Organic Posts:

Your news feed is seen less and less by your followers, and if you stop to think about it, you know it to be true. If you saw 100% of what your friends posted, you’d scroll and scroll, well beyond the 142 minute a day average. As a consumer, you see about 2% of the organic posts for brands you follow. So why bother with organic posting at all?

For the same reason you’d never send someone to a blog that only contains two posts, you can’t expect to make a great impression without a consistent posting history. Anyone researching a brand will visit your feed to understand who you are and what you’re about. Without content, there is no story with which to engage. This is also where consistency in posting a mixture of interesting, shareable content will pay off in algorithmic dividends. Over time, those generating the most engagement will get the most benefit from their content (both paid and organic).

Like Peas and Carrots

Organic and paid posting go hand-in-hand. An effective strategy contains both. Organic posts should be content that comes at a regular pace in mixed formats (image, video, link, short statements, hashtags, stories) and is crafted to inform, entertain, or benefit the reader. My friend Nick Behling calls this “giving.” Your providing something without asking for something in return. Old radio types might call this “surprise and delight.” However you describe it, that’s what organic is for.

Your paid posts are where your ask takes place. For the simple reason that you are seeking a return on marketing expense, the posts you boost or paid ad units you place should ask your viewer to take an action, even if you do so softly. These expenses should be tracked, and the learning about them analyzed. If a video did extremely well but a static did not, create more of the type that garnered the better outcome. But remember to mix your media and message here as well, as repeated messages eventually become wallpaper. A consistently engaging organic strategy will reap rewards for you in paid, as a brand performing well organically will always perform better in paid. Facebook’s machine will account for brands committed to users through engaging material.

Whatever your social activity, have a strategy you are tracking and reviewing at a regular cadence. If it comprises both organic and paid, your outcomes will be better for it.