How to reach a broader audience on social media, part 2: organic tactics
Hey, hi, hello. Have we all recovered from last week’s doozy of a blog post on strategy? I hope so. And if you haven’t read it yet, go catch up.
Now that you have an understanding of where to start and what to focus on to ladder up to content that can truly move the needle, we’ll dig in to tactical ways to get broader reach on social.
These are all organic tactics—meaning, they don’t leverage paid media spend. This is where the sweat equity lies; it can have extremely high ROI, but it takes a much longer time to get there. But incorporating these tactics will help speed it up a little.
Now would be a great time to grab some coffee and a snack, ‘cuz there’s another long post ahead.
Ready?
Tactic #1: Tag, tag, tag
Tagging is the holy grail of organic social as far as I’m concerned—and there’s several ways to slice it.
@ mention tagging
This might be the most low-hanging fruit of it all, but if you mention a person or a company, make sure you’re finding their handle and tagging them in your post—in the text and in the photo, depending on the capabilities of the platform.
The goal here is to get the person you’ve tagged to like, share, and otherwise engage with your post—all actions that help your posts spider out to their network and, ideally, beyond.
If you don’t tag, there’s a good chance they won’t see it—there’s waaaay too much noise out there and things get lost. Or, in the case of some networks/media, they can’t share it openly even if they DO see if (lookin’ at you, Instagram Stories).
If you’re tagging the same folks and/or companies pretty frequently, keep a running list or a spreadsheet of tags—it makes it SO much easier to pass this task off when the time comes.
☝️ Don’t be afraid of this tagging tactic: if there are popular brands, media outlets, or social accounts in your area, don’t be afraid to tag them in your photo to get their attention. This is especially true on Instagram! If you tap on a photo, you might see a ton of users tag that are seemingly irrelevant to the post. But…they’re not. And how else would they see/notice you and potentially share? It’s never a bad idea to follow up with a DM or other engagement, too. This is social media, after all.
Location tagging
If you’re on a platform where you can insert a location, DO IT. This helps you show up in local feeds and get relevancy for a specific area.
Now, you might have several options for tagging. For instance, I’ll shout out my favorite local restaurant, The Slice. If I go on Instagram, I’ll see a ton of options: I can tag my location as being at The Slice, or I can tag Simpsonville, or I can even tag the county.
As a customer, I’d tag the restaurant, fo sho. But as the business? I’m going to tag a little of everything on different posts. Some will be the restaurant, but some will be Greenville, some will be Simpsonville, some will be the county—my goal is to spread the footprint and get in different feeds.
☝️ But what if your business isn’t tied to one location? Maybe it’s national or global. In this case, go back to your strategy: where, specifically, are you trying to expand or get more clients? And if your answer is “everywhere,” first off, check yourself ‘cuz your goals need to be more specific and attainable, and second, check your analytics and/or customer lists. Are you more concentrated in some cities/areas than others? Or is there a specific city you’re trying to infiltrate? Explore tagging in those locations.
Hashtagging??
I think whether or not hashtags are relevant is going to be a near-constant marketing clickbait headline. General consensus: they help less with reach and more with context.
Here’s my take: social platforms can pick up SO MUCH CONTEXT now (ie: read text in images, discern/index what voices are saying in video, pull SEO signals from captions) that I think leveraging hashtags is still a good move, but make sure they’re not super vague.
I have a whole spiel on hashtag systems that I can get into in a different post, but here’s the Reader’s Digest version: make a mix of local hashtags, branded hashtags (if relevant), industry tags, and tags specific to the topic of that post. That should be a good place to get you started.
Tactic #2: vary your creative formats to see what hits
When I say ‘creative,’ I mean the medium (video, image, or lack thereof) and text (copy) associated with each post.
Smart creatives play with different post formats, techniques, and topics to see what takes off. It’s very much trial and error (especially at first), but there’s so many ways to get information across.
The formats you choose are going to be different depending on the platform you’re working in—so here’s a quick rundown of where my mind goes:
simple text posts: short-and-sweet thoughts and observations (great for LI, X, Threads)
long-form text only posts: almost like a mini newsletter on LinkedIn, with great educational payoff
links to external content (yes, even if the algorithm says no—best on LI, FB, IG Stories)
image carousels/multi-image posts (fab on LI, IG, and even TikTok)
single-image posts (surprisingly complicated, most likely to just be noise, and way too easy to get lost in the shuffle if done poorly, especially as a business)
and of course…video. The most complex, and that deserves a whole section of its own.
Leveraging video formats
Yes, we hear it all day every day: video is where it’s at, everyone needs to use it, it’s the best way to show your personality to your customers, it’s better in the algorithm, it’s more engaging, blah blah blah blah.
Generally, it’s all true. But it is SO EASY to be overwhelmed by video. I promise you, it doesn’t have to be complex, you don’t (always) need detailed scripts, and you don’t need a fancy camera. If you have an iphone and decent lighting, you can get started.
I like to break down video into a few different types: short and sweet, vibey, talking heads, voiceovers and trends. (I’m sure there’s more, but again…getting started here.)
