46 Expert Tips for Boosting Organic Social Growth

Author's avatar Social Media UPDATED Apr 9, 2024 PUBLISHED Sep 22, 2023 32 minutes read

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    Peter Caputa

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    Organic social media is an effective strategy to grow your social channels provided you’re ready to think outside the box to engage with your audience.

    By growing your account organically and consistently engaging with your target audiences, you can reap lots of rewards, such as increasing your brand loyalty, improving customer care, boosting your SEO, and much more.

    But where to start? Take a look at expert tips shared by 46 social media pros.

    Here’s an overview of what you’ll learn today.

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    What is Organic Social Growth?

    Organic social growth is the growth of your social media channels without paid advertising. It’s achieving your social media goals with your actions, for instance, by regularly engaging with your audience, building a community, and other effective ways that you’ll learn in this post.

    What is the Difference between Organic and Paid Social?

    Organic social growth involves growth through a solid social media strategy guiding your actions on social. On the flip side, paid social growth involves growth with the help of an effective advertising campaign.

    Since both these social growth strategies are different, you’ll have to measure your performance using different metrics too. For example, engagement and engagement rates are some metrics to track when it comes to organic growth in social media.

    Similarly, cost per action, conversion rate, and click-through rate are some important paid social metrics to follow.

    If you’re planning to improve your paid social strategy in addition to enhancing your organic growth, we’ve lots of resources to help you. Here’s are just some of them to get you started:

    46 Ways to Drive Growth from Organic Social

    Our experts had some interesting tips for organic social media growth. Here is a list of all these tactics, followed by the details:

    Ready to grow your social organically? Dig in:

    1. Select a social channel according to your audience

    “There is no best social channel for all business types, as something that performs well on one, might not perform well on another,” observes CodeGalaxy’s James Boatwright.

    This means “you need to look at your audience and content and figure out what social channel fits your audience best.” For example, Boatwright shares, “For us, we’ve had the most success with Facebook because that’s where most of the parents of our students interact with us.”

    What’s more, each social network comes with its own advantages. For instance, “the most effective social channel in terms of driving organic traffic is LinkedIn,” opines Karthik Subramanian of NurtureBox.

    So if you find yourself logging on to LinkedIn for your business or agency, keep Subramanian’s advice in mind: “The best way to drive traffic is to build a solid network in the same industry that you operate in. For example, if you are an SEO expert, then you need to have a network of content experts, marketing managers, in your network.”

    Similarly, Jonathan Aufray of Growth Hackers highlights, “Facebook and Instagram aren’t good for organic traffic. Why? Because you usually need to pay for ads to get traffic from those platforms. Indeed, Facebook organic reach is weak and without paying for ads, your Instagram ads won’t be clickable so you would have to tell your followers to click on the link on the bio.”

    In the same vein, Aufray shares, “Twitter is an underused social media platform to drive organic traffic and generate leads for your business. Thanks to consistent, daily quality posting on Twitter, and by using relevant hashtags, you can get qualified and targeted traffic to your site. We use Twitter as a traffic and lead gen channel for ourselves as well as for our clients and this is great if you don’t have a budget for advertising.”

    Generally, however, our experts have seen the most organic growth success on Facebook, followed by Instagram, and Twitter. Here’s the poll showing this:

    most effective social channel for organic growth graph

    Related: The Best Social Media Platforms for Business According to 30+ Experts

    2. Don’t spread yourself too thin

    When selecting social media channels, always make sure you don’t make a profile on every available network and end up spending zero focused time on any of them.

    Netbooknews’ Kenny Trinh is of the same mind: “Instead of attempting to develop a presence on all social networks, select just one or two social media channels to engage on. Develop a clear and in-depth engagement strategy for each, based on the demographics of each platform.

    If your product is targeted to males, for example, you shouldn’t include Pinterest in your marketing strategy. And if you are marketing to other businesses, studies say that you are more likely to find success on LinkedIn than on Facebook.

    Once you have selected the correct channels, develop a unique content strategy for each, and cross-promote each channel to ensure that potential buyers are able to connect with you on all of them.

