TMAI #478: 💪 Organic Social: 4 Plays to 10x Impact.

[The Marketing Analytics Intersect, by Avinash Kaushik] [1]

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TMAI #478: ORGANIC SOCIAL: 4 PLAYS TO 10X IMPACT.

[ Web Version [3] ]

Most Marketers I observe fall into a predictable pattern. They treat

organic social as a necessary box to check, a place to park brand-safe

content that won't upset legal, won't _trigger _company CxOs, and

won't require any real investment beyond a modest retainer to an

agency churning out scheduled posts that look suspiciously like

display ads.

I call this organic social strategy _POLITE WALLPAPER_.

The result?

Exactly what you'd expect: 3% organic reach (MAX!), microscopic

engagement, and a strategy that delivers neither cultural relevance

nor business impact.

See this in action for large brands who purport to be “social”:

Michael Kors [4] (19m followers), Coca Cola [5] (3m), Google Android

[6] (2m), Atlassian [7] (0.9m),

React to them as a HUMAN: Do you give one crap about any of their

anything shared?

React to the DATA: 27, 56, 43 Comments… Worth the expensive

agencies, talent, marketers?

React to the REALITY: With billions in revenue, tens of millions in

marketing budget, would their current organic social strategy be

missed if it went dead tonight?

No. No. No.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Atlassian actually has a Formula 1 team! Currently, is there anything

hotter or more _social fire_ than F1? And… Look at Atlassian’s

social stream. Insta [7]. TikTok [8]. X [9]. [9] ☹️☹️☹️

It doesn’t have to be this way.

The strategy for making organic social a _genuine win _exists, it's

measurable, and several brands are proving it works. The challenge

isn't measurement or even creativity. IT'S COURAGE.

If courage exists… A better path exists. It’s bolder, a little

riskier, and, yes, it requires budget. But when you treat organic as a

strategic growth channel (not free media), you can earn outsized

impact and make the rest of the portfolio—paid, creator, retail

media—work harder.

This newsletter lays out a practical blueprint to evolve from

“_Organic Social as a Hobby_” to “_Organic Social as a Win_,”

using the four dimensions: Brand Posture, Content, Amplification,

Measurement.

Along the way, I’ll share brand examples that illustrate what

“win” looks like—what they’re doing, why it works, and how to

adapt it inside a big-company environment.

BIGGEST ORGANIC SOCIAL TRAP FOR COMPANIES.

If there is only one thing you should internalize to create an

effective organic social strategy, it is: CONTENT GRAPH.

When Social Media started, it functioned based on your Social Graph.

Your content was shown (at least) to people who “liked” you or

“followed” you.

TikTok changed that.

All Social Media now runs on the Content Graph. Your Content is shown

to ANYONE for whom it is relevant/entertaining/useful, IF your content

is more relevant, more entertaining, more useful than ALL OTHER

CONTENT OF THAT TYPE ON THE PLATFORM competing for that human’s

attention.

This has earth-shattering implications for Creators, Audiences,

Advertisers, and Privacy.

[PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS: Please see _TMAI #344: Bye Bye Social Graph_. If

you can’t find it, please reply. It is important.]

THE ORGANIC SOCIAL FIVE DIMENSIONS: HOBBY → WIN

The first dimension is where your organic social strategy will thrive

or die.

1. PURPOSE: _THE SOUL._

HOBBY STRATEGY: Corporate voice, legal-polished to a sheen, slow

approvals, comments turned into customer-service tickets.

WIN STRATEGY: A point of view, cultural timing, in-feed personality.

You don’t just “post”—you participate. Your social creative

informs broader brand creative (not the other way around).

Most large companies approach social media with one primary objective:

_play it safe_. The purpose becomes brand safety first, passive

engagement if we're lucky, and genuine connection never. Every post

gets run through multiple approval cycles, often stripped of

personality, and emerges as _polite wallpaper_ designed to offend no

one, inspire no one, entertain no one, and trying too hard to be _with

it_.

The "Organic Social as a Win" approach flips this entirely. Yes, brand

safety matters, it needs to be respected. The winning strategy

requires having a point of view, a distinct voice, and the courage to

participate in culture, not just observe it from a safe distance. It

means creating content that elicits a real emotional response (from

people outside your company!), sparks conversations, and earns active

engagement – shares, comments, and user-generated remixes. It

recognizes that social creative should drive your corporate creative,

not the other way around.

Let me give you an awesome example to challenge your thinking.

EXAMPLE: Duolingo's Unhinged Gambit

Duolingo grew from 50,000 TikTok followers to 16 million in just over

four years by completely abandoning the corporate playbook. Their

green owl mascot Duo doesn't promote language learning in any

traditional sense. Instead, the character “threatens” users to

complete lessons, engages in absurdist humor, and leans into absurdity

by posting videos of Duo dancing and interacting with pop culture

trends.

