Irrelevant content costs brands followers
Social media users stop following brands when they bombard them with irrelevant content. This is the result of a survey conducted by the US marketing company GoodFirms.
"Keeping followers of brands engaged is just as time-consuming and difficult as attracting them in the first place. Once you have them, you can't afford to lose them," writes Mark Raymond, Content Developer at GoodFirms.
Disruptive factors create "unfollowers"
An earlier survey by GoodFirms found that four out of five social media users have used the "unfollow" option on a brand. To find out why, the company asked 484 people whether they had ever unfollowed a brand and why.
Of the "unfollowers", a large proportion (79%) said they were no longer interested. Another reason for 67 percent was the posting of content that is irrelevant to the brand. Other disruptive factors include posting too frequently (42%), inappropriate or offensive posts (39%) and lack of engagement with the brand (37%).
Relevance and consistency are crucial
Some respondents also had problems with the spread of fake news by brands, the abundance of advertising and poor product quality. According to Raymond, it can always happen that users turn their subscriptions into "unfollowers", but many brands unintentionally accelerate this process. "Brand managers need to focus on brand-relevant content, consistency, user engagement and transparency if they want to keep their followers," says Raymond. (pte)