    Connect with potential buyers or customers, by posting interesting content, encouraging and weighing in on discussions, or by sharing educational information. Engage with industry leaders via Google Hangouts or LinkedIn communities, or position yourself as a thought leader by publishing whitepapers or answers on Quora.”

    3. Have a social strategy in place

    J.Muir and Associates’s Jane W. Muir has the same recommendation as Trinh above shared. Muir comments, “Work with your social media marketing strategy where you can kind prospect leads and best organic traffic for your website, it helps a lot for your promotions to make your company more exposed to future leads/clients.”

    4. Make your social accounts memorable

    Yes, that’s important too. This way, your audience will keep coming back to you. In this regard, Lucas Piotrowski of Upmenu.com shares, “My best tip is to make your social media presence super-memorable by:

    • Using an easy-to-remember name
    • Using an easy-to-recognize logo
    • Using a trackable link to my site
    • Using natural sounding but keyword-rich descriptions”

    Piotrowski recommends, “Make sure that these four rules run through every single aspect of my social media presence to create a strong brand.”

    Related: Social Media and SEO: 13 Ways They Work Together To Boost Your Visibility

    5. Target the right audience

    Without it, you might as well be building relationships with ghosts.

    Pantelides PR’s Kerri Paizzi sheds light on this: “To increase leads through social media, you would have to target the appropriate audience, so you’re not falling on to deaf ears of people who wouldn’t be interested in your product or service.

    Something that’s been trending for the past year or two is discussion groups on Facebook. For example, a mom group or neighborhood group or a group for people to get expert advice on a specific topic like finance or a sport. It makes users feel like they are part of a community and engaged in the conversation.”

    6. Decide what’ll make your social channel unique

    In other words, figure out your social media’s unique selling proposition. Ask yourself: what’s something unique that my audience will get from my social channel.

    Rob Sanders from Socially Found adds, “When posting to social media, you need to have a reason why your target audience wants to read it and take action, as opposed to filling up your timeline with posts that don’t.

    The service you provide is a solution to a pain point, something that you can offer that will either help resolve what they are wanting to accomplish or at the very least, give them the guidance on where to begin. Saying that, the post needs to call out your audience, the outcome they are wanting to achieve and how the service you provide will solve it. Your post should always have a CTA so that you can continue the connection through to wherever you want to take them.”

    7. Build your audience

    “The best way to drive leads, traffic and business growth from organic social media is to build an audience,” advises Carma Levene of Carma The Social Chameleon.

    The question now is: how do you build an audience? Levene has some suggestions for you:

    • “Show up for them (consistently), engage them, and entertain them.
    • Get to know them, ideally before you have a product to sell.

    Your audience needs to know what your brand stands for and identify that as an extension of their own personal brand so they become advocates, ambassadors, and long-term customers. And the way you do this is with content.”

    8. Offer value

    “Social media is an experience, not just a place to push out mindless ads,” outlines Dallas’ Best Home Buyers’ Jonathan Couch.

    Keeping this in mind: “If you can focus on providing value for your audience instead of promoting yourself, you’ll build credibility. Credibility, [in turn], leads to conversions.”

    Couch shares their example: “As a home buyer, we don’t offer to buy people’s homes on social media; rather, we offer to give them a free property valuation. Many times, a property valuation is something a homeowner can only get by consulting with a realtor and we make the process much easier and more convenient for all of the homeowners we work with.”

    Erin Heaney of The Brandon Agency echoes the same: “Bring value, but leave the audience wanting more. The idea with social media is to move people through different parts of your funnel. To create an intriguing, engaging environment where your audience can learn to know, like, and trust you, but then point back to a bigger product, service, or project. “

    Heaney continues, “The goal is to establish yourself as a thought leader or expert in your niche, enough so that when you present your offer as an extension of the value you already share, your audience knows they’re going to get something beneficial to them. The more value you bring, the more people your audience will grow and stick around.”

    Summing up, Henry Angeli from Henry Buys Homes says, “Provide FREE value to the market share of the audience you are trying to reach.”

    9. Post frequently

    “The frequency at which [you] post is another huge factor to growing organic traffic,” notes  Colorescience’s Sanem Ahearn. “We use the algorithm to our advantage so other accounts that relate to our content will see our content more frequently.”