This wasn't a junior social media manager going rogue. It was a

strategic decision to give autonomy to talent who understood the

platform better than the executives did. The risk? Significant. The

payoff? Not the follower growth, rather a social presence that drives

actual business outcomes while spending virtually nothing on

traditional advertising.

Other examples to learn from: Wendy’s (X). Ryanair (TikTok).

WHAT TO COPY: Empower a small, platform-native team with clear

escalation rules. Define “where we’ll push” vs. “red lines.”

Ship fast. Let your social point-of-view, distinct voice inform

top-of-funnel brand storytelling.

2. CONTENT: _THE FUEL._

HOBBY STRATEGY: Repurposed Video and Display assets and static

carousels scheduled weeks out, optimized for brand guidelines more

than feed behavior. _Polite wallpaper_.

WIN STRATEGY: Social-first concepts built for each platform’s

grammar (duets, stitches, reply videos, carousels that reward swipes,

comment-mining as content). THE FEED IS THE BRIEF.

Here's a test: open your company's Instagram or TikTok right now. Does

your content look like it was designed for social media, or does it

look like display ads that someone decided to post on social

platforms? If you can't tell the difference between your organic

social content and your paid media creative, you're doing it wrong.

The hobby approach produces scheduled, corporate, ad-like content

that's typically outsourced to an agency building "_please love me_"

creative. It's desperate and inauthentic, and audiences can smell it

from a mile away.

The winning approach demands scaled social-led content that's

provocative, on-trend, and contextualized for each platform. This is

difficult work. Company culture gets in the way. Legal gets nervous.

Brand teams clutch their guidelines like security blankets. But the

brands winning at organic social have figured out how to navigate

these obstacles.

EXAMPLE: Ryanair's Platform-Native Provocation

Ryanair uses bold, absurdist humor and self-aware meme content that

acknowledges what everyone already knows: they're a budget airline.

Instead of trying to position themselves as something they're not,

they lean into the joke. They roast competitors, engage with current

trends, and create content that feels native to TikTok and Twitter

rather than repurposed from their brand guidelines.

The content is provocative. It sometimes pushes boundaries. And it

works because it respects the context of where it appears. A meme that

kills on TikTok wouldn't work in a TV commercial, and Ryanair

understands this distinction in a way most corporate brands refuse to.

Other examples to learn from: Liquid Death (everywhere). Scrub Daddy

(TikTok).

WHAT TO COPY: Build repeatable social formats (series, characters,

rituals) that your audience anticipates and creators can easily riff

on. Treat comments as a writers’ room. Design assets for remix.

3. AMPLIFICATION: _GIVE ME SCALE, OR GIVE ME DEATH_.

HOBBY STRATEGY: “Organic is free” = _Spray and pray!_ Maybe you

hit “boost” occasionally.

WIN STRATEGY: Treat distribution as integral to creative. Plan paid

post amplification. Whitelist creator posts, and retarget engagers.

Blend creator seeding with paid social so the best organic ideas get

scale.

This is where most marketers fundamentally misunderstand organic

social. They see "organic" and assume it means "free." It doesn't.

Because of the switch from Social Graph to Content Graph, brands have

an average organic reach of 1% to 4% - depending on the platform and

quality of your content.

It does not help that this almost no one reach of 4% is SWAMPED by 95%

of your marketing budget spent on Paid Media Ads – which often live

in a parallel universe re: content, and hence not connecting with

anything zeitgeist.

The winning approach requires significant organic social amplification

investment to ensure that advice I shared above in CONTENT gets the

scale it deserves. For every $1 invested in organic social content,

budget $12 for organic social paid amplification.

Reset expectations about “going viral.” Analysis across product

launches suggests “virality” usually rides large-platform boosts

(celebs, media, big creators), not random chain reactions. Plan

distribution accordingly; don’t bank on lightning striking.

EXAMPLE: Liquid Death's Calculated Chaos

Liquid Death became one of the top three most followed beverage brands

on social media worldwide by understanding that "organic" doesn't mean

"cheap." They produce high-quality, absurdist content that positions

water as a rebellion against boring beverage marketing. Their videos

are professionally produced, their stunts are carefully orchestrated,

and they insanely amplify what works.

Over 16% of Americans have tried a Liquid Death beverage (WATER!),

with Gen Z making up the biggest group of consumers at 42%. That's not

luck. That's strategic investment in content that resonates with their

target audience, systematically amplified to maximize reach.

Other examples to learn from: Barbie (yes, the movie). CeraVe.

WHAT TO COPY: Paid amplification budget. Run a weekly

“post-promote” where you allocate budget to the top 5% posts by

view-through, saves, or meaningful comments. Whitelist creator content

when it outperforms brand posts to extend reach into lookalikes.

