[The Marketing Analytics Intersect, by Avinash Kaushik] [1]
TMAI #479:Â ORGANIC SOCIAL: OPERATIONAL PLAYBOOK FOR WINNING.
[ Web Version [2]Â ]
For most companies, the organic social strategy comprises: _Polite
Wallpaper._
At an immense cost, the strategy yields extremely poor results –
which are publicly visible on every company's organic social presence.
Take a moment, visit your company's organic social presence. Hover
your mouse over yesterday's “post.” How many people _reshared_ the
post? Sad, no?
In TMAI #478 [3], I'd contrasted an _organic social as a hobby
_strategy, above, with an _organic social as a win_ strategy. For our
Premium subscribers, I've distilled it into this little table that you
can use in your slides to persuade your CMO:
[Organic Social: Hobby or Win?]
[Note: If it'll save you some typing to have the Excel file, please
hit reply.]
Please review TMAI #478 [3] for a ton more detail, and find
inspiration from the numerous examples shared.
Understanding the overall strategy is critical. Guidance in the form
of an operational playbook for _organic social as a win_ can help
accelerate action. That's what today is about.
My hope is to be specific enough that each of you know what to do
next. Yet, I realize that your local circumstances, company evolution
stage, might be different and hence I encourage you to remix my
playbook to win even bigger than I'm imagining for you.
The playbook covers org design, repeatable content formats, creator
operations, amplification strategy, budget rebalancing, and a rigorous
measurement ladder. Use it for ongoing governance, and as a checklist
for a 90-day organic social as a win transformation.
ORGANIZE FOR SPEED & IMPACT.
A1. YOUR ORGANIC SOCIAL TEAM. (3 – 6 ROLES)
Depending on the size of your company, you might need fewer or more.
Depending on your ambition, you might need fewer or more. Here are the
recommended roles & responsibilities:
1. HEAD OF SOCIAL.
(In medium-sized companies, could be Head of Earned Media.)
Owns strategy, guardrails, and escalation. Oversees the optimal
creative strategy. Owns budget and accountability.
2. PLATFORM LEAD(S).
TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo, Xiaohongshu. Ideation, publishing,
analytics for their lane.
3. CREATIVE PRODUCER/EDITOR.
(Could be internal or at an agency.)
Shoots, edits, motion, captions. Maintains reusable asset libraries
and templates.
4. COMMUNITY LEAD.
(Often outsourced to an Agency, I broadly consider this unwise.)
Replies, stitches/duets, mines comments for content. Proactively
assesses trend signals, and issues.
5. DATA & OPTIMIZATION NINJA.
Content & amplification effectiveness testing. Outcomes of Paid
Amplification (starting with brand lifts, on to economic value, final
stop MMMs). IAbI.
Companies tend to outsource the entire shebang to an agency, this is
often unwise as the very soul of your company is hard for an agency
who bills you hourly to pull off. The worst case exists: Outsource
most work, or everything, AND ALSO hire internal employees for
some/all roles. It achieves the rare trifecta of no accountability, no
speed, no impact.
A2. ESTABLISH GUARDRAILS & ESCALATION PATHS.
I'd emphasized the value of _moving at the speed of culture_. We are
still a company, we need to ensure the Social team knows we don't want
_polite wallpaper_, but at the same time there are guardrails:
1. TONE: What we are (ex: playful, expert, challenger) vs. what we are
not (ex: snark at individuals, politics).
2. REDLINES: Topics to never touch. Banned phrases. Brand safety
boundaries. (This sounds like a bummer, but remember there is a lot of
gray area being your _polite wallpaper_ today and picking fights.)
3. ESCALATION TREE: Tiers of risk, with response SLAs. Ex: Tier 1:
Auto Publish. Tier 2: 60-min sign off. Tier 3: 24-hour review. No Tier
4.
4. LEGAL/COMMS: Quarterly redlines review for updates. QBR with last
quarter's performance/ issues.
5. CRISIS PLAN: What triggers a pause, rollback? A bank of ready to
respond statements for anticipatable scenarios. Who posts update,
where (both 1P and 3P).