    Essentially, posting frequently helps you stay on top of your audience’s mind. So plan a social media calendar with great content to maintain your social media’s posting consistency.

    But keep in mind what James Boatwright of CodeGalaxy says, “When it comes to social media, posting more isn’t always better. Sometimes posting 1-2 times a day will be more beneficial than posting 10 times a day. That actually allows your content to gain more momentum and possibly go viral.”

    10. Create a consistent posting schedule

    “The best tip for driving traffic, leads, and growth from social media is to make sure that you have a consistent posting schedule,” shares Taylor Wilson of Movers Chicago.

    Depending on the niche, this could be as often as 2-3 times a day or perhaps a couple of times a week. Your audience will know that you are active on social media and will begin to look for your posts.”

    11. Post when your audience is active

    Not only is consistent posting essential, but posting when your audience is active on each social channel is the key to organic social media. Insurance Panda’s James Major. “The best tip for driving traffic from social media is to post at the right time. If you are trying to sell real estate in New York City, you shouldn’t send your post out Sunday morning at 3 AM EST. People simply won’t see it.”

    Major also adds, “Posting at the right time can increase the chance of likes, comments, shares, and overall interaction. It’s best to learn what times are best to post to each social network. According to Sprout Social, the best times to post are:

    • Facebook: Wednesday, 11 a.m. and 1–2 p.m.
    • Instagram: Wednesday at 11 a.m. and Friday from 10 a.m.–11 a.m.
    • Twitter: Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m.
    • Linkedin: Wednesday from 8–10 a.m. and noon, Thursday at 9 a.m. and 1–2 p.m., and Friday at 9 a.m.”

    12. Add video to your social channels

    “Over the last year I have noticed video content driving the most organic traffic and growth from social media,” shares The Search Guy’s, Jon Zacharias.

    Here’s why: “With YouTube being one of the most visited platforms that is able to keep a viewer for hours at a time and the huge emergence of TikTok in the last year. IGTV and Instagram Reels have also been able to establish themselves as competitors in the market.

    I think it is very clear that video is the future of marketing. It is an exciting time for marketers right now as the window of opportunity with video creation is endless.”

    This is why Zacharias advises, “Differentiate your video content based on the social media platform you are using. Each platform has a different demographic and trends/types of videos that do best. Spend some time figuring out your demographic and which platforms are best for your business. Once you have that secured, focus on the specific variations of content for each platform.”

    Nina Cleere of Andres Mejer Law shares more ways to optimize your video content. Cleere suggests:

    • “Post consistently.
    • Create a good title by researching what people are looking for.
    • Make sure your first 30 – 60 seconds are a good summary and reiterate that in your description.
    • Create a good thumbnail that stands out.
    • Research tags and use them.
    • Use cards at the beginning and end of each video.”

    13. Engage, engage, engage

    “Focus on engagement above everything else,” points out Nikola Roza of Nikola Roza- SEO for the Poor and Determined. “Because of these 3 quick reasons”

    First, engaging the followers you already have builds goodwill with them, so they are more likely to become your customers in the future. But also more likely to share your content more often. This will expose you to new audiences.

    Second, the more people engage with your account, the more the algorithm is going to promote your account everywhere. Because you’re obviously posting engaging and interesting content, and because algorithms follow people.

    Third, your potential new followers are going to notice your engagement with your old subscribers. So they’re going to follow you expecting the same treatment. And then we’re back to point one, engaging these new people will push them to buy from you and promote you further.”

    Katrina Dalao of Referral Rock recommends the same: “Engage with others This doesn’t just apply to comments and reposts. Send a shout out to people who are helping your business succeed, whether it’s a great client who recently launched or a regular contributor to your blog.”

    For example, The Quality Edit’s Lauren Kleinman shares, “My team and I respond to just about every comment in a timely manner (less than 4-5 hours) and also monitor any ads we’re running across social platforms to respond to comments there as well.”

    Similarly, here’s another way to engage with your audience: “Utilizing engaging questions/warranting simple responses has shown to drive the most engagement for organic growth,” shares Alex Cascio from Vibrant Media Productions.

