Almost. But a few causes are managing to make it work.
Check out this excellent piece from Forward Action and Rally, about how the Strategy Advisor of Zohran Mamdani’s 2025 NY mayoral campaign used organic social to great success.
They didn’t just rely on the ‘throw everything at the wall and see what sticks’ approach to organic social that so many organisations are stuck on. They examined what content creators and online communities were doing – those at the cutting edge of social media, who are adept at quickly adapting to the platform changes. They adapted influencer tactics with chatbots and automation for all kinds of acquisition – campaign supporters, donors, and creators who endorsed the candidate. Separate, automated user journeys were set up for different kinds of supporters, making sure each target audience got an experience that was focused on their needs.
Samantha Wockner of Greenpeace UK also shared these generous insights on LinkedIn recently, about how they’ve turned the performance of their organic social around. In Greenpeace’s case, what’s worked well is: sharper hooks, clearer user journeys from engagement to action, and greater discipline with their data.
There is still some hope left in organic social. But – but! – you should only be investing time in organic social if:
- You have robust and rigorous measurement in place, so you know exactly what organic social is delivering compared to other channels
- You know what to measure: engagement, completed goals, ROI. Not follower numbers, which have been a vanity metric for years now.
- You can adapt quickly to platform changes, and can split test different tactics and creative approaches
- You have strong user journeys to move people off social, and activate them into deeper support
For more reading about the state of social media now, this article on ‘post-social media’ from Rachel Karten of ‘Link in Bio’ is unmissable – I really recommend reading this and examining the approach you’re currently using. Is your approach Focused, The Wave, or More Shots on Goal – and how reliable is that approach?