What Makes Customers Follow or Unfollow?

As experts in social media marketing, we always stress the importance of social media in a successful marketing strategy. Our digital marketing team are always delving deeper to find out more information on customer behaviour and trends in order to better advise our clients on social media, and we’re going to share a little bit of that gold dust with you…

Recent research has shown some interesting statistics unveiling the reasons that users follow or unfollow a brand and outlines their motives behind it:

What Users Don’t Like

Nearly 60% of users fed back and said that receiving constant promotional posts was annoying. Shocker. And the other top reasons for their irritation?

  • Using unnecessary slang and jargon.
  • Not having any personality on their accounts.
  • Trying to be funny when they’re not.
  • Not replying to messages.

In order to avoid grating on your potential target audience (which we would not advise), we would suggest trying to strike a balance between promotional posts and ‘fluffy’ non-promotional posts. A 30/70 balance between promoting offers and ‘fluffy’ filler posts usually does the trick. And remember who you’re talking to: clients don’t want to be bombarded with industry jargon. Keep posts light-hearted and reasonably casual. When it comes to replying to messages, as a brand you really do need to concentrate on being responsive, customers will value the personal attention.

What Users Do Like

It has also been revealed that 73% of users follow a brand because they have a personal interest in what it’s offering, while 58% of social media bods follow a brand solely to keep an eye on any upcoming promotions. Other reasons included:

  • For entertainment value.
  • They offer an incentive.
  • To engage with that brand.
  • Their friends follow/like them.

Therefore, the motivation needs to come from the user, whether that’s down personal interest or due to an incentive. The best you can do as an influencer is encourage interactions by producing entertaining and engaging content.

Key Social Media Statistics

When it comes to conversion, the statistics speak for themselves. Findings show that 57% of users that follow a brand on social media are more likely to make a purchase from them. However, this is only after repeated exposure, on average it takes 2-4 times, until they complete a purchase.

It is important to remember that having social media account for your brand is not merely about posting content, it is a platform to understand your users and their expectations.  Why not have a go at creating a more “likeable” social presence through learning more about your audience, balancing promotion with value, writing in an authentic tone, avoiding jargon language and being responsive.

As a leading digital marketing agency, we encounter good and bad social media strategies on a daily basis. If you would like any advice or more information on any of our digital services, including web design, PR, and social media please call 0117 930 4365 or drop us an email, we’d love to hear from you.

Get in touch with us and we’ll get back to you within 24hrs

Our team are ready to help take your website to the next level and grow your business online. Contact us today for a free discovery session and we will show you our approach and we can help you hit your growth targets this year.