Organic social media has become a key feature in the marketing strategy for many brands. Over the past three years, investments in the space have grown 79% while 50% of marketers plan on further increasing investments when looking ahead, according to recent research from VaynerX and Ipsos. The report suggests organic social media is cost effective and can support upper-funnel objectives. 

“Organic social is what brands can post across the digital sphere without putting any paid behind it,” said Wanda Pogue, global chief strategy officer and post creative strategist at VaynerMedia. “What has happened is that brands are getting the sense that it's actually advertising for your brand that can be incredibly targeted and help drive awareness and other business objectives.”

“The Growing Power of Organic Social: 5 Key Themes for Marketing Leaders” includes online survey results from 100 U.S.-based senior marketing leaders involved in brand social media activities. Ipsos, which issued the survey, also conducted seven one-on-one interviews with marketing leaders to further elaborate topics covered in the survey. Research was conducted between Nov. 11 and Dec. 2, 2024. 

Small budget, big impact

Marketing budgets have seen tremendous upheaval in recent years, with allotments plummeting in some areas. Technology such as generative AI may help to alleviate costs, but also raise questions around utility and job security. Marketers are looking for ways to keep costs low while also reaching target audiences. Organic social media may be one option. Seventy percent of those surveyed indicated the tactic can generate savings up to 50%. 

“You don't have a media spend, the spend is on the creative…It's very thoughtful, hyper strategic, but it's not necessarily crafting a million-dollar commercial. You can make a lot for not as much,” said Pogue. 

Additionally, 87% of those surveyed said organic social helps upper-funnel objects, 84% say it supports mid-funnel objects and 48% say it has lower-funnel impacts. 

Small content, large scale

Organic social media can also be used to help make decisions around bigger investments, according to the report. Seventy-two percent of those surveyed said social media can help them test a hypothesis prior to making a big investment while 65% said they use it to inspire product innovation.

The majority, 84%, of respondents said organic social media can help determine high-performing content that can be scaled to other platforms. However, only 47% of marketers who have undertaken a social-first mindset go on to develop campaigns.

“The great thing about organic is that you can be hyper-targeted, because the algorithm will find the human for you,” said Pogue.