Whenever someone declares, “Organic is dead,” my first thought is always, “Wow, you really can’t get your audience to talk with you.” Because that is almost always the case for anyone who wants to go on about how you can’t get anything organically anymore.

Social media didn’t used to be so harsh. It always rewarded marketers who talked with their audience, but it didn’t punish the marketers who talked at their audience too badly. That is no longer the case. The rewards for those who talked with their audience aren’t as great, but the punishments for the others are much worse.

And because the rewards aren’t as great as they used to be, that’s why a fully organic marketing plan is very rarely a good call. But you can’t disregard organic altogether. It still has a place in your social media marketing plan. Why? Because after a post has high engagement, the next post gets a natural boost from the algorithm. It makes more sense to get a free boost rather than constantly throwing money at the problem.

So what does it look like to talk with your fans? Let’s look at some of the ways I do it.

The Question

I love a good question post. I put the question in the image and then give some explanations or some leading answers in the caption. And then if it works super well, I file it away to do again, because we repeat our successes here. Not because we’re lazy, but because it’s smart to boost reach and engagement with known successes.

The trick to this is to thoroughly know your audience. Know their wants, their needs, their frustrations, what’s important to them, what makes them laugh, what inspires them and so on and so on and so on. Craft your questions with that in mind. And if your audience is going through a hard time, give them the space to vent. I know a lot of people want to keep a brand’s social media a happy place, but that’s not always the reality. Giving fans a place to connect around their shared frustrations can help them feel not so alone. Fans will remember you gave them that connection and it will probably be more valuable than just an algorithm boost.

The best rhythm for these posts is really determined by your audience and your goals. But I like it to be at least weekly. And if you have a post coming up that needs a little help with the algorithm, whether it’s because it’s something you have to post or because it needs maximum eyes on it, make sure you post one of these question posts just before it to give it that help.

Appeal to Your Audience’s Interests

You already know loads of stuff about your audience thanks to the content creation process, right? Use it. Normally you’d use this as a part of tailoring your posts for your products. But there are loads of other things you can do.

If you know your audience is full of people who are avid shoppers of X product, why not create a partnership with X product’s team? Or if you know your audience is full of moms, why not throw a little mom humor in there? But, of course, be super careful about this because most people working in social media are not professional comedians.

The point is to go a little off-script to get your audience’s attention. Maybe their interests are just outside of what you do. But if it’s a common interest of a good portion of your audience, then it’s a great idea to create content that appeals to it.

But as a side note: Do not chase after every social media meme or made-up holiday just because some of your audience is into that. You’re probably not going to hit it early enough to distinguish yourself. So you end up just being a part of a crowd of people who are posting the same things. Only chase the ones that are of direct interest to your audience and that you can create original, smart content around.

Be Responsive

It should go without saying but when your audience wants to talk with you, then you should be there. That doesn’t mean inserting yourself in every single conversation that happens on your accounts. I actually think that’s a bad thing, as sometimes fans just want to talk to each other. Jumping into EVERY conversation can actually work against you since you will look intrusive.

But jumping in where you are wanted is always a great thing. Answer any direct questions as well as the indirect ones. Make those who are feeling lonely like they are being seen. And take advantage of those little moments where you can strike a real, meaningful conversation with your audience. That will help you build trust with them and eventually get them to share a little more with you. And as we all know, that little more is usually where the magic is on social media.

Most problems on social media accounts boil down to the fact that the person running it just wants to push content at their audiences instead of getting down on their level and talk with them. If you feel like your reach and/or engagement is taking a real beating lately, take a look at how your posts. How are they phrased? Are you talking at your audience? A lot of times just minor adjustments in how you phrase your posts as well as taking the actions above can be enough to get things back on track.

How are you talking with your audience?