It’s not just about putting out content and keeping the lights on when it comes to social media marketing. To showcase your brand in a real and engaging manner, your company should be limitless. And, while “engagement” is a buzzword, many marketers aren’t sure how to generate it organically, especially in the face of algorithm updates that limit organic reach.

As a result, organic growth will take time. It takes time for change to happen, just like it takes time for a post to go viral. However, if you make good use of that time, you can build some of the most devoted clients your B2B business has ever seen.

In the nearly ten years that Instagram has been active, it has continued to tweak its algorithm and add new features, requiring companies to stay current in order to maintain consistent account growth.

So, how do you make the necessary adjustments? By attempting and executing new growth strategies. Instagram’s service regulations prohibit services that promote growth through the acquisition of likes and followers. These fictitious engagements and growth rates will only harm your account in the long term, and may even result in it being banned.

What is Organic Social Media, and How Does It Work?

With its ever-changing landscape, social media is impossible to master. You can believe you’re doing fine one day and then, all of a sudden, you’re bombarded with new platform algorithms and features the next. It might be difficult to keep up with the rapid changes in developing platforms, new features, consumer buying behaviors, and the sheer number of individuals on all social media platforms. Paid social has become the norm in marketing techniques to stand out.

Organic social media, on the other hand, is still an option to consider, especially for smaller businesses. Organic social media refers to everything that happens on social media that isn’t commercial promotion. You’re not spending any money to “boost” any of your posts to increase their reach and interaction.

While this may appear completely alien to certain businesses (no money behind social media? What?! ), there are several cost-effective solutions to optimize your social media potential.

1. Consistency is essential

First, let’s make sure you understand the fundamentals. You can’t put all your eggs in one basket and hope for a viral post to boost your Instagram followers. Most postings won’t go viral, mid-morning (central time) was a peak time across all industries in the annual study of the best times to post on Instagram. These time ranges might be a fantastic place to start if you’ve never looked into your most successful posting periods.

Check out any best times to post articles for a breakdown by numerous industries, or use a data-driven strategy to drill in even further on your expertise and figure out a better approach to get them in front of your target audience.

Analyze your content quality, regularity, and publication schedule. What do you do well, and where do you need to improve?

There are many blogs that take the guesswork out of your study by recommending algorithmically picked peak periods based on prior metrics. When it comes to posting frequently and consistently to expand your Instagram account organically, this might be a significant time-saver.

Posting on a regular basis creates a sense of anticipation among your fans for the following instalment.

Small businesses may only publish a few times each week, but larger brands may post many times per day. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s a constant schedule so your audience knows what to expect.

Finally, it’s critical to maintain a high standard of content quality. These days, there’s a lot more noise on Instagram feeds, so you need to stand out. Subpar or stock photographs will not help you gain as many Instagram followers as those who create their own unique material.

2. Invest in content creation and diversification

In-feed posts are no longer the only source of engagement. Stats for new types of content, such as Story replies, IGTV episode views, and Story mentions, are now available on Instagram. There are additional options to enhance your engagement rates and, as a result, your organic Instagram growth, with an ever-increasing range of content formats like Instagram Reels.

If you’ve only done in-feed posts or experimented with Stories on an irregular basis, we recommend dedicating a few Stories every week to build consistency and prepare content. It’s a chance to explore what resonates with your audience with a range of ways to use Stories to gain Instagram followers.

It cannot be overstated how crucial content quality and consistency are for account growth. Spend time learning how to capture better photographs and videos, or engage a content firm or freelance photographers and videographers to assist you with this massive but crucial effort.

3. Make a valuable contribution

Social media is an experience, not just a platform to pump out mindless ads. If you can focus on giving value to your audience rather than marketing yourself, you’ll gain credibility, Credibility leads to conversions.

Bring value to the audience, but leave them wanting more. The goal of social media is to drive individuals through your funnel in different stages. To build a captivating, engaging atmosphere in which your audience can get to know, like, and trust you while also pointing back to a larger product, service, or initiative.

The idea is to position yourself as a thought leader or authority in your field to the point where, when you promote your offer as an extension of the value you currently provide, your audience understands they’ll get something useful. The more value you provide, the larger and more loyal your audience will become.

4. Promote your profiles on all social media platforms

Every location where your company has a presence should include a link to your social media networks. On your website, storefront, business cards, email signatures, and everywhere else you can think of. You should also think about including follow buttons on your website so that customers may “like” or “follow” your page without leaving your company’s blog or website.

Also, don’t forget to cross-promote your social networking sites. Convert your Facebook fans to Twitter followers and vice versa. You want your existence to be known all over the place, which will greatly increase your organic reach.

5. Post a good mix of promotional and useful information

This one is difficult since you want to promote your product or service on social media right away. But, when it comes to these matters, you can’t always think about yourself. Users also expect to find content that is relevant to them. Sharing useful material (how-to guides, articles, new postings, and so on) increases a user’s trust in your company. They will believe you when you recommend a product or service because they have come to know you as an industry expert.

The 80/20 rule is the one to remember here. Eighty per cent of your material should be valuable and informative, while the remaining 20% can advertise your company or its products. That 80% will bring in new followers and establish trust, and when they see the 20%, they’ll buy into what you’re selling.

Don’t forget to add a mix of movies, photos, and other sorts of entertaining information in this mix.

6. Make a series of content

While there are varying viewpoints on the optimal frequency for social media posting, everyone believes that providing a steady stream of material to brand fans and followers is critical. After all, there can only be social media engagement if there is something for followers to engage with. However, simply publishing isn’t enough to gain a larger following on social media. Brands may build a following and even a community by producing a succession of material — whether blog posts, videos, live events, and more — in addition to using appealing content and visual assets.

Consumers are hungry for useful material, with “How-to” video searches on YouTube increasing by 70% per year. A content series keeps the viewer waiting for more, creating a continuous sense of interest and anticipation. It is critical to choose a topic that is relevant to the target audience and connects to the brand in some way. A weekly blog article on a specialized topic, instalments in a branded story, or tutorial videos that increase knowledge or competence are all examples of content series.

Brands may improve their reputation as experts on a particular issue by creating instructive content series, generating online debate and consumer involvement in the comments area, and enticing customers to share the material with their networks. All of them are necessary for organic social media growth.

7. Execute Live Events

Events have long been an important part of marketing. Live events, according to 80 per cent of marketers, are important to their company’s success. Running live events on social media is a powerful strategy for increasing organic reach and engagement in a more digitized world — especially in the COVID-19 period when live events are more problematic, if not unattainable.

Live streaming is a popular way to interact with followers on social media in real-time. In fact, almost 80% of Facebook users prefer live video to branded video on the social media platform. When customers demand more authenticity from brands, live streaming on social media is a low-cost approach to provide fans with an unfiltered, true, and honest experience. Furthermore, any social media activity that is time-sensitive will draw engaged customers in the present. The live activities around the event, such as tweeting, comments, live chats, emojis, and more, assist to generate momentum and drive engagement on the spot if the material is exciting and captivating.

Lastly, some thoughts

The key to organic social media reach is the same as the key to good search engine rankings. It’s all about user experience, optimization, and high-quality content. You’ll notice the pieces start to fall into place if you start thinking about your social media efforts in the same way you think about your SEO efforts.