All this sounds like a lot of work, and pain. Please do it. It is the
cost of earning your freedom, it is what will allow for speed and
edge.
A3. OPERATING RHYTHMS.
Every effective organization, desiring to move at the speed of
culture, requires a well defined, predictable, operating rhythm:
1. DAILY STAND-UP.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Scope: Trend scan, content queue review, paid amplification
priorities, latest community signals review.
2. CONTENT ROOM.
Duration: 60 minutes. Frequency: 2x/wk.
Scope: Review latest activity performance. Review and approve any new
formats, keep/change/kill decisions for existing formats/templates.
3. FRIDAY AMPLIFICATION FOCUS.
Duration: 45 minutes. Frequency: 1/wk.
Scope: Review of the week's organic social performance (1P, brand, and
3P creators, influencers). Build amplification plan for the following
week, covering frequency, duration, audience, budget.
4. PROVING IMPACT.
Duration: 60 minutes. Frequency: 1/mo.
Scope: Level 2 and Level 3 reports and KPIs analyzed. Actions
identified for Start/Stop/Continue. Every six months (or once a
quarter if insane spend on organic social), review incrementality via
Experiments, Modeling, or MMMs.
If you are working with an Agency partner, say for creative and
community management, please they will for sure be an active part of 1
and 2.
Once you've nailed the roles and responsibilities, guardrails and
escalation, and the operating rhythm…. The foundation for _organic
social as a win_ is in place.
CONTENT PLAYBOOK OF REPEATABLE HITS.
A free-for-all on social for companies is unadvisable. A _let's have
the intern fly_ is unadvisable. On the other hand, you don't want
_canned, corporatized, pre-produced and scheduled _content – that's
how you end up with polite wallpaper no one cares about.
We need to set this up: _Freedom within a framework_.
We want CONTENT TACTICS thought through upfront, the DELIVERY TACTICS
need to incorporate _tone and speed at the speed of culture._
For the first part, content tactics, choose three that fit your
company's cultural posture:
B1. CONTENT FORMAT TACTICS.
1. CHARACTER POV.
This is the Duolingo approach. A recurring character or brand
“mascot” who reacts to culture. Low-fi, fast, instantly
recognizable. This approach can also be manifested through a
consistent tone, Wendy's approach.
Cadence: Defined by the speed of culture. The key is consistency.
(Applies to all recommendations below.)
2. ROAST/RIVALRY.
Might not be for everyone, but… Sass and competitive banter. You
know, companies being _people_ and social. Pre-approved comeback
guidelines (even a library). When you get it just right, incredibly
the attachment to brand is super high and you can prove new
acquisition growth.
3. SHAREABLE STATS WAVES.
Your version of the year-end Spotify recaps. Seasonal, or, even
better, quarterly user data recap, badges. Made easy for fans to post
their own results, power conversations (around the real-world
watercooler, and the digital one).
4. COMMENT-TO-CONTENT.
I'm surprised how few companies take advantage of this tactic. On
Occam's Razor, my blog, this was a super booster from the very early
days. Turn top comments into new posts, provide on-screen receipts,
tag the source, celebrate the community. It fuels a virtuous cycle of
engagement – both in the first-level and the second-level networks.
5. BEHIND THE SCENES (BTS).
Especially on TikTok. Show the making-of, decision debates inside the
company/agency, show vulnerability by showing fails. It builds
authenticity, closeness.
For one of our recent campaigns, we shot a little video while the star
was just sitting on the side. In her _normal mode_ she told this
little story about her mom and sister and our shoes. It was all so
real. So much more relatable than the super-polished thing we were
shooting (at which she was also great!).
6. CREATOR COLLAB SPRINTS.
Don't let your Marketing team be the only source of ideas. Don't let
your “social agency” do that either. Hold a creative _jam_ with
your creators. I recommend “mid creators,” to draw authenticity
and _realness_. Co-develop concepts with them, even record them. By
letting light in from the outside, you develop a richness that is
relatable and real.