    “We often do something along the lines of 2 photos and ask (almost like a poll) which one our audience likes more. Our hashtags are related to our industry and what we’re targeting, people find the images from the discover pages/hashtags. This has really helped our organic growth/sales.”

    Asking questions is an effective way to engage your followers. Two more of our respondents suggested the same tip. Thomas Bolt of Big EVAL, for instance, writes, “Stir up a conversation. Rather than posting statements, always ask questions and ask for opinions. This is a great way to create engagement.”

    Overnight Flowers’ Brett Banchek adds, “On our social media platforms, we try to answer questions before a customer even has to ask them. We like to explain our products and every detail of our services. That way, our customers feel secure and educated with every order that they place.”

    Here’s another bright idea tip: “Conduct regular surveys and calls with your customer-base to get a better sense of who they are, where they hang out, what content they like to engage with, what brands they follow and engage with, and personal details like their hobbies and interest. Take this data and use it as the blueprint for your social posts,” according to Datis Mohsenipour HeyOrca!

    Related: 16 Ways To Measure Social Media Engagement Using Only Google Analytics

    14. Write attention-grabbing headlines

    “The most important thing for driving leads and traffic from social media is a stellar headline,” opines Unseen Japan’s Jay Allen.

    “The headline is what people’s eyes will gravitate to first. And, with the flood of information, we all much sift through these days, you need to stop people from scrolling straight past your content. I personally recommend using a headline writer helper to assist with crafting a great headline that contains a mix of uncommon, emotional, and power words. My favorite currently is the new Headline Analyzer that comes with Monster Insights.”

    15. Become part of several social communities

    “The best tip for driving traffic, leads, and growth from organic social media marketing is by establishing a presence in various communities, for example, Facebook groups,” shares Boundery’s Jason Akatiff.

    “Figuring out a way to organically engage and formulate relationships within Facebook groups allows you to genuinely market your product to thousands of members. Especially in this time of a global pandemic, when people are spending so much of their time online. It is important to never underestimate the power and need for human connection.

    People are lonelier than ever, stuck inside their homes, not able to socialize in person or enjoy typical activities such as restaurants, bars, concerts, museums, etc. Many are resorting to spending that time connecting online in forums, chats, and Facebook groups. This type of marketing requires an initial investment of time and strategy but ultimately delivers high rewards.”

    16. Tap into influencer marketing

    WOW Skin Science’s Ashwin Sokke has another useful tip for developing organic social growth. “Due to customer buying behavior changes that have occurred since the pandemic and lockdown, we have shifted a lot of our marketing budget towards SEO and influencer marketing. Our influencer outreach team uses insense.pro and carro to gather influencers to give us UGC (user-generated content).

    Here’s how their process unrolls: “Most of the time we give them [influencers] free products in exchange for a video testimonial/usage and recommendation. We also have a collaboration program, where we get access to influencers’ Facebook page/Instagram page to advertise their generated content, it makes it more personalized and gives our brand more reach.

    Depending on the influencer we give $100/month base pay for getting access to their FB page. We also give them a 5% rev share to all sales that they generate through their links when I say links we use Everflow platform to set up the offers they push.

    Our media buying team works with their FB pages to promote any products they pushed using UGC ads. These strategies have proven to be the most successful in driving traffic and growth from social media, but please consider each industry is distinct and the current state of the world has had a major effect on our decisions.”

    17. Use relevant hashtags

    This can also help with your organic social media. “Use hashtags on your post that are related to your product or industry niche, the more specific the better!” shares Katie Fellenz of Trust and Will.

    “People tend to think if they use the most popular hashtag, they will reach a bigger audience, and drive more traffic to their site. However, if you use a super popular hashtag, your post will most likely end up getting lost in the sea of other posts with that tag.

    When you use super-specific, less popular hashtags, they are seen by fewer people but these are the people who are looking for something related to your product. They are much more likely to interact with your page and convert to customers.”

    JungleTopp Media’s Walter Wertz adds to this: “Make sure you are using relevant hashtags and tagging people appropriately. Hashtags will let you get in on the conversation, and tagging the right people can help encourage conversation.”

    One thing to bear in mind though: “Make sure you don’t use too many hashtags, so they can clutter the most and make it look unprofessional,” suggests Wertz.

