Despite constant algorithm tweaks and the ever-shifting social media sands, one metric has long held the crown in marketing's kingdom: engagement. Likes, comments, shares – these interactions were the gold standard, the ultimate sign your post resonated with your audience. But what if the tides are turning? What if, thanks to those very changes, engagement isn't the kingmaker it once was? I propose a radical proposition: is chasing reach the new engagement? Get ready to dive deep into why prioritizing awareness might be the key to unlocking long-term brand success.
1. Algorithmic Challenges with Engagement
Social media platforms have evolved to prioritize content from personal connections over brands. This means that even the most well-crafted brand posts struggle to appear in users’ feeds. Algorithms are designed to showcase content from friends and family first, relegating organic brand posts to the background often. This makes it inherently difficult to generate significant engagement without paid promotion. Richard Van Der Blom’s algorithm report backs this up, noting that visibility of organic brand content fell from 7% (which is already laughably low), to 2% between Dec. 2021 and Dec. 2023.
This means that organic social media shouldn't be a megaphone for promotions. It's a window into your brand's soul, a place to showcase your brand’s values, personality, and identity.
2. Minimal Organic Reach
Organic social media content typically reaches only about 1-2% of a brand's follower base. This minuscule reach means that the potential for engagement is already limited. Unless your content is incredibly specific and resonates deeply with a particular segment of your audience, the chances of it being shared and seen by a wider audience are slim. In essence, expecting high engagement from such a small reach base is unrealistic.
3. Lack of Control Over Engagement
One of the most frustrating aspects of organic social media is the lack of control over what content will generate engagement. Without investing in paid promotion, brands have almost zero influence over which posts will perform well. This unpredictability makes it challenging to rely on engagement as a key performance metric. In contrast, reach is more quantifiable and consistent, offering a clearer picture of how many people are seeing your content.
The Case for Prioritizing Reach
Given these challenges, why should brands shift their focus to reach instead of engagement, especially given the small organic reach potential?
1. Organic Social as a Proxy for a Brand’s Website
Organic social media should be viewed less as a promotional tool and more as a window into your brand’s world. Just like a website, your social media profiles tell the story of your brand’s ethos, values, and identity. Reach, therefore, becomes a measure of how many people are being exposed to this narrative. The more people you reach, the more awareness you generate about what your brand stands for and at the end of the day, this awareness is key to the purpose of comms and PR campaigns. Think of it as a website extension, fostering brand awareness and establishing your voice. Just like a website, content here educates and entertains, building brand affinity over time.
2. Storytelling and Brand Identity
People increasingly treat brand organic social content as a glimpse into the brand's identity. While websites offer functionality, social media offers a human touch—a platform to showcase your brand’s personality and voice. By focusing on reach, you ensure that more people get to experience this aspect of your brand. It’s about spreading your story far and wide, rather than seeking validation through likes and comments. The only thing that should be going in your organic feeds is content that promotes the brand's identity. Not is products. Not its solutions.
3. Mass Awareness and Impressions
For communications professionals, mass awareness is often the primary goal. While I often lament the usefulness of impressions, I do think reach metrics can be far more indicative of success in this area than engagement rates. Engagement metrics can be misleading and don't necessarily correlate with increased awareness or brand recall. Reach, on the other hand, provides a straightforward measure of how many individuals have seen your content, making it a more useful metric for gauging brand awareness.
Additional Reasons to Prioritize Reach
Broader Audience Insights: Focusing on reach allows you to gather data on a wider audience, providing better insights into who is seeing your content. This can inform future content strategies and help tailor your messaging to resonate with a broader audience.
Top-of-Funnel Awareness: Reach is crucial for top-of-funnel marketing efforts. The more people who see your content, the more likely you are to attract new followers, customers, and advocates.
Consistency Over Virality: While viral content can generate spikes in engagement, a consistent reach strategy ensures that your brand remains visible to your audience regularly. This steady presence is more valuable for long-term brand building than sporadic bursts of engagement.
Algorithm Adaptation: As algorithms continue to evolve, focusing on reach helps adapt to these changes. Platforms often tweak algorithms to enhance user experience, which can unpredictably impact engagement metrics. Reach, being a broader metric, is less susceptible to these fluctuations.
Engagement is still important, but focusing solely on it can be a losing battle because of how algorithms are currently set up. Prioritizing reach allows you to tell your brand story to a wider audience, fostering brand awareness – the foundation for all future marketing efforts. So, the next time you're crafting an organic social media strategy, consider the power of reach. It might just be the key to unlocking long-term brand success.
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