Three tactics above are easy picks for any company. Three above might
feel risky, that is totally fine. But, consider it as a signal that
your culture dictates a limitation to what you can get done with
organic social. Which is also fine. Just recognize it, and don't waste
too much budget on organic social. There are plenty of other options
your culture will be comfortable with, unlock those.
B2. CONTENT DEFINITION OF DONE.
As you execute three of above six content format tactics, there are
six dimensions that'll dictate if your content is _done_ – ready for
the world! I've noted these from an analysis of _conversation rate,
amplification rate, applause rate_ (3 of my big 4 social metrics).
1. For the sake of all that is holy: HOOK IN THE FIRST 1-2 SECONDS –
VISUAL OR TEXTUAL.
One of my lasting memories is sitting a few rows behind a young woman
on a train to Guangzhou. I could only loosely see her phone screen,
unlike my kids I don't read Mandarin. She was on a social platform. I
saw, swipe, half a second, swipe, half a second swipe, swipe, swipe, 2
second pause, click, like, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe. I am so old, I
could not fathom what she could possibly have noted in half a second
that caught her eye. But. That's the reality. Then, I did more
extensive actual research and they all… half a second. We so fall in
love with our company creative, our “story,” our deep selfishness,
we do not see our social content being killed by us. One second hook.
That is all we have. Honestly, that is all we deserve.
2. ENSURE NATIVE CAPTIONING, on-screen text, quickly readable without
sound.
My daughter watches YouTube at 2x speed, with captions on. And, she
can actually process all that! No CC is death.
3. INCLUDE A CLEAR PARTICIPATION CUE: Comment, stitch, duet, remix.
_Like, Subscribe, Hit the bell!_
4. PRODUCE ASSET VARIANTS. Multiple opening two-seconds, thumbnails
and cover options, captions.
Platforms like TikTok demand numerous variations of your creative to
_keep you in rotation_. You've seen the explosion of covers on
YouTube.
5. As an Analyst: PLEASE TAG EVERYTHING clearly and consistently:
Campaign, creative concept, post type, platform feature used.
We will need this to prove long-term value and understand short term
effectiveness.
6. As an Analyst: ENSURE UTM HYGIENE for all links, and deep links
where applicable.
Like so:
utm_source=ig&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=fy25_q1_genz_push&utm_content=character_duo_v3
You can add post type stitch_roast_bts and platform feature
duet_stitch_polls
B3. SOCIAL CONTENT & COMMENT MINING > ADDITIONAL AMPLIFICATION.
[Good] Organic social is too valuable to leave on the social
platforms. For medium and large companies we have many places we tell
our stories, and we can create a symbiotic relationship between them.
I am a big fan of _Friday Fun _emails by company. Collect the most
engaging organic social stories from the week (three) and send them as
a part of your newsletter program. First, it gives your Subscribers a
break from the daily PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE BUY SOME MORE KEYCHAINS FROM
US! Second, the proven delight the email delivers brings you new
social fans.
If your company has an active “blog” type second on your site, now
you have _fan-approved content_ to post.
Ditto for next week's paid social ads.
So on and so forth.
Since this is an operational playbook, three tips:
1. Label comments: Ideas. Objections. Praise. Questions. Makes
analysis, amplification easier.
2. Pull top 10 pieces of content (have high standards, if it was just
top two, go with two), top 10 comments. Supply these to your
“writers' room,” assign owners, aim to ship within 48 hours.
Freshness is magical.
3. Create a recurring “we read your comments” format. A circular
loop of love.
DESIGN FOR HIGH-IMPACT DISTRIBUTION.
Your primary problem on organic social is the lack of distribution.
With between 1-4% organic reach, more people walked into your office
to fix electrical issues than saw your organic social content.
Immediately above, we've already started to tackle distribution. Now,
let's kick this up a notch for the $12 in amplification budget you
have for every $1 you are investing in organic content creation.
C1. CREATOR OPERATING SYSTEM.
My data analysis across years and countries has made me move away from
company self-produced organic social content – we can't help
_corporatize _it. I've found impact is far greater letting others
tell our stories. To execute that strategy, I believe in long-term
relationships with creators (vs. one-night stands, which are common).
