The Small Business Guide to Growing Organic Social Media (That Doesn’t Rely on Trends)

In 2024, 1 in 4 U.S. adults reported they were “online constantly” (Pew Research Center). That number grows each year. Even beyond the “constant checking” population, 85% of Americans said they check online at least once a day. 

In other words, the country’s population can be found online, in social media and other platforms. And if you as a business don’t have a strong online presence–particularly a social media presence–you’re not connecting with your audience, simply put.

But we probably don’t need to convince you of the importance of having social accounts in your business. If we had to guess, the question isn’t so much, “should I” but more of a “how do I do this right?”

Beyond social advertising, organic (the not paid posting) is a great resource to connect with your audience and see growth. Too often, businesses will post for a few months without seeing enough growth, and find it not worth their time, but consistency in posting is just one pillar of getting connected to your customers via social media organically. 

It’s about content, quality, resourcefulness and presence in the right social media places. And thankfully, it doesn’t include jumping on the latest TikTok dance. Here’s your guide as the small business owner to growing your social media accounts, getting connected to your customers and making social media get your revenue below.

First, Build Your Social Media Content Pillars

Consistency in posting on your social media accounts isn’t about how often so much as it is about what you’re posting. For example, if your friend’s favorite sport is football, constantly talking about basketball won’t interest them. It’s the same with your audience. 

Knowing what your customer base interests and likes are? Well, that’s a bit of a challenge to dive into before you start posting. But nothing you can’t handle; we’ll break down how.

What are the 4 main pillars of Social Media Content?

The content you create for your business social media accounts should be centered around these four main ideas:

• Educational Content
  Helps your audience learn something useful—whether it’s a how-to tip, expert insight, myth-busting, or industry guidance that positions your business as a trusted resource. You’re not selling with these posts, you’re giving vital information.
• Social Proof Content
  Builds trust by showing real results, real customers and real experiences through testimonials, reviews, before-and-after examples, case studies or user-generated content.
• Promotional Content
  You do need to occasionally market on social media, too. These types of content Encourage your audience to take action—buy, book, sign up, attend—through offers, product highlights, new services, launches or strong calls to conversion.
• Connection/Community Content
  Shows the personality, values and humans behind the business through behind-the-scenes moments, storytelling, team features and local involvement. Here, you’re showing who you are, who your team is, your customers and letting the world get to know you.

How to Determine Your Audience’s Like, Interests and Needs

To truly connect with your audience on social media, you have to understand what they care about: what motivates them to click, follow and ultimately buy. The good news is if you have customers, you already have access to real insight. Start by gathering details from the people who already love your business, then combine that data with smart research to build profiles of your ideal customers. This helps you create content that solves their problems, speaks their language, and meets their needs before they even ask. Here are some ways to really gather the details and build your audience profile:

• Customer surveys & polls
  You have access to a wealth of insight simply by building a survey. Ask your current customer base what challenges they face, what products they want and where they spend time online.
• Social media research
  If you’ve posted on social media in the past, study which posts got the most likes, comments and engagement.
• Analyze your current customer base
  Look at demographics, purchase behavior and top-selling products to identify patterns.
• Review competitors
  See what your competition is posting and find a social account you like, and see what you can mirror.
• Use analytics tools
  If you have Google Analytics, look at that data to see what drives clicks, conversions and retention; there’s a good chance your social will be similar.
• Create customer personas
  Once you have these insights, turn them into profiles by making “customer characters” with names, goals and motivations to guide your messaging.

Once you have your audience and customer-base nailed down, make a pillar of content. People won’t recognize you simply from one post with branding. Repetition in your content is key. That means making four pillars of content you can build a whole platform around.

What is Social Proof?

How often have you looked at reviews before purchasing a product? Have you ever seen someone ask for a recommendation on a Facebook community page and took mental notes of the answer for later? Those are social proof examples. And having them on your company’s social media is critical. 

To start, 92% of people read reviews and testimonials before purchasing a product or service, according to Wise Review. And 72% say they trust a business more after seeing a positive review on social media. So, having people talking about your business matters and posting it to your own business account is important. But how do you get those? User-Generated Content (UGC).

How to get User-Generated Content

User-generated content means the user, or customer, created the post, not you. The key is to actively look for it and make it easy for customers to share their experiences. 

You can start by simply searching hashtags, joining Facebook community pages, even searching for yourself on Instagram and TikTok and see what videos come up about you or about your service you provide. For a boost, use a social listening tool like Hootsuite or Sprout Social to monitor mentions of your brand and track posts that already exist about your business. 

You can actually build UGC, too; it’s not completely out of your control. To do so, create “branded moments” in-store, like adding signage that encourages tags and check-ins, or even a selfie center if that works with your brand. Include a card in shipped orders asking customers to share a photo. You can also launch contests or giveaways on social media posts where users enter by posting a photo or video featuring your product or service. Additionally, partnering with loyal customers or local micro-influencers gives you a reliable UGC stream while supporting community relationships.

The goal, here, is to make customers feel excited to share, make it simple for them to do so, and always give credit when you repost. It builds trust and encourages even more UGC over time.

Creating a Series People Will Return For

One of the most powerful ways to build a loyal following isn’t by chasing viral trends. Trending audios and videos can certainly work, but if that’s all you do, you’re jumping on something already seen and done–not making new content to draw in your audience. Plus, if that trend is already outdated, you just look, dare we say, like an old parent who doesn’t get it.

A content series creates a recognizable pattern: weekly tips, monthly spotlights, relatable jokes about industry pain points—anything that offers recurring value and consistency. Think of how social influencers become known for a signature theme or character (like the TikTok creator who plays the “annoying office guy”). People follow because they know exactly what they’re coming back for.

Building Social Media Community Engagement

Strong social media presence isn’t just what you post, it’s how you show up online. You can get more views to your page and more followers simply by being there, responding to comments on your posts and making comments on other pages’ posts.  When you take time to leave meaningful comments on your audience’s posts—or other local and niche pages—you increase your visibility and reach new people without paying for ads. 

Real engagement also means being a real human brand. People like to get to know you.  Let people meet the team behind the scenes, share the passions that drive your work, highlight community involvement or local partnerships. Today’s audiences support businesses they feel connected to—not just those selling to them. Building genuine relationships turns followers into fans, and fans into repeat customers.

The TL;DR version

Growing your organic social media presence (thankfully) isn’t about hopping on the latest dance trend. It is about showing up where your customers are and giving them a reason to care. 

Stick to the four content pillars: educational, social proof, promotional and community. Share success stories, teach something helpful, invite people behind the curtain and actually talk to your audience. Build series people get excited for and encourage user-generated content so your customers brag for you. When every post has a reason to exist, your channels become a brand builder instead of a time-waster.