Organic reach on social media is how well your posts perform without any ad spending. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all continue to reduce organic reach. That means we need to change our social media strategies. 

Facebook has been reducing organic reach for pages and brands for some time. Users get more content from friends and family and less from company pages.

The same is happening on other social platforms. The approaches that got you plenty of engagement in the past aren’t going to be as effective anymore. Your social media posts aren’t reaching as many people.

It’s time for a new approach. Here are 5 tactics to consider.

Create unique content for each platform.

Don’t post the same thing on different platforms. Your content should be tailored for the platform it appears on. That will make sure you’re using the vocabulary and norms that are expected on those platforms.

Take time to understand what your followers expect on each social channel and meet that need. On Twitter, they likely want breaking news and event information. On Facebook, they want to see the human side of your brand and to connect with your brand story. On LinkedIn, it is all about the business part of your business!

Make sure the content you post is thoughtful and relevant to your audience. The better your content, the more likely people will share it and engage with it. Most importantly, great content will make them want to come back.

On all platforms, text, images and video are effective. But the way that information is presented should differ.

Publish consistently.

Posting regularly keeps you on your users’ radar. Consistent posts make you a part of your users’ experience and expectations. It lets them know you are engaged and relevant, now.

Social algorithms watch who engages with your content. Consistent posts give the robots more data and more reason to share your content.

Accept that you need to pay to play.

Your social strategy needs to include paid efforts. Period.

Social media ads, sponsored content and boosted posts are among the best ways to reach your audience. Paying to promote content that resonates with your target audience will help you boost engagement.

Ads can help you gain insights into your audience and what they want. Each platform has metrics built in that help you understand who is engaging with your (paid) content that goes beyond the metrics for organic posts.

What content makes the best ads? The content that does well organically. If it’s gaining views, shares and impressions without paying, imagine how well it’s going to do with greater visibility.

Experiment with video.

Even if live video becomes less trendy in the future, it’s still worthwhile to find ways to share content beyond static images and words. Try out different content formats like video, live video, and chats to find the way that your followers prefer to be reached.

Feature content from others.

Social media is about being social. That means sharing other people’s content and not just your own. You are not the only place that has information your audience wants. Share (also called “curate”) content that you know interests your audience.

Sharing relevant content establishes you as a thought leader that knows what’s happening in the industry. It helps to keep your audience interested in what you post.