    18. Use hashtags correctly too

    Not only is using relevant hashtags important but using them correctly is also essential.

    Morgan Lobert of MARION says, “Use hashtags (correctly)! It seems like so many businesses, especially B2B ones, are unaware of what a huge asset hashtags are. In today’s ‘pay-to-play’ social landscape, hashtags are one of the few strategies businesses have left to increase their reach and get their content in front of potential leads.

    On the other end of the spectrum are those who spam hashtags on all of their posts — definitely not the way to go about it. Including too many hashtags on your post can also actually reduce your posts’ performance, so do some research on how many hashtags you should be using for each platform.”

    19. Create amazing social content

    “Primarily, you need to make something that is visually stimulating and, in order to get consumers to click to your website, creates a certain level of curiosity about something that they feel that they need to know about that relates directly to them,” shares Smart Rapper’s Rob Level.

    “Businesses can build that base simply off of the way that they word things and you can determine what type of things to build based on the content that they are on at the time.”

    Emily Gant of The Loop Marketing also shares, “Have intriguing content. If your audience is visually driven, have something in your social media strategy that entices them to follow through. Ask a question, post an image of an adorable animal, be genuine.”

    “The best way to drive traffic from social media is to create and share interesting and engaging content,” Kevin Miller of The Word Counter sums up. “In this day and age, social media users are constantly bombarded with clickbait titles and endless streams of information. To stand out from the crowd and actually get people to pay attention to what your brand is doing you have to make your content both interesting and engaging.”

    20. Create super specific content

    When it comes to creating content for social media, you need both engaging content and content that’s specific to your audience’s interest. Morgan Goettge of morgankg.com, “When it comes to driving leads organically through social media, it is critical that your content is super specific and targeted to your ideal audience.

    If you create content that is very generic, it might not speak to any specific person and you likely will not get the results that you expected. This is why creating specific, targeted content is so important. If you have identified your target audience and can speak to them through your content, they are way more likely to show interest!”

    Related: The Methods and Tools 57 Agencies Use to Measure Social Media ROI

    21. Create content that encourages engagement

    Along the same vein, Wright Outcomes’ Rachele Wright says, “Create content that leads to communication – comments, DMs, shares. The more your message can spread from shares and bring back new eyes who then have something to communicate with you about, the faster your business will grow.”

    22. Create both conversational and work-themed content

    Chima Mmeje from Zenith SEO Copywriting Service adds another important point here. “Have a mix of both conversational and work-themed content.”

    For example, Mmeje shares, “I use LinkedIn and Facebook to reach a wider audience. But I’ve noticed that on both platforms, the content that performs best is usually when I post a funny story about a personal experience and tie it into a lesson. The best storytellers on social media are usually those who have the highest engagement levels.”

    23. Repurpose and reshare content

    You don’t always have to create new content from the scratch. You can also repurpose content. SilverTech’s Erin Presseau points out, Many times clients will say they don’t have enough content to support several organic posts a week. However, usually, that isn’t necessarily true. One case study on your website can support several posts – use different headlines to tease out different angles or topics for the same case study.

    One angle of the story that resonates with one may not resonate with another. Use different images where appropriate. Don’t assume that if you put out content for sharing once that most people have seen it.”

    Presseau, for example, says “We repurpose, re-use and re-share as much as possible to derive better insights into what people are looking for and to generate the best results. Of course, don’t forget to link back to your site and tell viewers why they should click on it (what will they get out of it?).”

    24. Visually repurpose your content

    “Don’t just post a link on Twitter or Facebook, that doesn’t work. It has never worked.

    Instead, take the time to visually repurpose all of your top content for social media,” says Venngage’s Ryan McCready.

    You can create a ton of visual or social media content just by repurposing the interesting information from a blog post, video, podcast, or presentation. With these visuals, you can not only drive a ton of clicks back to your main site, but you can start building a more engaged and informed following.”

    Related: How To Use Twitter As a Powerful Social Prospecting Tool

    25. Post live content too

    “Create content based on the virtual events you attend and then share that content to help others learn and grow,” advises Bruce Harpham of SaaS Marketing Services. “Earlier this month, I attended the virtual SaaS North conference. On day two of the conference, I shared my conference notes in a blog post on social media and in the conference chat. I saw a spike in highly engaged readers (50+ users) right away and positive feedback.”

