Introduction: Organic Reach, Engagement and The Underrated Potential of Organic Content Analytics
Organic reach represents the natural, non-paid distribution of social media content to the audience based on the algorithm and rules of the platform.[1] When you post content on social media without boosting or promoting through paid advertising, the reach you achieve is Organic. Organic Engagement refers to the unique users or followers who like, share, comment or save your content on social media without any paid promotion or advertising.[2] Engagement Rate as we all know in its most common form is Engagement per Reach.[3] It is the dream of every digital marketer to maximize Organic Engagement Rate which requires in-depth analysis of the content’s performance.
Despite its undeniable potential, organic content analytics often doesn’t get the attention it deserves in the digital marketing world.
Graph 1: Instagram Organic Reach Increasing Trends P3Y, Softener Brand, DMP Internal Data
While the importance of data-driven digital marketing decisions is becoming widely recognized, many marketers still prioritize or focus on paid advertising strategies only. This oversight can lead to missed opportunities to utilize the insights gained from organic content analytics. However, as the digital landscape grows increasingly competitive, marketers who understand the value of organic content analytics can gain a distinct advantage—refining strategies, deepening engagement, and ultimately achieving better results in reach, engagement, and ultimately brand advocacy leading to loyalty.
The Constant in Digital Marketing: The Power of Organic Content
In an environment where social media platform algorithms evolve rapidly and trends shift at a lightning speed driven mostly by financial gains or competitive pressures and possibly less by better user experience, one constant remains: the power of organic content.
This is the lifeblood of genuine connections in the digital realm, fostering authentic engagements and laying the foundation for smarter strategies in social media content creation. But what truly sets successful organic content apart isn’t just its authenticity—it’s the insights gained from analytics that unlock its full potential.
The Changing Landscape of Organic Reach[4]
To understand the evolution of organic reach on Meta, the world’s largest social media platform, let’s trace its journey from the early days to 2024.
Graph 2: Facebook Page Organic Reach, ExpandChart
Table I: The Rise of Organic Reach Through The Years, Chantelle Marcelle.
Over the years, organic reach on social media platforms like Facebook drastically declined initially for platforms to monetize their product and then has gone up again due to competitive pressures. In 2012, content from Facebook pages reached 15% of their audience. By 2016, after major algorithm changes, this number plummeted to just 1-1.5%.[5] This decline in organic reach was exacerbated by the rise of platforms like TikTok, which leveraged an interest-based algorithm to deliver content to platform users outside of brand’s followers, providing a superior user experience and challenging the dominance of the Meta Social platforms.
In response, Meta revised its algorithms to enhance organic reach by incorporating a layer of unconnected user reach across both its massive reach platforms Instagram and Facebook.[6] Starting with the Reels format and expanding to other formats, this shift brought organic reach on Facebook back up to 12.5%, a staggering 450% increase. Similarly, Instagram saw a 730% increase in organic reach by 2024, thanks to a steady increase in unconnected reach.
Notably, TikTok’s algorithm and metrics as mentioned earlier are already designed to maximize organic reach, making it a unique player in the social media landscape. [7]With its primary format being video, TikTok’s focus on views as the key metric allows for extensive organic reach. However, this focus could lead to limitations in extracting learnings from Engagement Rate (ER), which is crucial for content strategy refinement and optimization. While TikTok and YouTube excel in widespread content visibility, the emphasis on views might hinder deeper insights into how content is engaging users on a more interactive level.[8] We can deep dive on these platforms on another day, in another article. For the purpose of this article, let’s focus on the globally leading Meta platforms that offer multiple creative formats.
Organic Analytics: The Cornerstone of Strategic Content
Organic content—unlike paid content—is the raw, authentic material that resonates deeply with a brand’s audience, sparking conversations and building trust. In a digital landscape overflowing with sponsored ads, organic posts stand out as the beacons of authenticity. They increase the appeal to audiences who seek genuine connections, making them a vital component of any digital marketing strategy.
It’s essential to understand that the performance of organic content has a lasting impact. Unlike short-term campaign content, which frequently changes, organic content remains “always on,” serving as a continuous point of contact with audiences. For younger audiences, who often blur the lines between social media and search engines, this always-on content can be the first touchpoint with a brand. Hence, the continuous improvement of organic content, informed by analytics, is crucial for maintaining and strengthening these connections.
Solution: The Strategic Power of Organic Content Analytics
The real power of organic content lies not just in its creation but in the analysis of its performance.[9] Organic content analytics provide marketers with a wealth of insights into audience content consumption behaviour, their preferences, and engagement patterns. By examining metrics such as engagement rates, reach, click-through rates, and most importantly qualitative content analysis, marketers can refine their content strategies to better align with their audience’s interest.
For instance, identifying which types of content receive the best engagement rate can shape up better future content strategies, leading to more effective and resonant posts. Understanding the demographics and interests of engaged users allows for more targeted and personalized content, further strengthening connections. Metrics like likes, comments, shares, and saves provide quantitative measures of audience interaction, while demographic data offers valuable insights for optimizing content creative on an ongoing basis.
Moreover, organic content analytics inform broader marketing strategies by tracking trends over time. This allows marketers to identify patterns and adapt their approach accordingly, ensuring agility in the face of shifting market dynamics. Monitoring metrics such as follower growth, changes in engagement rates, and fluctuations in reach provides crucial trend data, helping marketers stay ahead of the curve.
Case Study: DMP’s Proven Model for Organic Content Success
We have developed a proprietary framework called DMP-Expert Engage, which provides an in-depth analysis of organic content, covering both external and internal factors. This framework evaluates multiple content metrics and trends, resulting in critical outputs such as digital share of voice. By applying DMP-Expert Engage across all our clients, we have seen significant improvements in overall content performance, including boosted content obviously because if the content performs well organically, it will perform better when boosted. Over time, this approach has consistently placed each and every of our brands among the top performers in their categories. The more we learn from organic performance trends covering a longer period collecting data points, the greater the impact on content performance.
Conclusion: Unlocking the Full Potential of Organic Content
It is clearly evident that organic content is the heartbeat of genuine connections in the digital world. Regardless, it’s the insights derived from organic content analytics that elevate it from mere communication to a clear strategic advantage. By harnessing the power of these analytics, marketers can unlock the complete potential of organic content, leading to smarter content strategies, more meaningful connections, and ultimately, greater cost effective success in the digital landscape.
[1] Social Pilot, “What is Organic Reach?”.
[2] Elia Ortone, “What is Organic Social? [2024 – Definition & Tips]”, Store Lab, October 12, 2023.
[3] Christina Newberry, “Engagement rate calculator + tips and benchmarks [2024]”, Hootsuite, September 4, 2024.
[4] Chantelle Marcelle. “4 Ways to Solve for Organic Social Media Reach Decline”. n.d.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Evolved, “How to measure the success of organic social media campaigns”, October 11, 2023.