Let their brand halo flow into yours. It takes time and consistency.
For durable relationships, activate this _creator operating system_:
1. ROSTER.
Between 10 – 50 mid-sized creators across niches. Balance for reach,
credibility, and production speed.
2. BRIEFS.
Platform-native prompts with guardrails. NO TV TYPE SCRIPTS. Encourage
experimentation, please give them rope.
3. COMPENSATION.
Love and quality are not free. Mix retainers, ex for experimentation
and attendance at monthly jams recommended in Creator Collab Sprints
(B1 above). Build in performance bonuses (using activity metrics, and
over the long term outcome KPIs).
4. WHITELISTING.
Secure permissions for amplification Upfront. So many creator
contracts don't think this through. I'm actively recommending
symbiotic amplification, including via paid. Get permission.
5. MEASUREMENT.
To pay the long-term bonuses – because I really want you to have
long-term creator relationships – you'll want to build models that
prove value. For that, creator posts needs to be tagged separately to
pull out in your cohort analysis for brand lift and in your MMMs. (See
5, 6 in B2 above.)
C2. PAID PROMOTION TACTICS.
At an organic social post level, an always on promotion playbook
because Mark's not giving you reach
1. CONSTANTLY ON MICRO BOOST.
$100 - $5,000 on promising posts (based on the three metrics above),
within 6 hours of publishing.
2. BIG BOOST FOR WINNERS.
$5,000 - $50,000 – based on market, platform, audience, your company
size/ambition. Each week. Put your money to walk your CMO's talk on
“organic social is core.”
3. TARGETING.
With the shift from social graph to content graph, you've lost all
control of who will actually see your organic content organically. For
Micro & Big boosts fix this problem. Start with engagers and
followers. Next, include close _lookalikes_. Finally, for Big boosts,
extend by interest and keyword signals. Now, you are back in control.
Ha!
4. PLACEMENTS.
I am disappointed when I see over-fragmentation of placements, data
clearly shows this does not work. Hence, I recommend keeping it native
to the platform, where the content's early signals have already been
proved.
5. CREATIVE SWAPPING.
Particularly important on TikTok, and quite a bit on YouTube. Refresh
the hook (remember we shot multiple in B2), thumbnail, and the
captions where relevant, as you scale-up to ensure sustained
performance.
C3. ORGANIC SOCIAL EVERYWHERE.
As you execute your paid promotion tactics, remember organic social
can be a powerful driver of your other tactics. Hence…
1. RETARGET.
Using that content to retarget an engaged audience can be valuable.
[Sabrina is taking clips from a webinar we did at HMM, and retargeting
audiences on LinkedIn to get an extra boost. Smart.]
2. REFRESH ADS.
Use organic winners you Big boosted to also refresh your paid
prospecting ads – all you have to do is edit the 1-2 second hook, Do
Not Polish the creative.
3. PIPELINE TO RETAIL MEDIA.
The best can also be a considered for your Retail Media tactics –
definitely sync with your retailer DSPs for ritual moments I
mentioned.
ACTIVATE ORGANIC SOCIAL FOR A BIG WIN.
By being organized for speed and impact, a robust content playbook for
repeatable hits, and a program designed by default for distribution…
You are set to give your organic social a real shot at not being a
side hobby at your company.
BOTTOM LINE.
My default posture is that companies should not invest a single
dollar/renminbi/peso in organic social. Because it is so hard for CMOs
to activate my playbook.
I hold that view while also holding the view that Marketing
increasingly has to move at the speed of culture, that influence is so
deeply fragmented now that just shouting at people with ads is
becoming less effective with every passing hour. Organic social can
teach us Marketers new tricks – tricks that are important today, and
will be essential tomorrow.
If you want to secure your Marketing team's sophistication and impact,
now you know how.
_Carpe diem._
Avinash.
Thank you for being a TMAI Premium subscriber - and helping raise
money for charity.
Your Premium subscription covers one person. It's fine to forward
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