    26. Be consistent in your efforts

    “Consistency, consistency, consistency,” notes Sean Nguyen of Internet Advisors. “The social media game is all about being consistent, cohesive, and present. It’s not enough to post, you have to post regularly. That is what attracts and maintains traffic and engagement.

    The reasoning is simple – people like your content, they see that you post every day, and they come back to see. Or they follow you. If you only post once in a blue moon, they will return a couple of times, and then give up. Maintain a consistent presence, so that you are regularly on your followers’ feeds.”

    CarInsurance.org’s Vickie Pierre is also of the same opinion. “When it’s all said and done, the most important thing anyone can do to see success from organic social media marketing is to be consistent. It’s really simple: the more consistently you post, the more likely you’ll show up in newsfeeds. The more consistently you strive to create quality posts, the more you’ll get followers’ attention.

    And the more consistently you engage with followers, the more you’ll see results. It’s an approach that takes time, and may not always yield immediate results. However, as you work to build a consistent social media presence, you’ll end up attracting more committed followers who will click those links, follow those leads, and build your customer base.”

    “You need to be regularly posting well-written posts, paying careful attention to your pitch (wording) and any image(s) you use should be both appealing and relevant,” adds David Hepplewhite from Norgeseo.

    “A good balance seems to be 3 times per week. This gets people used to seeing your brand out there, and the law of averages dictates that you will inevitably gain a following which grows exponentially over a short period of time driving an undeniable spike in traffic, leads, and ultimately, growth. If you are in a position to offer discounts in your posts, then all the better.

    People read engaging social media posts, and if they take the time to read your postings then they are 10x more likely to follow through and visit your site, and, of course, share it within their circles.

    On a final note, it’s important to remember that search bots such as Google love fresh content, so if you are posting quality posts on a regular basis, then you will see an improvement in your Google indexing, visibility, and overall presence.”

    27. Be yourself

    “The best tip is to be yourself,” says Aimé Mukendi, Jr. aka Sir Aimézing, social media influencer of SirAimezing.com. “People gravitate toward people who are being authentic. It’s about engagement. You want to give the people what they want. Survey them. Use story polls. Shoutout to followers. Go Live with pages and businesses within your niche.”

    28. Jump into conversations

    Money Minx’s Hussein Yahfoufi shares another tip for organic social media: “The best tip is to engage with your potential users/clients/customers in an honest and natural way.

    What I mean by this is that you have to first know who you are targeting, know what they are talking about, and then join the conversation. Make a list of keywords or topics of discussion that your user base cares about then do searches on the social media platforms to find those conversations. Once you find the conversations jump in by adding value first. Once you build rapport with people you can then start discussing your business and driving traffic to your site from there.”

    29. Position yourself as an expert

    “Position yourself and your business as the expert,” recommends Uplift Academy’s Ousha Demello. “This can be reflected through your social media profile. Tweak your profile for better visibility using different techniques such as ensuring that your user name is easy t to remember, add photos, key words, and brand logo that is catchy and recognizable, add links to your website and other contacts.

    But most importantly ensure that your bio represents you as a professional using keywords such as professional, expert, inspirational, award winner, years of experience in the field, qualifications, bestselling author, basically anything that you have done that will help you be perceived as an expert in your field. You can also cross-promote your social media profile by converting your Facebook likes into your tweeter followers and so forth.”

    30. Tickle your audience’s curiosity

    “Sometimes less is more, and this is often the case when it comes to driving traffic and growth from organic social media,” observes Michelle Owens of Healing Crystals.

    “When social media content leaves viewers fully satisfied, it is less likely that they will take the additional step of visiting your website and converting. However, when the content acts as a tease that inspires curiosity, it is likely to have the effect of compelling that viewer to visit your site and potentially help generate conversations.

    Once you have formulated the right content to pursue this strategy, ensure that you using a vibrant social network that is in growth mode and pushing organic content into users’ feeds.”

