The dream was that someone, really anyone, could build a brand without spending any money. All the brand marketer of tomorrow needed was time, ideas, and Final Cut Pro. Wieden+Kennedy, the Super Bowl, and the multi-hyphenate marketer slot will soon be history.
“That's a big problem. Hey, it's 2024. It's finally time to take this seriously,” he said. “Organic social is the starting point for marketing, and at this conference, organic social is the 20th most important thing for brands.”
Vaynerchuk may be right. Organic social is far down the priority list for most chief marketers. But publishers and influencers who create original content have failed to use organic social to gain traction, making TikTok one of the last platforms that marketers credit for organic success. What hope does a retailer or influencer have when it's about to be banned in the US? What brands of consumer packaged products? Digiday dug into the debate and weighed the pros and cons for marketers. We rely on organic social.
Lawsuit against Organic Social
Gareth Harrison, a strategist at UK social agency Social Chain, said the days when brand marketers could reach large audiences with social posts without much effort are “completely over”.
The well of engagement had run dry, Mr. Harrison argued.When other brands started using a similar friendly tone He argued that, in the same way as Paddy Power and Ryanair, it undermined the distinction between the two. “Their voices are being drowned out by the sounds of other brands that imitate that style of messaging,” he added.
Callum McMahon, executive strategy director at Born Social, said the company stopped encouraging marketers to focus on organic social about five years ago. “If you're looking at social, just focus on paid because that's the only way you can guarantee results,” he recalled advising clients.
Tom Sneddon, co-founder and managing director of social agency Supernova, said organic was at best a single tool in the marketing shed. “I've never built a brand on organic alone. It's a weapon at our disposal. We have to pull a few different levers. Anyone who claims to know is only half the story. I’m not telling them,” he said.
Ryanair's self-conscious TikTok may help it regain favor with European holidaymakers, but it won't help it compete with rival low-cost carriers.
“Organic social is hugely misunderstood. It was never built with scale in mind, and it was never built to assume social is free,” Sneddon added. “Doing it organically doesn’t get you in front of the people who need to get in front of you right away.”
Organic social examples
In reality, the case for organic social is really a case of word-of-mouth recommendations and targeting specific online communities. Social platforms that emphasize community engagement, such as Reddit, still encourage brands to use organic routes to reach consumers. The platform released free organic marketing tools just a few months ago.
For Sneddon, “word of mouth remains the single biggest motivator for brand trust. It's really hard to expand your reach… [but] It's very easy to scale through engagement. ” That can still be done, he argued, for brands that choose the right time and place. “If you can find a community, a place, a place of passion, and build positive emotions around it through highly engaged, highly targeted, highly memorable moments, organic social “I can definitely prove my worth,” he said.
For example, at last week's London Marathon, Supernova customer Backmarket, an e-commerce retailer specializing in refurbished high-tech products, used its social presence to ensure that race success I've picked out an example of a runner who owes a lot of money to this. ”that'It’s not about selling, it’s actually about presenting benefits and value.” said Sneddon.
Stephanie Schaefer, president and chief growth officer of Minnesota agency Social Rights, argued in favor of keeping organic social as an experimental channel. From a reach perspective, she admitted, “Organic is no good'It doesn't make as much sense as it used to.However, that'It's a great test and learning experience. ”
Marketers can experiment with new types of content and messaging without risking large media spends, she said. “This is a huge benefit of continuing with an organic strategy in addition to paid support. ”
For McMahon, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels have changed the advice Born Social has been offering. The former is now the “mainstay” of organic social client plans, he said.
In response to client requests, the company launched a newsroom service that produces reactive short-form videos on behalf of brands. “Earned reach is back in the spotlight on social,” he added. However, the pillars are more than just that. McMahon works with clients to pursue organic, use paid social to drive high-performing creative, and collaborate with creators to provide “a consistent story, a clear strategy for consumers.” He said he recommends the use of partnerships.
