Top 4 Reasons Social Media Fans Flee and How to Stop Them

 

Are you making your social media fans flee in the other direction without even realizing it? Has your social community been shrinking? Wonder why?

Here are the top four reasons social media fans flee…

1. Too Much Content

Ever had a face-to-face conversation with someone and felt like they’re invading your personal space? Your automatic defense is to take a few steps back, right?

Same thing goes when you post too many inconsequential updates. Dominating your readers’ wall is never a good thing. Your brand comes across as aggressive, even if that’s not your intent. Yes, it’s important to remain active on your social media accounts, but too much noise is spammy.  If your company is posting content that’s all about you – all the time – it gets boring fast!

Take a step back and prioritize what content is the most important to share. Better to have two informative posts on your Facebook company page than 20 meaningless ones.

For further insight, take a look at Social Marketing Writing’s recent post on 15+ Ways to Lose Your Twitter Followers.

2. Too Little Content

Not posting at all is just as bad as posting too much. This is a surefire way to lose followers. If your brand is inactive on social media, the impression is that you have nothing to offer your fans. Don’t fall into this easy trap!  Be sure to post on a regular basis. If you take the time to create social media accounts, be willing to do the work. Social media sites require constant upkeep.

Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus, decide which pages are the most important for your company and invest in them.

Note: Remember that not all social media pages are created equal! Tweeting 25 times in a day is perfectly acceptable, while posting 25 updates per day on LinkedIn is overkill. The key is finding the right balance that works for your brand.

Marketing expert, Caroline Melberg confirms this approach in her article from Social Media Today: “Post to your social media accounts as often as you have something useful to say, but keep in mind that each community is a unique community and has its own set of standards and expectations.”

Check out the following two examples of the right amount of content:

Ikea creates one engaging Facebook post daily throughout the workweek. Notice how its post has a sharp image, smart caption and engaging question. Just this one post received 105 shares and 3,452 likes!

Travel and Leisure’s very active Facebook page daily posts beautiful content catered to its readers. Note how this post is clear, easy to understand and stunning! With 1,661 likes and 147 shares, this is clearly something that fans want to see.

The goal is to entice your followers and provide them with useful content that makes them want to continually see what you have to say.

3. Errors and Punctuation Mishaps

Double check and triple check your updates, before posting them. If you don’t, you may give the impression that your company and brand are lazy. If you thank someone on Twitter for retweeting your post, be sure you spell his or her name correctly! Proofreading your work before you hit the submit button makes a world of difference to the impression you leave behind. Yes, mistakes are bound to happen occasionally, but make sure you do everything in your power to prevent them!

Watch out for over-punctuating your updates too. Writing in all caps on the internet implies yelling. Why would fans want to be yelled at? Using five exclamation points or hashtagging everything seems spammy and unnatural. Strike a balance to find a conversational and inviting tone without overdoing it. For a good example checkout Starbucks below…

With 5.77 Million followers on its Twitter page, Starbucks is doing something right! The tweet above is simple but eye-catching, with a crisp colorful image, simple sentence structure and an appropriate hashtag. Ultimately, Starbucks’ tweet promotes its product in a fun and engaging way. What’s more, this tweet is error-free.

4. Inconsistencies

If one day you post the top 10 tips for a successful boardroom meeting, and the next day you show pictures of your grandma’s cat – most likely, you’re confusing your followers. Develop a consistent content marketing strategy for each social media site. Figure out what your brand’s voice is and who your target client is; then stick to it!

Also make sure your brand is consistently accessible. If you post great content but never respond to comments, you could be coming across as unapproachable. Since social media sites give your brand a great platform to communicate with existing and potential customers, take advantage of them regularly. Ignoring fans, gives the impression that you just don’t care. Instead, maintain a quality track record and respond to both positive and negative comments in a timely manner. If someone shares your content, say thank you!

For an example, look at Chicago restaurant RPM Italian’s interactions with followers/customers on its Twitter page. This company conscientiously reaches out and responds to followers’ comments in a timely manner.

For help on constructing excellent social media content, take a look at this handy infographic from Entrepreneur.

Your Thoughts:

Do these four foibles make your social media fans flee in the other direction? What is the number one reason you unfollow, unlike or unsubscribe from a brand’s content? What do you do to ensure that people stay subscribed to you? Please leave your comments below.