If you're a small business and you do not have a solid organic social media strategy you, my friend, are doing said small business a huge disservice. Organic social media is every small business's secret weapon. (and that is NOT an overstatement!)
The Clever Catalyst has a laughable following count on all of the social media accounts but a dedicated strategy and it shows! Not a month goes by that we aren't getting notifications of comments, and questions and DM's and actual sales are being tracked having originated on our modest social media profiles.
Organic social media has been essential for as long as social media has been a thing, but even more so since the pandemic. Today we're detailing our top 5 reasons why Organic Social Media is YOUR small business's secret weapon.
#1 Organic Social Media Allows You to Show Up!
The information available about and regarding YOUR business matters! And if you aren't putting information out there - someone else is or worse you don't exist.
Most small businesses will have a website and that's GREAT but it's not enough. When someone searches your business name - you want to be dominating that first page of search results. You want any interested customer to be able to find more information about you than they could ever want.
Social media is one of the best ways to accomplish this. You will show up via your website and via EACH social media platform, you create and get traction on. Search "the clever catalyst" in Google and what do you see? A whole bunch of us!
Pro-tip: Think of each social media platform as a search engine of its own.
So by maintaining a basic and informational presence on all channels you are not only conveying to interested parties that yes you do in fact exist and yes you are open for business BUT also that you take the time to devote to connecting with your consumers. And for a lot of people that matters more than anything else.
#2 Organic Social Media Allows you to Distinguish Yourself!
Similar to a website, or a business card, or a commercial, or any other form of marketing - Organic Social Media allows you to distinguish yourself from all of your competitors. The advantage to organic social media over all of those other forms of marketing is it is MUCH CHEAPER!
A well-worded Tweet, a thoughtful caption, or even a lengthy micro-blog for Instagram can make a splash much faster than you could even get the wheels in motion for a website change and for much less money than is needed to even produce a 30-second ad slot - to say nothing of the ad buy itself!
Organic social media allows you to speak directly to an interested audience at break-neck speeds for little resource investments. Plus organic social media content doesn't have to be a one-time investment. You can reuse social media posts in a variety of other ways including:
Reusing on social media at a later date or another platform
Expanding content into blog or webpage content
Using a well made organic social media graphic as a visual element in a paid ad
Embed a ticker of a social media feed on your website to always showcase your latest information
Use as a sort of portfolio for potential clients
Incorporate into course/webinar/print content
Is the reusability of the content worth producing in the first place? Of course not. But let's not forget the value it can produce for the business just by sitting on your profiles and answering questions for your audience.
#3: Organic Social Media Allows You to Connect With your Audience
So far most of the benefits we've discussed have not been uniquely suited to social media but rather an avenue worth pursuing via social media. This tip is where we break that trend. Connection is a purely social media tactic!
You won't be able to convince me otherwise! (seriously don't bother)
Social media allows for real-time interaction with customers, fans, and just regular, plain-ole-boring-everyday-people, which is hella undervalued by the way! And here's the best part - being small is actually a HUGE BENEFIT to you on social media.
I said what I said!
As a small business owner, you have much more control and access to business social media accounts, and because there are likely very few people (often less than a plural amount) managing the accounts it can be very very easy to make connections.
And do you know what's better than a new customer?
A new, already invested in your business customer!
Not sure how to get started on social media?
Text us we'll give you some advice. For free. No strings.
#4: Organic Social Media Allows You to SELL!
This fact surprises people. You can make sales on organic social media alone! This is a fact. I have done it. I know others who have done it. The logic tracks, the data tracks, it's a fact. I mean short of an actual study being conducted this is a real as it gets!
How? Simple. Trust. Organic social media above almost anything else allows you to provide so much information to your audience. Information about the business, the owner and staff, the products, the reputation, and literally anything else you want to share!
Overtime social media users are seeing your brand again and again. They are seeing positive reviews. They are seeing you respond to comments. They are seeing new sales, new products, and new hires. Over time trust is built.
Do you know what trust does? It sells products. It sells services. It spreads the word. It supports your small business. All of these things translate to money.
Is it as fast as paid advertising? No. Can you measure ROI as easily? HARD NO! Is it still worth it? In my opinion. HELL YES!
Paid leads are bought on dollars and organic leads are bought on connection. One is not better than the other but one is more intentional than the other.
#5: Organic Social Media is FUN!
Let's be real for a minute. A lot of the stuff that comes along with running a business is not that much fun. I'm looking at you, TAXES! But organic social media is.
You own this business. That means you control what goes out on your social media accounts. Honestly, working on our own social media content is one of our favorite projects as a team.
And back when I was too small to have help, I loved having the time each week to focus on my business, and being me! It kept me motivated. It got me excited. It honestly kept me going for a decent amount of the 2020 portion of this neverending pandemic.
Prepare yourself though Organic Social Media is a long game!
Whether working with us, another company, or going it alone prepare yourself for a wait though. It is possible to start selling on social right out of the gate, don't get me wrong but I have to stress the importance of patience.
Keep an eye on your analytics, try different approaches and have fun with it but please understand that similar to SEO it can take MONTHS to nurture a lead on social media. And if you are just starting out it is going to take a couple of weeks at least to fill up your feeds and make yourself appear professional and legit.
However; fast forward a year or so and you will have grown your very own tiny community of people whose commonality is YOUR business. You are literally creating your own audience.
Even us, a start-up that survived their first year in business in 2020, ran by a bunch of misfits with a low social media engagement have over 500 followers on Twitter. This means every time we tweet something it shows up for 500+ people's phones. 500+ people who told Twitter to do exactly that!
That power. That's valuable.
And that's a low bar.
This is not the first time The Clever Catalyst has talked about Organic Social Media. In fact, we talk about Organic Social Media so often we are running a SUMMER SOCIAL SALE where we give away FREE social media content.
If you haven't claimed yours yet be sure to do so! Sale ends LABOR DAY 2021.