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| English: The content of tweets on Twitter, based on the data gathered by Pear Analytics in 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Twitter marketing is about more than just follower numbers, and business success is about more than just being liked. With followers being 67% more likely to buy from a brand they’re following, it’s always worth doing what you can to hold on to them. 55% of people will follow a brand on Twitter because they like them, but if things go bad they’ll have no qualms about changing their mind. If your brand isn’t careful there may come a time when people simply don’t want to be mates with you anymore.
You don’t want that to be your brand, Twitter (and business as a whole) is better when you have a positive ongoing relationship with your customers. But you can’t stress over every tiny factor that could cause someone to might unfollow you. So to keep you focused, here are the main reasons why people will unfollow you which can be totally avoided without much hassle:
You’re Aren’t Interacting
21% of people will unfollow accounts with no conversational Tweets. While your brand isn’t necessarily there to be the life and soul of the party (unless that’s in your brand strategy), if you can’t find the time to acknowledge the Twitter users who interact with you then they’re likely to find the time to unfollow you.
You’re Not Helpful
55% of Twitter users expect questions on Twitter to be answered within an hour, this rises to 72% when it’s a complaint. 34% of customers are also more likely to make a repeat purchase from you if your response is timely. If you’re dawdling and not getting back to people with swift, helpful answers then don’t be surprised to see those people disappear from your follower count.
You Spam
Every brand is allowed an amount of selling of some sort on their profile. It’s expected. But 47% of people unfollow for too much spam, and 48% do it for too much self-promotion. So if you’re constantly shoving links out to your buying pages and not mixing up your Tweet content, then you’re likely to annoy after a while. Seek conversations that are relevant to you, interact with people Tweeting about you, and post things that your audience are likely to find useful or interesting. Then when you do want to advertize yourself, it’s not an unwelcome intrusion to your followers timeline.
You Use Bad Automation
Automation done well can have personality, serve a purpose, and ultimately help your marketing if it’s unrealistic for you to do all of the work yourself. If it feels robotic then people may decide that they’d rather follow a human instead of a machine. Be ready to respond to scheduled Tweets, include an offer or freebie in any automatic messages to followers, and use a variety of messages.
You Give Nothing Back
33% of people follow brands on Twitter for the freebies and 52% for news on discounts or promotions. While you don’t have to desperately buy Cadillacs and ponies for every person who clicks ‘follow’, giving out offers, free samples or even ‘exclusive’ updates occasionally will keep those 52% of people on board and help you win over some others too.
You Never Tweet
A common reason people will go on unfollow sprees is to balance their follow:following ratio, and inactive followers will be trimmed. If you never Tweet, people may assume you’re not active on the service and you’ll probably be first in line for an unfollow. A worst case scenario would even be that they think your business isn’t even operating anymore and don’t visit you in future, eek!
You Weren’t There For Them When They Needed You
Approximately 60% of people will follow a brand on Twitter for customer service and support. If you’re not giving it to them when they need it, then they may unfollow you. If you can’t be responding to people around the clock, let people know when you will respond in your bio. If you don’t use Twitter for customer service, make sure your bio lets people know where they can get in touch with your team for help.
Your Brand Is Your Personal Soapbox
What you believe in your free time is up to you. But if you start Tweeting controversial political views from your brand’s account, or streams of social commentary that’s nothing to do with the brand then prepare for people who don’t agree to depart swiftly.
You can’t please everyone all of the time, so don’t worry about each and every unfollow. But by being aware of what switches people off, you can minimize the unfollows while having an engaging and entertaining Twitter account. What other avoidable things are there that brands do, which cause you to unfollow?
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