[NOTE: If you follow my advice on dimension #2, Content, you will get

a much higher organic reach. You might even achieve the impossible of

doubling it to 2% - 8%. You’ll additionally get an extra boost from

resharing, because your content is now worth remixing. That could be

another massive 10% or 15%. That is awesome, but still less than 25%

organic reach. You. Need. A. Lot. Of. Amplification. Budget. If you

don’t have it/can’t share it from Paid Media… Cease your organic

social efforts. Please.]

4. MEASUREMENT: _THE PROOF._

HOBBY STRATEGY: Reporting decks filled with vanity metrics

(“impressions,” “views,” “potential reach”). Data pukes by

channel, post, creative, time of day, and lots of confusing slices.

WIN STRATEGY: _Ladder of awesomeness _to outcomes from L1 engagement

to L4 incrementality.

Here's where most companies think they have a problem, but they

actually don't. It is a matter of focus.

The hobby approach does spend time on collecting data. Sadly, vanity

metrics abound here. BIG slide decks are created with data pukes that

have an _activity _focus. Sadly, this approach does make some

executives feel good in quarterly reviews. Double sadly, it says

nothing about business value (even if not actively trying to

avoid/hide it).

You can see then why that causes little incremental budget to be

delivered to organic social team + social agency + creative agency.

The winning approach goes deeper. It starts at Level 1 with my Best

Social Media Metrics. [10] The next step on the ladder of awesomeness

is Sentiment and Economic Value. On to Level 3 with Brand Lift (UBA,

C, PI) and (where relevant) Revenue. Climbing to the final rung to

Level 4 by proving long-term incrementality (via MMM, include

post-level boosted spend, and creator whitelisting as discrete

channels).

Moving from Levels 1 through 4 is what separates hobby marketers from

win marketers.

If you can't connect your social strategy to business outcomes, I'm

afraid you're just entertaining yourself.

If you connect it, unlimited budgets follow for organic social.

“ORGANIC SOCIAL AS A WIN” FOR YOUR PORTFOLIO.

Organic social as a win is not a replacement for paid advertising,

email, AEO, occasional parties with celebrities, affiliate Marketing,

etc. Instead, it’s a portfolio play that strengthens every other

tactic:

*

CONTENT FUEL FOR PAID MEDIA: Truly organic-first creative performs

better when amplified.

*

BRAND POSTURE DRIVER: A strong social presence influences how

campaigns are developed across channels.

*

CULTURAL RELEVANCE ENGINE: Social helps brands stay in step with

consumers, especially Gen Z, who view social as the primary brand

touchpoint.

*

MEASUREMENT INNOVATOR: Done right, organic contributes to long-term

brand and short-term sales lift.

The key? Dimensions 1, 2, 3, above done truly as _organic

social, _resourcing it as a core strategy (vs. treating organic

social as “extra credit”).

[PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS: I’ve written a series on how organic social

can be a portfolio strategy. Please review _TMAI #392, #393: ORGANIC

SOCIAL | SURPRISING SOURCES OF VALUE_. It shows how you can be truly

revolutionary now, and in the process be ready for Gen Alpha.]

SIGNS YOUR ORGANIC SOCIAL IS A “WIN”.

Organic social stops being a weekly chore and becomes the spark plug

for your entire marketing portfolio when:

*

It feeds paid with best-performing concepts and whitelisted creator

posts.

*

It primes retail media through search demand and product discovery.

*

It informs brand marketing with real-time performance and language

your audience actually uses.

*

It builds moats (recurring rituals, characters, and community norms

competitors can’t easily copy).

That’s “Organic Social as a Win.” It’s riskier than

wallpaper—but the safer bet for growth.

UP NEXT: ACTIVATION DETAILS.

Next week's TMAI Premium is a companion edition. It'll share an

_OPERATIONAL PLAYBOOK _for “Organic Social Win.”

It covers the next level details in five sections: A. Organize for

Speed and Edge. B. Build Native Formats. C. Design for Distribution.

D. Rebalancing Budget. E. Measure Like a Grownup Channel.

I'll also share a sketch of a _90-day Transformation Plan_ you can use

for a jumpstart!

BOTTOM LINE.

For your company/culture there might be no possibility that you can do

a Duolingo or Ryanair or Wendy’s or CeraVe or Liquid Death. It is

simply not who you are, or will ever be.

That is Totally Fine.

My provocation: _Why are you spending one molecule of brain power or

budget on organic social?_

Sure, there’s a future generational risk in doing nothing. But, what

you are doing today is also nothing.

If your company/culture has the courage across Purpose, Content,

Amplification, and Measurement… CARPE DIEM!

-Avinash.

We live in a fascinating moment for humanity.

If you are committed to investing in accelerating your personal

professional transformation, you can upgrade to TMAI Premium here [2]

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