Losing fans, followers or subscribers can leave a painful feeling in the pit of your stomach. Twitter and Facebook don’t offer an explanation for this. Consumers are allowed to “unlike”, unfollow or unsubscribe without reason. This leaves the author or organization asking, why? What did I do? The cliché breakup line “it’s not you, it’s me,” offers us little comfort as we strive to do better.
At Communiqué, we take pride in our blog and work to deliver content that is timely, interesting and relevant to our readers, but we too, have experienced that painful message when we have lost a subscriber. I recently came across an article, “Top Reasons Why Consumers Unsubscribe Via E-Mail, Facebook & Twitter,” on Mashable written by Erica Swallow, which helped put this question into context.
The article gives some great perspective on why readers unsubscribe, “unlike” or unfollow a company. Not surprisingly, most people surveyed unsubscribe because the information is too frequent, irrelevant or boring.
Identifying why people dump brands on social media platforms can help companies understand how to keep them interested. We thought it might be helpful to provide a few key dos and don’ts to follow as you work to develop social media content.
- Don’t over post. The top reason that people gave for “unliking” a brand is the posts were too frequent. Make sure that the content has a purpose. Posting a tweet or blog just to post will not establish credibility with your followers, fans or subscribers. Instead, establish expectations about how frequently you plan to post and then deliver on that commitment. Limit posts to once a day on Facebook and a blog. It is more acceptable to tweet frequently, but make sure you are adding value.
- Deliver creative and compelling content. No matter which platform you are utilizing, developing creative content is essential to maintaining a strong following. By blogging or posting to Facebook and Twitter, you should be offering information that is helpful and valuable to your audience. Many people unsubscribe to marketing emails, Facebook and Twitter because the content is boring and repetitive. Avoid re-posting the same content over and over. A good rule of thumb is 90/10. 90 percent of the time you should be sharing relevant information, 10 percent of the time you can share promotional information about your company or organization.
- Make yourself irreplaceable. One of the top reasons why consumers unsubscribe via email, Facebook and Twitter is because their feed or inbox is too crowded. The only way to beat this is to ensure your content is a must-have. Focus on your target audience and filter all content through that view. Position your brand as a thought leader, speak to trends, and not just brand news. Instead of just posting articles, add context. For example, a roofing company can speak to a growing trend, “Totally agree with this NYT article. We are seeing a significant spike in requests for solar panels. It’s boosting our bottom line!”
Keep in mind that sometimes it is unavoidable to lose a fan, follower or subscriber. However, by keeping these tips top of mind while optimizing content for social media, it will help to make sure that your posts are relevant to the reader.