience want to read and share. On Facebook, for example, the more your content is read, the more it will be displayed. To maintain engagement, variety with your content is essential. Readers love transparent posts, those that show the brand as a “real person” vs a company. Write your content from a personal perspective, using stories to engage your readers on a human level.
Use evergreen content – content that is always current – and recycle it several times a year to get it in front of a new audience. Monitor which posts get the highest audience and interaction, and repost on a regular basis.
It’s also worth keeping an eye on your competitors, monitoring the type of content that get a good response. Also, pay attention to the timing of posting by using analytics like Facebook’s insights to determine what is working well.
Bring posts to life with images
If you watch how many people interact with your posts, you’ll notice the number is always higher when you include visuals. Use pictures to tell a story or generate an emotion. People also love sharing images with quotes, but don’t use any cliché or stock – create your own with your website link on the image.
Target your ideal audience
It’s well known that you can target your paid ads to a particular audience, but you can also get posts in front of the right people organically. Readers who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer are more likely to like, share, and comment. Social Report has written an excellent guide on how to set this up.
