Five Organic Social Media Mistakes You Might Be Making

Mistakes, we all make them. Especially on social media. Look, don’t ask, the 2010s were a weird time for all of us.

There’s no denying social media is a strong tool when you use it right, but how do we know we are using it right? It’s no longer just about how many followers you have, no matter how much those bots asking if you want 1,000 followers for free make you think it is. (Tip #1: don’t respond to them, but you knew that already, didn’t you? Smart cookie 🍪).

How engaged is your audience? Do your followers message you and comment on your posts? How can you create a frothing fan base for your brand with purely organic content? We know not everyone can or wants to pay for advertising on social media, so we’ve put together five organic social media mistakes you might be making and some tips on how to correct them.

Focusing too much on quantity over quality.

There is no need to post five times a week, over saturating not only your feed but also your followers’ feeds with content that simply isn’t meaningful. We know you signed up for an online course with a ‘social media guru’ who told you the key to growing is posting as much and as often as you can. But, posting for the sake of posting can harm your brand as much as help it. Don’t do it.

Plan your content and think about WHY you’re doing this post; is it educational? Will it help sell your products? Will it entertain your audience? If it’s not relevant and you’re posting for the sake of posting, scrap it. We’re not saying you shouldn’t post often, but have a plan and post well.

Posting the same content across all channels, at the same time.

We get it, you don’t want to make a new piece of content for every platform. It took you three hours to come up with an idea for an Instagram post and the thought of thinking of another one for Facebook is daunting. But if you have the time and the resources, give it a go.

If you don’t have the time, just don’t post the same post on Instagram and Facebook at 3pm on a Tuesday and expect life-changing results. Space it out, days, even weeks apart, and amend according to your channel.

Chances are you’re probably using at least two different platforms for your brand. The way you use Facebook should be different to the way you use Instagram. Even your audiences should feel different between the two. Your Instagram audience might love a good meme and have a better sense of humour, while your Facebook audience may like more educational and product-focused posts. Learn how your audiences differ on each platform and use it to your advantage.

Not engaging with your audience.

There is nothing worse than tagging a brand in your story and being left on ’seen’. It’s almost as bad as being left on seen by your Tinder date you thought you had a really good night with. (Totally a hypothetical and did NOT happen to me, Darren!)

It makes you want to go hide in a shell and never engage with them again. So? Comment back to your audience, reply to their DMs and give them the love they deserve. It also creates conversation among your audience, encouraging other people to join in, meaning more comments, more engagement, and more eyes looking at your brand. 

You have no idea who your target audience actually is.

When you think of your community, who are they? 

• What do they do?
• How do they speak?
• Who do they follow on social media?
• What generation are they in?
• What forms of content do they share and consume?
• Where do they live?

Answer these questions and answer them well. After all, how can you create content that speaks to a specific audience if you don’t know who they are? Once you have thought about your ideal audience, voilà! You can create content that they are going to like and engage with.

Not making hashtags your friend.

We know you don’t want to hear it. We know thinking of a variety of hashtags after you’ve finally put a post together is annoying. But hashtags will help your organic content on Instagram and LinkedIn, whether you like it or not. Now, we aren’t talking about hashtagging anything and everything to get some attention. We want the right type of attention. We want people who are going to stick around and enjoy your content.

So, find some hashtags that suit your niche and run with them. Spice it up with each post and try some new ones. It may take a while to figure out what works and what doesn’t but if you want that organic reach, ya gotta use ’em.