Why organic content is mercilessly overrated

In the middle of the bubbling cosmos of the Social Media Week in New York, it became clear what many brands have long felt - but few say openly: organic reach is dying quietly. Alice Talotti from Furthur was there when international experts spoke plainly. In an interview with m&k, she explains why followers are no longer a currency, why creators need to be far more than just pretty figureheads - and why content without a strategy in the newsfeed simply no longer stands a chance.

 

m&k: Alice Talotti, you were responsible for Furthur at the Social Media Week in New York. What was your first thought when you saw the agenda?

Alice Talotti: I was surprised at what wasn't on the agenda: no masterclasses on the endless scaling of performance marketing, no presentations of Gen AI tools that make human creative work superfluous and no fantastic cases where the community could be scaled using followers. At the center of the agenda was the reason why we spend so much time on social media: To connect, share and find inspiration with people and brands. The panel discussions revolved around creators and how they can make a measurable contribution to a company's success.

 

The original title of this interview was "Organ failure in the newsfeed?": low reach, hardly any resonance, lack of impact. Would you say that this term aptly describes the situation - or is it too drastic?

I find it absolutely fitting, especially when it comes to organic social media. Cyntia Leo, Head of Brand Marketing and Communications at Urban Outfitters, already stated in the first panel: "The era of the follower is dead right now". I agree with this statement since the switch to the recommendation-based algorithm. Nevertheless, brands are still busy measuring their follower numbers. They ignore the fact that social media platforms and consumers haven't worked that way for a long time.

 

Please enlighten us.

As consumers, algorithms show us the content that really interests us. Regardless of whether we follow a page or not. We see what is relevant to us on social media. Content with a low reach is not shadow banned, it is simply not interesting for users and is therefore not displayed. A shadow ban is the limitation of a content's reach by the platform. And here I allow myself a myth busting: There is no shadow ban on the platforms.

Creator marketing was the dominant topic. Why is pure influencer marketing no longer enough today - and what makes real creator partnerships?

Creators are masters at creating relevant content for the platforms that people really watch. Brands need to learn to trust creators. Holding a product up to the camera and being good is a thing of the past; today, creator communities demand much more. Products must be skillfully staged to create effective added value for users.

Brands have repeatedly emphasized that they see the best results through long-term partnerships. Both sides benefit: Brand and Creator:in get to know and understand each other and can benefit from the trust and credibility of the collaboration.

For many brands in the USA, it is obvious that this credible content should also be used in paid advertising. Paid media was continually cited as a success factor in Social Media Week. The targeted purchased reach helps to ensure that the content also has an impact outside of the small community of creators and helps to discover new products as well as boost sales. We also see this in various case studies that we have produced with Furthur in Switzerland.

 

It has been said several times: no effect without paid media. Is organic social media marketing dead - or just seriously ill?

Organic social media marketing has been under threat of extinction since the rise of TikTok and the switch to Meta's recommendation-focused algorithm. Especially in industries that are not suitable for organic content per se. To speak of death is a slightly overused phrase in my opinion. However, organic content is often overrated and the hypothesis of a suitable translation to marketing goals is too big and cannot be proven in many cases.

Nevertheless, an insane amount of time and budget is still being invested in organic social media. Masses of content are produced that are then barely noticed or viewed. Some companies have started to put a small boosting budget behind every post so that they can at least boast acceptable view figures. At Furthur, we do not consider this to be effective. Instead, the budget should be invested in a targeted social media marketing strategy that is optimized for business goals instead of targeting followers and engagement rates.

 

What do you think is wrong with the current content production of brands?

