How to Combat the Decline of Organic Social Media Reach

Remember the good old days of not very long ago? When you could publish an organic social media post for a client and actually expect a lot of their followers to see it?

Yes, those were halcyon days, but we all no that today if you want your client’s audience to see their brand’s post, you can expect to pay for it. Organic social media reach ain’t what it used to be.

You think that’s an exaggeration?

Organic social media reach started to decline at the end of 2019 and kept right on going. Then in 2021, it took an even bigger plunge. Just about a year ago, Facebook brand pages enjoyed a 16% social reach on average.

If that doesn’t sound high to you, you don’t know how good you once had it. Today, if you post for your client on a Facebook page, you can expect only about 2.5% of their audience to see it.

It gets worse.

As reach numbers decline, so does engagement.

The reason is obvious. Platforms want to push you to buy social media ads rather than giving reach away for free.

Is Organic Social Media Dead?

However, that doesn’t mean organic social media is dead. Organic posts are the backbone of your social media. It’s where you gain credibility with your client’s audience. In other words, organic social media supports your social media advertising. They go hand in hand.

Keep reading to find out how to fight the good fight against social media reach decline.

1. Buy Social Media Ads

Yes, we’ll get to how you can boost your organic social in a minute. But you can’t ignore the fact that an effective and immediate way to beat organic decline to shift more of your budget to social media advertising. If you don’t handle social media advertising yourself, you can get going in a day with white label social media advertising services.

Of course, it’s always been true that if you want fast response or are a new brand you need to buy social media ads and not rely on organic. That’s truer now than ever. But companies of every size should have a mix of paid and organic social media today. If your client thinks otherwise, it’s time to educate them.

But even here things are more complicated than they used to be. Last year Apple announced that to retarget people who use iOS devices, they will need to opt in.

2. Have a Plan

Just because you can make organic posts for free doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a content strategy. Give a lot of thought to the message you want to convey, the audience you want to reach and the best way to attract attention.  Develop creative ongoing features people look forward to.

The time is gone when you can just post photos with quick blurbs and expect any engagement. The posts of many brands look like they were created by people who really don’t understand the particular platform or spend time on it. Don’t be that agency.

You need to know the bells and whistles of each platform and take advantage of interactive tools to engage your audience. If you just post what looks like static ads into social, you won’t get very far. The best content is designed specifically for the platform like setting up a fun poll on Instagram or introducing a crazy filter on TikTok.

Your organic content shouldn’t come across too sales-oriented. Try to connect with your followers rather than just try to get something from them.

3. Venture Further Afield

If you aren’t getting the same social media reach on your old tried and true social media platforms (and you’re not), try one that’s still trying to prove itself.

TikTok isn’t for every brand, but if you have a client for whom it’s a good match, it has a lot more organic reach than Facebook or Instagram. Since TikTok is still number four, it’s working harder to get you onboard. If you want to go viral, you just might be able to do it on TikTok. But now is the time to take advantage of this romance period.

TikTok is currently the fourth most popular social media platform (following Facebook, YouTube and Instagram) but it is growing faster than any of them. In 2021, it grew 45% before the year was even out… by September.

And here’s the thing… once people follow your client on TikTok they are likely to follow them on other platforms too.

4. Focus on Faces

No matter what kind of widgets or gizmos your client is selling, they need to feature people’s faces prominently in their social media. A study of Instagram showed that faces attract more likes and comments… a lot more. 32% more.

People want to connect with companies today. They are looking for a company they can trust. So, keep it warm and populate your client’s social media with people.

5. Authentically Communicate and Interact

If you want to up your engagement and augment your social media reach, take advantage of the tremendous opportunities social media gives you to authentically interact with customers.

Ask questions – and listen to the answers. Social media is a great opportunity to get free input from clients. You don’t even have to put together a focus group.

Ask you’re the audience to post photos of themselves using your client’s product – with a specific hash tag of course. If your client sells scarves, ask their customers to post photos of themselves wearing the scarves in creative ways. The most creative post could win a new scarf every week for a year.

Take polls on Instagram, invite duets on TikTok. Always be looking for ways to interact.

6. Don’t Leave People Hanging

When people comment, it means a lot when a company responds. But keep it light, keep it human. Try not to sound like a banker.

The more you engage, the more engagement you will get in return. People like to be heard.

Umbrella Can Help

No need to fret about reduced social media reach. If you would like to see your clients leap to the next level in their social media presence and engagement, the experts at Umbrella can help. You can resell white label social media services that will dazzle your clients. We can handle it from start to finish.

If this sounds interesting, contact Umbrella for a free consultation. Let’s talk.