It’s no secret we’re living in a world dominated by social media, yet organic social media growth still feels daunting. A recent 2024 study found that 62.6% of the world uses social media, with an average daily time spent on socials being 2 hours and 20 minutes. How are you taking advantage of that for your business? At Odd Dog Media, we specialize in helping businesses grow their online presence through effective strategies, ensuring you’re making the most of that time spent on social platforms. To get you started, we have 5 tips to boost your social media growth.

One quick thing before we get started, it’s important to understand the difference between organic social media and paid social media ads.

Now, let’s dive into five important strategies to boost your organic social media growth (or if we’re sticking with the garden reference, the tools and seeds to grow and tend a luscious garden).

Table explaining the difference between organic vs paid social

1. Choose the Right Social Platform(s) for Your Business

When it comes to boosting organic social media growth, focusing on the right platform is crucial. Each social media platform has its unique audience, culture, and algorithm, which means that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t yield the best results. You wouldn’t want to mow your lawn with a weedwhacker, right? Last garden metaphor, I promise.

While cross-posting the same content across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn might save time, it often dilutes the impact of your message. To maximize engagement and growth, it’s essential to tailor your content to fit the specific platform, considering factors like audience demographics, content format, posting frequency, and your established business goals. Need a bit of guidance? Check out our platform cheat sheet below.

In general, think about the type of information users give each of these platforms and allow that to inform your choice of social platform(s). Users give more detailed and current information about their job, for example, to LinkedIn than to Facebook in most cases — so if you want to reach people with a certain job title or level, you may consider running a campaign on LinkedIn over Facebook to tap into LinkedIn’s higher quality of user job data.

If tackling all of the platforms feels overwhelming, join the club. Choose the platform that either clicks with your audience or is the easiest for you to handle. Once you’ve got one platform rolling, it’s much easier to scale to other platforms.

organic social media growth - platform cheat sheet

2. Do the Research & Find Your Voice

Research is the backbone of effective organic social media growth. To truly connect with your audience, you need to understand who they are, what they care about, and how they interact online. This means diving deep into your audience’s demographics, preferences, and behaviors, as well as keeping a close eye on industry trends and direct competitors.

By analyzing what works for others in your space, you can identify opportunities to stand out and create content that resonates more powerfully. Armed with this knowledge, you can craft a strategy that not only meets your audience’s needs but sets you apart in a crowded digital landscape. Brand voice can often be a key factor in follower loyalty.

A fantastic example of brand voice is DuoLingo, a language-learning app that’s known for winning over Gen-Z with its distinct social approach on TikTok. In 2021, one of the main marketing goals was to reach a younger demographic. They found extreme success by changing their social media brand tone to be more fun, goofy, joking, and “unhinged.” They positioned themselves and gained viral success in the market by focusing on entertainment over selling, hopping on trends quickly, and telling great stories with a consistent voice (like their ongoing faux-romance with Dua Lipa). Read more about DuoLingo’s voice and overall strategy.

3. Plan Your Content Ahead of Time

By mapping out your posts in advance, you can ensure a balanced mix of branded, authentic content that tells your brand’s story and engages your audience. Consider the types of content that work best on each platform — whether it’s photos, videos, or a combination — and apply the 80-20 rule, dedicating 80% of your content to informative or entertaining posts that add value, and 20% to promoting your brand.

An easy way to tackle social media content strategy is to brainstorm general content categories that your posts will fall within. These may include:

Product, event or service posts or promotions
Behind the Scenes
Meet the Team
Trends
Tips and How-Tos
Testimonials and Success Stories
Industry changes or updates
User Generated Content (UGC) directly from your followers

After establishing your main content categories, planning an entire month of posts becomes much simpler. Paid scheduling and management platforms like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, or Later offer great resources on the best practices for how often and when you want to post on each platform. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn all offer free in-platform scheduling tools, too! Overall, a preplanned, strategic approach helps you stay organized, focused, and aligned with your overall social media goals.

5. Engage (Seriously, You Have to Engage with Followers)

Don’t roll your eyes! If you’ve been running a social account and are running out of fresh new ideas, this is it! Trends allow you to join conversations that are already capturing your audience’s attention, making your content more relatable and shareable. Plus, riding the wave of popular trends can inject a sense of fun and spontaneity into your strategy, helping to humanize your brand. Remember, social media is supposed to be fun. Trends do just that.

We’re not saying that your entire profile needs to be trend-filled, but we urge you to think outside the box of your regular social posts. Trends are not limited to one industry, they oftentimes go viral when an unexpected brand participates in a fun trend or trending audio. For example, the Washington State DOT went viral when they created a trending video using one of the top audios, “Please, Please, Please” from the pop-singer Sabrina Carpenter. Another great trend that spans across industries is the “quick-cut” video that has been used by every organization from restaurants to car dealerships, and even churches.

You don’t have to doom-scroll to discover what’s trending. Luckily, you can easily download apps like ReelTrends to quickly find the latest social trends and audio to use for your business!

4. Trends, Trends, Trends

The job isn’t done when you hit “post” — it’s just beginning. Actively commenting, liking, and interacting with your audience shows that you’re not just broadcasting but also listening. This two-way communication helps to build a strong community around your brand and establishes trust with your followers.

Plus, the comment section can be a goldmine for valuable feedback and insights. When customers feel heard and see that you’re responsive, they’re more likely to stay loyal and continue engaging with your content.

Not sick of all this social media talk yet?

Here are a few resources we recommend to help on your social media journey:

Subscribe to Social Media Today, an awesome newsletter to keep you updated on all the big changes in each platform and the general world of digital marketing.
Follow a few influencers on Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn who share digital marketing tips! A few we like are @Zaria Parvez and @socialmoody.
Join online communities. There are endless Facebook Groups or LinkedIn groups like Social media Marketing Group.

Get Started with Odd Dog’s Social Media Blueprint

If you can’t find the time to water your garden every day, or just generally don’t have a green thumb, we get it — let the Odd Dog team do the watering for you! (okay, THAT was our last garden metaphor.)

Crafting a successful social strategy for organic social media growth is no small task. Our Social Blueprint offers a custom, all-in-one plan designed around your business’s unique identity and goals. Ready to strike social media gold? Find out what’s really paw-sible when you work with us. Contact us today!