Here’s a few examples:
Short and sweet
I love this format—it’s one shot that ANYONE can pull off, with crazy-helpful info on the screen that makes you want to investigate more. The caption is robust and gives PLENTY of detail beyond the video.
Vibey + informational
This is a nice combo of short and sweet and something more complex, but it all builds into an incredible hook. Yes, of COURSE I want to learn how to fly first class without paying money! The most important info is all written on the screen (no sound needed, even with the vibey music), and it compels you to read a long, informative caption AND engage for more info.
Vibey + …just here for the vibes
Not everything needs to wildly full of meaning. Sometimes, we just want to exist and revel in aspiration.
Restaurants, travel & tourism, and anything creative/design related does this so well.
Of course, it looks like low-hanging fruit content, but find yourself a drone op for those killer shots. Shouldn’t be a problem for $50k a week yacht charters, I suppose.
Voiceovers
I’m obsessed with No 14’s Instagram, and their owner has BLOWN UP their business with these reels. They’re definitely on the more complex and time-consuming side of things, but it’s all shot with an iphone and a tripod—no microphone needed. I will stop everything I’m doing to watch these when they pop into my feed.
One thing that could help is captions, but honestly, I don’t even care. I’m putting the sound up every time. (Random fact, this store is at the bottom of the street where my first apartment was!)
Talking heads
Yes, you can make a simple talking head talking to camera, but to be honest, I kind of hate the super polished, studio quality talking heads (for the most part). Not everyone can make an interactive talking head the way Alexa did here, but I love the mix of voiceover and talking to the camera. The audio quality changes in between and I don’t even mind—the content is good enough that I can make that leap.
I love that we feel like a voyeur into this lesson. It’s a wildly educational talking head-esque situation, and we’re lucky enough to get to peek into it. The audio isn’t perfect but it’s not getting in the way.
(By the way, welcome to my food-driven Instagram algorithm.)
What do you notice about all of these videos? Each and every single one addresses a problem or desire. Yes, even No 14, just showing off her day, is giving a peek behind the scenes of a successful business (while impeccably dressed and looking perfect, might I add). They’re all executed differently, but they all provide value that aligns with something we want to accomplish or be. And that, right there, is advertising.
Long story short: the sky is TRULY the limit with video, and because of that, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Start small—it’s okay to have more low-hanging-fruit, single-shot-with-crazy-good-on-screen-text things. And don’t put too much pressure to get it perfect. Most of us don’t need a professional team to get started. The most important thing you can do is think about your customer and address THEIR problems and desires.
☝️ Experiment: Try different formats with the same idea. Can you turn a talking head style into a vibey style? A vibey style into an informational style? A whole bunch of vibey into a voiceover? I promise you, every piece of content can be “yes, and”-ed.
Tactic #3: Leveraging your professional network
Y’all still with me? Whew, good.
Last thing—and maybe one of the most effective—is to leverage your professional network and connections. Now, this goes beyond the tagging bit mentioned first.
We’re starting to get into a more PR-type thing with this one, and it requires more legwork than just tagging someone or creating content.
Brainstorm a list of small businesses or service providers that don’t directly compete with your business, but could offer a level of synergy with your biz.
Here’s an example: let’s go back to the fitness company in last week’s post. There’s a few ways partnerships and crossposting can work with this example company.
Maybe there’s a local shoe or apparel company they can partner with: if a customer takes a tour of the gym, they get 10% off a pair of shoes. And if they buy a pair of shoes, they get 10% off the first month’s membership.
Maybe it’s a meal prep service or healthy restaurant. Or maybe a chiropractor or massage therapist.
Now that you have your strategic plan, take a moment to make some GREAT creative content—a day in the life video, a talking head, something with more oomph than a Canva-designed social graphic. Dig into the story and the benefit.
This is the type of content EVERY small business wants. Why? Because it’s time-consuming and takes more than just a little thought! Make a strategy to cross post, get your members or loyal fans to share it out, and of course—tag, tag, tag.
My favorite voice in social media, Rachel Karten, wrote a post about these tactics (I think it was here, but I can’t remember) and called out some of the big brands’ usage—like Duolingo + Dua Lipa, for instance, and how Away did photoshoots with the winners of celebrity lookalike contests.
But you don’t need to have a giant budget or a fancy shoot to pull it off. Use what you got and think about how you can collectively solve your customers’ problems. (See a theme yet?)
Ready to tackle the world now?
Or are you feeling a little like this?
Yeah. I know. Social is tough, especially with the complexity of the media, quality requirements, the amount of noise, and seemingly unending competition.
The hardest part is getting started and finding time.
Record scratch.
Wait, you’re already super busy? You want to know how to fit this in on a full plate?
Stay tuned for more…or reach out for expert consulting and support from yours truly.
👏 Special thanks to Gordon Lake at Crossfit Simpsonville for two whole weeks of topics (three, if you count the soon-to-be-written ‘how-to-fit-it-in-to-a-full plate’ piece). Appreciate you!
If you’re local to SVL and appreciate a thrice-weekly-at-minimum asskicking the same way I do, go check them out and get in the best shape of your life.