I see three recurring mistakes:

1. Content is created using a classic and outdated storytelling structure: Brands rely on long storytelling, with the punchline coming at the end. Anyone who has ever looked at the average view time of an Instagram reel knows that this won't work. Anyone who misses the impact within the first 1.7 seconds will not be seen. If attention has not been generated in this time, users will move on to the next reel and will not have taken anything away from the brand.
2. Content is generic and not tailored to a target group: Consumers are on social media to pursue their interests. Generic content without any real added value goes unnoticed. Too often, organic social media in particular is seen as a publication channel and brands post what they want to say, not what the target group is really interested in.
3. Content is produced too glossy: Credible content is not content that is perfectly illuminated and retouched. It's content that consumers recognize themselves in. This does not mean that content must or should be poorly produced, but it must fit the respective target group.

 

What alternatives are there to traditional advertisements that still have an impact?

We see the best results in our campaigns when we focus on creative diversity. The reason is simple: every user has needs and this is reflected in the individually personalized feed. With a broad selection of ads, we address individual target groups in a personalized way. Brands need to move away from the traditional focus on the core target group and think about the needs of different target groups. You have to ask yourself which problems of the different target groups we solve with our product and which psychographic motivators we serve. People also react to different formats: Some prefer videos, others images. Different creative concepts, from regular campaign assets to creator content or user-generated content, reinforce this effect. This creative diversity not only strengthens the brand, but can also generate direct sales.

What danger do you see here?

What is not expedient is to invest the entire budget exclusively in creator marketing. If you were to blindly trust the panel discussions here, that would be the key to success. After the three days, I would almost call it hype.

What I found an interesting approach: The cross-media use of social media content. And not the TV testimonial on social media as before, but the other way around. One example: Caudalie had a bus in New York covered with an influencer motif. This led to countless fan interactions: The influencer shared "his" bus in his stories, as did his community. This was a multiplier of the reach of a classic advertising measure.

 

Marketing Mix Models (MMM) have often been mentioned as the new gold standard. Has attribution finally arrived in the age of social media?

One question on every panel at Social Media Week was: "What business objectives were achieved with the campaigns?" In Switzerland, this is discussed far too rarely. We regularly see case studies that measure success in terms of followers, views and likes. As we know, these are not sustainable success metrics.

 

Instead?

US brands have repeatedly emphasized that they undervalued social media measures with traditional conversion tracking and attribution. Especially with creator collaborations, MMMs were able to prove the impact on sales: Activations were mostly in the top channels in terms of sales generated, both organic and paid.

 

Where does that leave us in Switzerland?

In Switzerland, we are lagging behind this development. In many cases, the most common analytics systems are used, which usually significantly overestimates search measures. It is encouraging that we are increasingly dealing with advertising clients who think beyond the familiar attribution methods and have marketing mix modeling in the pipeline.

If that's a shoe-in, you should take a look at the conversion and brand lift studies available on the platforms and examine the incremental value of the individual measures. Here, too, I had the impression that advertisers in the USA are a clear step ahead.

 

What role does the community play today - beyond reach and engagement?

Communities are hard-core fans of a brand or product. Community management is therefore more than just reacting to comments. It is about interacting with precisely these fans, immersing yourself in the target groups and becoming part of their culture. Here, too, the question arises: How many resources can and should I invest in my hard-core fans as a brand? Tapping into new target groups through pure community work is a very extensive undertaking. Long-term creator partnerships can also be an interesting and credible way to enter a community.

 

What added value do brand communities provide?

One added value that a brand community brings is ideas for product development or improvement. The brand's biggest fans are also the ones with the best ideas for further development. They are also the most authentic creators: McDonalds has shared that they only work with creators who have already commented or posted positively about a product in advance. This means they work with people who really are fans, even if they are unpaid.

 

What does co-creation mean to you in concrete terms - and where does it start in the process from your point of view?

Co-creation is a joint development process. Brands can work together with their chosen partners as early as the development stage of an offer, whether it is a product, a new website or an offline event.

Creators want as much freedom as possible, early integration into the development process can create a real partnership and the content produced meets the brand's expectations. This way, both parties feel comfortable and brands can avoid restrictive and overly detailed briefings.

 

On stage, many spoke of cultural relevance instead of product staging. How does this shift work?

