3 Reasons Organic Social Media Fails Most Businesses

Why your content is not working and what to do about it

Organic social media can be a powerful tool for building brand awareness and customer relationships. But for most businesses, it becomes a source of frustration. They post a few times, don’t get much traction, and then either give up or sporadically post when someone remembers.

If that sounds familiar, you are not alone. Most businesses fail with organic social because they underestimate what it takes to be successful with it. Here are the three biggest reasons why.

1. The Platforms Are Not on Your Side

Let’s start with something that’s hard to hear but true: the platforms do not want your business content to succeed for free. It's not 2014. They are not going to open the door for you to build your business for free on their platforms.

They want you to pay for ads. That is their business model. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok reward content that keeps users on the platform longer, entertainment content, viral memes, funny videos, trends, and controversy.

Business content, especially content focused on education or thought leadership, is rarely prioritized. It does not drive the same level of engagement as a cat video or a dance challenge. So your posts about your latest product or service get buried by funny cats.

That does not mean it is impossible to win organically. It just means the platforms are not going to help you much. You are starting at a disadvantage, and you need to know that going in. Times have changed and if you go into the organic content game thinking if you just post a few times here and there that the riches will suddenly start flowing, you will very disappointed in very short order.

2. Inconsistent Posting Kills Momentum

If your posting strategy sounds like, “We post when we have time” or “Oh my gosh, is it Thursday already? Have we posted anything this week? Let's get a motivational quote up today!", then you don't have a strategy. You're just wasting time.

Inconsistency is one of the biggest killers of social media success. The platforms reward regular activity and engagement. If you are not showing up consistently, your content will never gain traction. It is like planting seeds and forgetting to water them. What are the goals of the platforms? They want people to stay on their platform so they can show them ads. They don't make content themselves, so they need others to do it for them. If you aren't pay for ads or making lots of content, then you are not doing anything to help the social media platforms reach their goal of making lots of money from ads, so they definitely aren't going to help you reach your goals.

A few quotes and motivational graphics sprinkled in once a week will not cut it. You need a variety of content types. Educational posts, behind-the-scenes content, testimonials, product highlights, and even the occasional personal story all need to be part of your mix.

Success with organic social media requires volume and consistency over a long period of time. Most business owners though quit when they don't go viral after 3 posts and then tell everyone how social media doesn't work for their business.

3. You Are Not Actually Being Social

This is the part that surprises people: the secret to organic social media is not just posting, it is engaging.

You have to be active on the platform. That means liking other people’s posts, commenting on relevant content, sharing useful insights, and building connections. That is how the platforms know you are a real participant in the community.

It is called social media for a reason. If you just post and leave, you will not be happy with your results. One of the ways to overcome the 1st point of the challenge with organic social media, is to get out and manually beat the algorithms by interacting directly with more people. You force your brand to show up and get attention of people you hope to be your customers. Don't wait for an algorithm to maybe possibly make you show up, go do it yourself and slowly grow your audience yourself.

The platforms are trying to keep people engaged so they can serve more ads. If your account is not helping them do that, they are not going to help you either. You need to spend time building relationships and being part of the ecosystem. That is how you earn more visibility and reach. This is all a game that you have to play and the social media platforms get to make the rules. If you aren't playing by their rules, either give them money for ads or make content to keep people on the platforms to sell them more ads, then you are going to be ignored.

Final Thoughts

Most businesses are not set up to win with organic social media. They expect it to work like magic when in reality it requires:

• A strategy focused on consistency and quality
• Time and effort to create content regularly
• Real engagement with your audience and the community

If you are treating social media like a billboard where you just post announcements, it is not going to work. You need to participate. You need to be present. And you need to keep going, even when it feels like nothing is happening. 90% of people on social media just watch. They don't create content, they don't interact. They don't comment. They just watch. You don't see them, but they are there.

Oh, and don't trust the metrics you get from social media companies. You know that right? You think they're being honest with you when they give you metrics showing you how poorly you are performing? Do you think that maybe they show you those metrics and then they weirdly follow that up with a suggestion about how many more people you could reach if you just boosted this post for $10 might be related? Hmm.

Organic social media is not impossible. It is just hard. And that is why most businesses fail at it.

What does it actually take? A real investment in time. Whether that is your time or someone you hire to do it, there is no way around it. You, or someone you hire, will have to put lots of time into your organic social media.

If you think this is something that you just have your 14-year-old nephew run for your business because he has a twitch account and it's just social media, then you should not be surprised when you don't get any results.