Does your follower count (the number of Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram users who follow your social media accounts) seem to fluctuate regularly? While fluctuation is normal, seeing large drops in your follower count may be an indication that you're doing something wrong. While these mistakes are probably minor, they are likely the reason why people stop following your social pages; but don't worry, these issues are easy to fix!
Take a look at this recent survey conducted by Sprout Social to see if you're making any of these common errors.
Top Reasons Why People Stop Following Your Page
Sprout Social, a leader in social media management software, surveyed 1,000 participants to gather insight on the top annoyances that cause users to unfollow a business page. The graphs below highlight what these top reasons are.
To no surprise, users are most annoyed by accounts that over-saturate their feeds with promotional content. There is no longer a one-size-fits-all framework when it comes to creating content. In today's world, people want to see things catered to their likes and needs, not irrelevant blasts of generic information. This personalization comes from knowing your audience members and developing creative content that is specific to the persona. The best place to look when determining your audience persona is at the data.
What is the your audience makeup? Are they predominately based in the U.S.? Are most users from a specific state? Do more males follow you than females? Are these followers Millennials or Gen Xers? All of these elements help you customize your social posts.
To start identifying what your audience might look like, consider the seven main reasons why social media users follow a business page in the first place. Understanding what people want to see is the first step towards positive content changes
While social media is just one slice of the marketing pie, it's one that is crucial to the customer experience. Social media is the quickest and easiest medium for reaching new and existing customer—so using it and using it well is vital to your customer service efforts, as well creating positive brand sentiment.
Curious about how to establish a stronger brand identity on your social media channels?
5 Steps to Brand Identity on Social Media
To see more of Sprout Social's findings and how you can best utilize your social media channels for engaging appropriate audience members, check out this article from Social Media Today:
New Study Looks at What Makes People Unfollow Brands on Social Media
Want to see what else could be affecting your following?