1. Build an Inspiration Feed Before You Create Anything

Good content does not start with a camera. It starts with retraining how you see the feed.

Before you create anything, open a new account. Not a brand account and not a competitor research account, but an inspiration feed. This account exists for one purpose only, to put you back in the mindset of a viewer rather than a business or creator.

Fill it with creators and other businesses who consistently stop your scroll, accounts completely outside your niche, ads that feel more like content than advertising, and contact that makes you think “why did I just watch that?” Then do something most people never do. Pay attention to yourself as the viewer:

Notice what made you stop, whether it was movement, sound, framing or pace. Ask yourself if you understood the point instantly and whether it felt different from everything around it. This matters because the biggest mistake brands make is creating content as a brand instead of through the lens of an audience member. If you don’t understand what stops you scrolling, you will never reliably stop anyone else with your own content.

Spend some real, quality time in this viewing mode. This is where strong ideas begin.

2. Learn to Build Hooks by Thinking Like the Audience

Once you’ve spent time consuming intentionally, the patterns become obvious. Very little content earns more than two seconds of attention. People decide instantly whether something is worth their time, and the hook is almost never the caption. It’s the first visual paired with the first sound.

Your hook is not what the video is about. Your hook is the reason someone does not scroll.

Strong hooks tend to share common traits. They tend to open with immediate movement rather than a static frame. They use a visual that feels slightly unexpected. They rely on audio that cuts through the feed, or a sentence that starts mid thought rather than with an introduction.

If your brand's video needs explaining, the hook has already failed.

3. Make Your Brands Content Physically Stand Out

Most advice out there stops at storytelling. Very few people talk about how content actually looks and sounds in the feed, which is a huge mistake to overlook. Remember: You are competing visually and sonically.

HDR video allows for brighter highlights and deeper contrast on supported screens. On platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, HDR content can literally appear brighter in the feed on compatible devices. So use this to your advantage as most modern phones are able to shoot in HDR. Very few creators intentionally preserve HDR through export and upload, so this tactic has an underused edge. In a sea of flat, compressed video, this subtle tactic can make a huge difference. 

Audio is a big one and it’s where many brands and businesses fall short. Most existing advice out there focuses on clarity, which is the baseline. But the real advantage is loudness. Think of it like this - feeds are noisy environments and if your video is mastered quieter than the one before it, you’re already at a disadvantage. While some platforms apply loudness normalisation, not all do it aggressively, so your audio mix matters more than you think! So train yourself and your social team on the basics of mastering audio for your videos. You’ll thank yourself later.

4. Accept the Reality of Attention

It’s important to remember you are not just competing with similar brands to yourself. You are competing with messages, memes, arguments, DMs and all the other inevitable noise the world throws into the feed. That means your brands content must communicate immediately. Anything that takes too long to get into will not get that first precious few seconds of retention. Remember: your opener matters far more than how you end the content.

This is not about dumbing your business's content down. It’s about building the habit of pushing your initial hook up front every single time and earning attention before delivering the actual value. Think of it like a good, strong handshake. If it’s weak, fewer people will stick around for what comes next.

5. Understand Algorithms Properly

Algorithms are not mysterious. They are just often described poorly.

So firstly, exploring which social platforms are right for your brand will serve you well. Remember, you don’t have to host a presence on every platform to see success. Don’t make the mistake of spreading yourself too thin. Instead, consider that some platforms are more popular with some demographics over others. Research exactly which caters to your business the best.

At a high level, platforms all do the same thing. They test content with a small audience, measure behaviour such as watch time, replays and engagement, and then decide whether to expand distribution. The difference lies in what each platform values. Let’s look at these three platform examples:

TikTok

• Tests aggressively 

• Content lives or dies on early performance

• Followers matter far less than behaviour

• Watch time and replays are critical

• TikTok rewards content rather than creators

• Good for: Reaching Gen Z & young millennials / Trend-driven discovery / ‘Creator first’ culture

• Demographic: Skews towards younger demo (Gen Z / Young Millennials)

Instagram 

• Places more weight on relationship signals

• Consistency helps more than one off hits

• Saves and shares often matter more than likes

• Existing audience behaviour influences reach

• Instagram rewards trust built over time

• Good for: Lifestyle & identity-led audiences / Shopping & Brand Affinity 

• Demographic: Skews more female overall / wider age ranges

YouTube 

• A slower burn. 

• Retention is heavily prioritised

• Content can resurface weeks or months later

• Titles and thumbnails are critical

• YouTube rewards depth and longevity

• Good for: Long-form Learning & Entertainment / Search Driven Discovery / High-Intent Viewing

• Demographic: Most universal and much wider age ranges

The takeaway is simple. Don’t post the same content the same way everywhere and hope for the best. And also, don’t spread yourself too thin.

Test, adjust and learn per platform. 

6. Use Organic as a Testing Ground

Organic social is free and valuable data for your business. When something holds attention, gets shared, earns comments and performs without budget, it’s telling you something. It’s telling you where your brand is earning traction and who’s paying attention. It shows you what content formats are performing the best, the demographics you’re reaching and can even help you to decide which platform is more worthwhile for you to invest your time with.

This is where organic becomes powerful. You’re no longer just guessing what to promote, but instead you’re confirming it. Remember: Paid ads do not fix bad content. Paid ads just simply amplify content. The smartest brands do not separate organic and paid. They use organic first, to then decide where the money goes. 

7. Remember What Organic Is Actually For

Organic social is rarely the final step. Its role is as a super-tool to help you build awareness, familiarity and recognition for your brand

A customer might watch now and buy later. They might search for your brand weeks after first discovering you. They might even instantly recognise you when an ad appears. So if you judge organic content purely on last click conversions, you will always undervalue it. Its job is to make you memorable.

8. Community Is the Multiplier

Community comes last for a reason. You cannot build a community around content no one sees.

Once content starts landing, engagement compounds it. So ensure you reply to comments properly using your brand's unique voice, engage in adjacent spaces rather than competitor ones and be present where your audience and potential customers already spend their time. Algorithms notice this, but people notice it even more. Organic works best when it feels human.

Final Thought

Winning for your business at organic social is not about hacks. It truly is a long game, so I’ll leave you with some takeaways.

To win at organic social, you must first learn to:

• Understand attention

• Respect the feed 

• Create content that earns the pause 

• Use technical edges others ignore

• Let data guide future amplification