    31. Be omnipresent

    Spy’s Vita Savenko insists, “One of the best ways to drive organic growth on social media is to be very present, post a lot and engage with your followers. Ask questions, comment back, like comments, and be omnipresent.

    Your followers will respond if you show up, and the algorithm on the platform will account for your engagement and prioritize your content as coming from a real, authentic account that people are responding to.”

    32. Tag others in your community

    Another effective way to grow your social media organically comes from Robert Rand of JetRails: “Don’t go it alone! Whether it’s suppliers, vendors, customers, or strategic partners, engage in tagging others in your community in meaningful ways in order to grow your social media audience and engagement.”

    33. Leave lots of comments

    TJ Kelly of FansRaise, Inc. recommends: “Live in the comments! These are *social* tools. Anyone who’s spent a day on Facebook, Instagram, or any other social app knows that the comments are where the action is.

    Post your content, encourage comments (questions work best), and respond to every single one. Bonus points if you end your comment responses with another question to encourage users to answer/respond again.”

    Related: 12 of the Best Social Media Tools for Marketers to Promote, Sell, & Manage Their Brand

    34. Poll your audience

    “Ask a question in a poll,” suggests Mostly Blogging’s Janice Wald. “For instance, I asked, “Have you grabbed our free course on how to make passive income?” I only had two choices for answers in the poll:

    • Yes, and Send Me the Link.
    • 90% of respondents asked me to send them the link.

    I sent the link in the Instagram DM along with an introductory blurb. After I followed up in the DM, a percentage signed up! Notice, I used a funnel. I used the #PassiveIncome hashtag to generate interest. The poll engaged and generated further interest. A portion of those, 90%, asked for the link, and a portion of those purchased. These are free tips. I was able to market by using Instagram DMs without spending any money at all. You don’t need a budget to use these marketing methods.”

    35. Show how people can use your products

    “If you offer products or have an online store, then the best way that you can effectively utilize social media is to offer unique, innovative ways to use those products,” shares Balance Blends’ Dr. Colette Widrin.

    “Your website or online store can only share so much information. However, your social media platforms offer limitless opportunities to share videos, infographics, and how-to guides. Plus, you can start discussions among those who currently use your products.”

    36. Share educational content

    This way, you can double the value that you offer your followers on social. For example, Carrie McKeegan of Greenback Expat Tax Services comments, “We like to be sure that our current and potential customers are informed, so we always provide the latest tax updates and offer helpful tips – even if you don’t use our services. This can drive traffic to our website with each click and share.”

    37. Add a link to your social profiles

    Andre Oentoro of Breadnbeyond notes, “The best tip to drive traffic, leads, and growth from organic social media is to include a link in your posts and social profiles. This will drive traffic to your website. If your content is interesting enough and you include a link, there’s a high chance that your users will click on it– increasing the chances of gaining more traffic.”

    38. Don’t post links alone

    “I see companies doing the same mistake over and over again that prevents them from getting any traction,” writes Nettly’s Thorstein Nordby. “First, stop posting links to your website or YouTube video and just publish a video or text post without sending people away from LinkedIn [or any other social network for that matter].

    Second, post something that makes people stop and pay attention. This can be a personal story, your unique perspective on something, dispelling a myth or a best practice, or just share something positive.

    Lastly, when you see that initial engagement, prioritize replying and liking any comments you get in the next 24 hours. This will amplify your posts and make sure it reaches a bigger part of your network.”

    39. Set a response time

    “Response time and interaction is very important,” reminds Notyfy’s Simon Wicki. “A tool that puts your notification in one place is very helpful in this regard, too.”

    40. Pay attention to writing captions

    “The best tip in terms of driving traffic is to prepare an excellent creation (copy and image) that correspond with a place where you want to redirect an audience’s attention,” says Marcin Nieweglowski from Digital Now.

    A copy must be short and sweet. If you have a problem to cope with it, think how to encompass the essence of a theme in one tweet or just treat it as an elevator pitch.

    When it comes to image that depicts your content, it has to include a strong call-to-action. You have to show people what they should do when they come across your post.

