Why Your Organic Social Cut-Through Is Getting Harder

It’s not your imagination. It’s harder to get people to engage with your organic social media content. To start off with a definition of “organic’ social media, it’s content shared on platforms without paid promotion or advertising. Think back to the days when you would post content on a social platform to see if people liked it. It reminds me of my early days on MySpace.

Nowadays, we have distinct labels like “organic social media” because advertising has increasingly led to people using “paid social media” to get their content into the world. Since then, the social media companies’ updated algorithms have meant people who post their own content without paying to boost it to a broader audience have a harder time. They must compete with brands who are paying to push their content on you.

But organic social media is authentic social media and it is worth your investment more than ever. If I were a good cause and had a thousand dollars to invest in organic social media or in paid social media, I’d invest it in organic social media almost every single time.

Here’s why…

It’s about authenticity.

The growing shift to paid social is bad news in the short term for people who are making social media with a good cause in mind. People who believe in social justice tend to be poorly funded in comparison to, say, carmakers. There are a few exceptions but as a rule, over recent years, social media has become a more corporate environment.

Since algorithms and platforms have changed, I hear a lot more often from clients that they have spent a lot of time on, say, an Instagram Reel, and only gotten a handful of likes for it. The logical next step for them is to want to pay for advertising to boost their content, but their organization can’t afford it. That’s often when they come to Catnip, our social media consultancy, for a chat.

The confusion isn’t helped by the social platforms sending confusing messages. Instagram recently said you can upload three-minute reels, for example, but then they said, “actually, uploading longer videos to a Reel is harmful to the algorithm.”

People said, “why did you do it, then?”

Catnip recently attended a session called “f*** the algorithm”. It was provocative and fun. But the underlying theme was that if you want to build authentic connections with a loyal audience, you need to meet them where they are and be content to gain fewer, better quality engagements.

In other words? It’s not about getting hundreds of thousands of views on your posts. It’s about gaining hundreds, sometimes even just dozens, of high quality engagements.

This is where social listening and influencer outreach comes in. People want a lot more authenticity in their social media experience. Just as authenticity becomes rarer, it’s also become so much more valuable. Brands can’t just influence people to buy sunscreen, for example, by paying an influencer to wave the sunscreen around. People see through that and want “real” content. Otherwise they tire of it.

It’s worth noting that after the Met Gala, a movement grew on TikTok to block content by celebrities who showed up to the event without using the platform to discuss Gaza. Zendaya still has more than 180 million followers on Instagram and isn’t going to miss out on her next A-list casting opportunity, but she and her team will have been concerned about alienating people as a result of this experience. Particularly because authenticity is a key part of her brand as a movie star.

Juggling authenticity with getting your point across is the art of organic cut-through. I wrote recently about some work Catnip did with Global Witness to engage climate influencers around the COP summit. We reached out to young climate activists in the run-up to COP, asking them to record vox pop videos to show their priorities. Activists like Luisa Neubauer, a Fridays for Future activist, has almost half a million followers. By recording a video for Global Witness, and tagging herself in the post, she extended Global Witness’s messaging and reach around the world.

Likewise, we recently worked with our friends at greenwash.com and fair fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna to create spoof fast-fashion content timed around London Fashion Week, which people engaged with because they trust Venetia and greenwash.com to tell the truth about fast fashion and climate change.

These influencers and organizations carry clout on social media because people trust them. They’re not going to sling sunscreen. But they will engage thoughtfully with organizations who share their values.

If you’re a cause-driven organization, are you aware of where your audience is engaging most on social media? Are you in touch with the influencers in your space and talking with them about the things you both hold dear? If not, let’s chat.

Organic social media is harder than ever. It’s true. But it’s also more important than ever if you want to make the impact you need in the world.