Most brands are abandoning organic social media due to declining reach and ROI, shifting budgets to paid ads. However, the winning brands treat social media like a TV network, creating recurring shows with consistent formats, themes, characters, and sets. This approach builds trust, lowers acquisition costs, and enhances paid ad effectiveness, proving organic social media is not dead but requires a new strategy.
Most brands today are quietly giving up on organic social media. Data shows that 64% of marketers are cutting their organic budgets and shifting their focus entirely to paid ads. But this shift overlooks a crucial insight: the brands that are winning organically aren’t simply posting more content—they’re playing a completely different game.
Organic social media is no longer about posting frequently and hoping for engagement. If your organic posts aren’t going at least somewhat viral, your account is essentially invisible. There is no middle ground anymore—you either break through the algorithm or you don’t exist.
Despite people spending more time on social media than ever—TikTok users average 35 hours a month, Facebook 29 hours, and YouTube 28 hours—most brands are not reaching their audience organically. This has led to a surge in social ad spending, with 46% of marketers increasing Instagram ad budgets, 57% on TikTok, and 53% on YouTube.
However, relying solely on paid ads is problematic. Ads are becoming more expensive every year, driving up customer acquisition costs and shrinking profit margins. Brands that abandon organic social media lock themselves into a costly dependency on paid ads, never truly owning their audience or building long-term loyalty.
Social media has evolved significantly over the decades:
Many brands still treat social media like a billboard—posting images, captions, and running giveaways—hoping for engagement. But this approach no longer works. Purchase journeys now involve multiple touchpoints across platforms, and consumers are emotionally exhausted by the overwhelming volume of content. As a result, many ignore or delete messages that look like ads, even from brands they follow.
The brands that continue to win organically have stopped thinking like social media managers and started thinking like TV networks. Instead of dumping all types of content on one account, they create distinct shows with consistent formats, themes, characters, and sets.
Immi Eats: Launched a separate TikTok and Instagram account called "Ramen on the Street," featuring episodes where strangers share a bowl of ramen and discuss life. This show generates 5 to 15 million views per month and funnels traffic back to the main brand.
Bilt Rewards: Created "Roomies," a mockumentary-style sitcom about a young woman living with chaotic roommates. The show has millions of views and built 150,000 organic followers.
The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills: Developed episodic content focusing on helping customers find the perfect cheese and capturing in-the-moment tastings, which has driven real-world foot traffic from around the globe.
These shows are not one-off viral stunts but renewable, repeatable formats designed to run consistently, building habits among viewers.
To build a social media show that people actually watch, you need to incorporate four recurring elements:
For example, Brooklyn Coffee Shop’s Instagram show features two baristas at the coffee shop counter interacting with customers in a sitcom-style skit. This recognizable format builds a loyal audience.
Organic social media is not separate from paid advertising—it makes paid ads more effective. When you build an organic audience that knows and trusts you, your paid ads don’t start from zero. Instead, they accelerate momentum by converting a warm audience.
Consider a supplement brand that creates a recurring show filmed in a gym, where a coach helps gym-goers fix common workout mistakes. This show builds trust and recognition over time. When the brand runs ads for its products, it reaches an audience already familiar with and trusting the brand, resulting in higher click-through rates, lower acquisition costs, and better conversion rates.
Brands that understand this use organic social as the top of the funnel and paid ads as the accelerator. Abandoning organic social makes ads more expensive and less effective, while cracking the organic code makes every ad dollar work harder.
We are now in the co-creation era of social media marketing. Brands that share ownership with their audiences and create content people actually want to watch—real shows with recurring formats—will dominate the next era. The old way of posting random content and hoping for virality is dead.
To succeed, treat your social media like a TV network, build shows with consistent elements, and integrate organic and paid strategies. This approach builds trust, lowers costs, and drives sustainable growth.
Organic social media isn’t dead, but the old way of doing it is.
If you want to learn more about how the best brands are using social media and content to drive business, consider exploring expert resources and agencies specializing in this new approach.