    And the last thing, which is not the least for sure, is a technical issue. You have to check if your content (article, for example) is optimized with social media standards in terms of view (and generate the best engagement). On Facebook, you can check it with Sharing Debugger tool. On LinkedIn, in turn, Post Inspector will be a useful tool for you.”

    41. Prioritize quality

    Filip Jędraszczyk of Listonic points out, “The phrase ‘quality over quantity’ has never been more true. Having so much information to choose from, users do not engage in the content that does not stand out. Therefore, invest in the quality of your social media posts from the very beginning.”

    Grazitti Interactive’s Nancy Kapoor is also of the same view: “Work smarter, not harder.

    Facebook displays only 1 out of 5 stories that flood a user’s news feed on a daily basis. Clearly, posting more frequently on social media is not the way to go.

    Focus on posting high-quality, super-relevant content. Lesser content of higher quality will help you boost organic reach, as opposed to spamming your audience feed. Remember, there is no perfect number of daily social media posts. Experiment and see what helps you expand engagement.”

    42. Post evergreen content

    “Post evergreen content: ‘Create evergreen content’ is one of those things that’s easier said than done,” suggests PureVPN’s Muhammad Mateen Khan.

    “A typical post on social media, especially on giants like Twitter or Facebook, can have a widely varied lifespan. These posts also need to be engaging. You may work in a boring or dry industry, but you can still find a way to make your posts stand out despite the subject matter.

    The bottom line is this:

    • Don’t publish content with an expiration date.
    • Consider solving common and persistent problems in your industry. Even better, try to post something educational and funny. Humor, shock, or awe are great emotions to target with evergreen content.
    • People will always share positive posts more than negative ones.

    43. Host challenges, contests, and giveaways

    “Social media is all about interaction. Combine that with people’s natural instinct for competition, and you’ve got a winner!” observes Easypromos’ Corinna Keefe. “Challenges, contests, and competitions on social media are a sure-fire way to boost organic engagement and reach new followers.”

    Amanda Milovich of Serendipit Consulting adds to this: “Engagement quizzes (with a discount paired with it) are a slam dunk for getting people to give us their information in return for a small offer. Typeform is our preferred tool for this initiative.”

    Lastly, Krissy Selda from FitRated.com recommends “A great way to drive traffic and growth to your social channels is by having a giveaway or contest. A common entry method for contests that effectively drive growth is to require participants to follow the account and tag their friends in the comments of the post.”

    44. Offer freebies

    In addition to hosting competitions, consider offering freebies. Vlad Szilagyi of CommercialCafe notes, “Driving traffic and leads from organic social media goes hand in hand with product sampling strategies or ‘freebie’ offers

    In this type of approach, you center everything around your product and offer free demos or product samples to a broad audience that you will later retarget through other channels, such as email.”

    45. Conduct a monthly social media audit

    Yustyna Grynyk of CIENCE Technologies has another essential tip for organically growing your social media: “The biggest thing is testing and experimentation. Measure both reach and engagements. Review monthly to get a more complete picture of which types of content are shared at the highest rates, and double down on those.

    Here are some questions you can ask yourself:

    1. Which persona would be interested in this post?
    2. Will they find this valuable or helpful?
    3. Are all of our posts commercials, or is it a mix of promotion and helpfulness?
    4. Would I share this post if I weren’t the Social Media Manager?
    5. Is the image engaging and optimized for social sharing?”

    Related: The 24 Social Media Metrics That 95 Marketers Agree You Should Be Tracking

    46. Be responsive and a little humorous

    Social media is all about authentic engagement and timing. Bringing a bit of humor to the conversation helps to be more authentic,” shares Peter Thaleikis of Bring your own ideas Ltd.

    “Channels that have managed to reduce the traditional ‘stiffness’ of business achieve higher levels of engagement.  To put it plainly: Humor shows there is a human on the other end of the Internet. Being responsive is important too, of course.

    social-media-databoard-databox-template

    In times of instant services and information waiting for days to get a response isn’t working anymore. It’s valuable time in which the conversation goes without you and might turn sour. Being there, as a real human and in time is what matters more than having an answer to any question.

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    Masooma Memon

    Masooma is a freelance writer for SaaS and a lover to-do lists. When she's not writing, she usually has her head buried in a business book or fantasy novel.

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