Having clarity about the target group is extremely important. You have to become part of the community and understand it. Simple desk research is no longer enough. Creators from the respective target group are also a good way to gain access to a culture. This also demonstrates the power of long-term collaborations: the selected partners can be integrated into feedback and development processes and thus provide added value beyond content creation.

 

Platforms are fragmenting, formats are diversifying - how do you maintain a consistent brand voice at all?

Social media should never deviate from the overarching brand goals. If the social media goals do not contribute to the overarching goal, you should ask yourself whether they have been set correctly. As a rule, brands have also defined which communication goals they pursue and how they present themselves. Social media must be integrated into this. The only thing that differs is how consumers consume the various platforms and what content needs to be communicated and how. As a brand, you don't have to be active on every single platform. It is more valuable to only use one platform properly than to be active on five platforms but only produce content without any real added value.

 

What role does AI play - as an aid or as another source of "organ failure" in the feed?

I would go so far as to say that AI content is more likely to contribute to organ failure. As humans, we currently still trust other humans. We are not yet ready to receive recommendations from an AI influencer. This also applies to content: People value content that comes from other people, that is credible and understandable. We don't need more content to stop organ failure, we need better and even more authentic content. Gen AI is not yet serving that. There was little talk about the current AI hype at Social Media Week. I found it refreshing not to hear the buzzword all the time. Analyzing data and answering FAQs, among other things, were mentioned as current value-creating use cases for AI.

 

In your career, you have worked on the agency, client and platform side. How does this shape your view of social media today?

I have learned not to jump on trends. My focus is on achieving long-term goals that have an effective impact for brands. For me, this often means taking a step back and looking at the big picture. Social media only works in conjunction with other elements. The best content is useless if there is no demand for the product, if the website is not good, if the target group is not present on the chosen platform. At the same time, the best product is useless if it is not presented in the language of the target group.

 

Furthur talks about "scientific social media marketing". What does this mean in concrete terms when working with customers?

We approach the topic from two sides: We take proven best practices as the basis for our strategies, plans and implementations. Thanks to Dominik Lämmler's and my work at Meta, we have studied meta-studies and analyses from institutions such as Nielsen and Kantar in depth. There is a statistic for almost every problem or question that we can draw on.

 

How should I imagine this in practice?

We always start with an empirically proven basis and continue experimenting from this starting point. Just like scientists in a laboratory. We like to start with a brand or conversion lift study to determine the current value of paid social media marketing measures. We then start the experiments with a test & learn agenda and investigate specific hypotheses. This can be a very simple auction selection test or selected A/B tests. In this way, we are constantly learning and developing our customers in a targeted manner. We also challenge our customers on their perception, their product and their measures. Our own company realities sometimes act as a filter. This is where we start with figures and also challenge our own opinions. And that is precisely the mindset in which we feel comfortable.

 

And finally: What would be your first aid measure if you see that a fire feed is only generating noise?

I would press the stop button and ask myself whether my content really adds value to my target group. In many cases, the honest answer will unfortunately be "no".

I would then define clear objectives, apply common sense and record which measures can be used to achieve these objectives and, above all, how I will evaluate the success of the measure. Only then would I look at how the target group communicates, what motivates them and then move on to implementation. It is better to do less and record the measures with a consistent test & learn agenda. The plan that was perfectly orchestrated from the outset no longer exists.

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Alice Talotti as Agency Solutions Manager at Meta, advised the largest media agencies in Germany and Switzerland on all topics relating to Meta Business Tools. Her goal was always to take agencies one step further, whether it was advising clients, choosing the right tools or developing measurement approaches. Previously, she worked on the media agency side and managed campaigns from strategy to planning, implementation and reporting. In addition, she established and expanded performance marketing on the client side at Dyson Switzerland and was involved in all processes from offer planning to customer service. 1.5 years ago, she founded Furthur AG with Dominik Lämmler and has since focused on social media marketing that contributes to effective marketing goals.