Gaining followers is often easier than keeping them. But if you don’t hold them, if you don’t build loyalty, you won’t have conversions — people won’t buy what you’re selling. Are you losing followers? It’s probably because of one of five reasons.
1. You’re not interacting with your followers in real time
Each slow reply to a comment is a lost opportunity for conversation. Besides, today more and more people are taking their customer support problems to social media. If you don’t answer them quickly enough, they won’t be happy. Negative messages and support questions should have priority — try to answer them immediately.
2. You’re feeding them the same content over and over again
If you’re talking only about your small business, posting the same stuff on all your social media channels, your content will become repetitive before long. Fresh content is the key to building an engaging presence on social sites, whether we’re talking about Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Pinterest.
3. You’re sending automated, impersonal private messages to push forward your products and services
“Thank you for following us. Please check our product/service.” — that won’t get you far. These messages are spammy, annoying, and unprofessional. Avoid them. Also, try to avoid automated or impersonal replies to comments. Be genuine. Be warm. Even if it takes more time.
4. You’re not posting enough original media content
Text may be the cornerstone of social media marketing, but images and videos catch the eye and are often more engaging. It’s okay to use media from the web, which is what most businesses do. But if possible, try to incorporate in your posts as much original media as possible. One way to do this is to take your followers behind the scenes, to show them the life in your office. Also, think of images with your location and snapshots of your employees. All these add authenticity.
If you’re on Instagram, for example, you can use Stories to deliver more in-progress content, or promote user-generated content.
5. You’re too active
You’ve probably heard that the more active you are on social sites, the better, but if being active means bombarding your followers’ stream with posts, then you’re bound to lose some of them. Give your followers time to discover and digest your content.
In conclusion, don’t spam your followers and don’t send them impersonal, automated messages. Respond to their comments as quickly as possible. Also, post more fresh and original content (especially more media content). Do all this and you’ll stop losing followers. Not only that, but you’ll actually gain some new ones.