Never stop talking about yourself
You’ve heard this a hundred times already but you should hear it again because you should never forget: don’t go on about yourself all the time! Unless, of course, your aim is to lose all your followers on your social networks. By talking only about yourself and self-advertising constantly, you are putting your users in a tough spot because it is their Facebook News Feed and their Twitter timeline that you are posting this on, and they will only tolerate aggressive advertising to a certain point, because they want to follow content that is interesting and useful and not exhausting and boring. And when they get bored, they will just hide you on Facebook or quietly unfollow you on Twitter, and you won’t even know that you’ve lost your audience.
Post only boring and irrelevant content
According to the research published recently by Fractl and Buzzstream, reason number one why users stop following a brand on social networks is because it is boring and repetitive. Another research has shown that over 60% of users will stop following a brand on social networks if the content it posts is not relevant for their needs. So users are not only put off by the constant self-advertising of brands, they are also not interested in content which is not useful or relevant to them and does not speak to their problems and needs, but keeps coming up on their timelines.
It is not just about constantly publishing new and interesting content, the type of content is also important: the Fractl and Buzzstream research has shown that users prefer seeing images, videos and reviews of other users on their timelines, while they feel that brands should avoid publishing white papers, ebooks and corporate news. Although publishing unwanted content will not in itself lead users to stop following a brand on social networks, not knowing the needs and desires of your users will certainly attribute to the dispersing of the audience.
Publish irregularly and immoderately
It is still important to publish content regularly, but if you want to keep your audience, then do not overdo it. No less than 68% of Facebook users prefer seeing just 1 to 2 posts a day, and 63% of Twitter users and 72% LinkedIn users concur! Quality is more important than quantity, and quality implies content that users will want to share and comment on, and which will give them added value. Quality also implies authenticity – information that can be found in different sources is not interesting and often leads to the dispersing of the user base. Original and inventive content help retain users (and their attention).
Focus on one social network exclusively
Yes, Facebook is the biggest, most attractive and logical choice of social network to present your brand, but there are other networks out there. Instagram has over 300 million monthly active users, and on Tumblr there are over 200 million blogs, while 80% of Pinterest users are women. If you know your user base, you will know their habits and where they spend time on the Internet, which will help you choose social networks on which you can reach them. Of course, publishing on different social networks requires adapting the content to each of them, because if you keep recycling the same message (usually originally created for Facebook) and pushing it on on other social networks without understanding the rules of the new environments, you can expect your users to start jumping ship fairly soon.
Don’t communicate with your users
Ignoring your users is never a good idea. Whether they have questions, objections, commendations, or if they are just liking your post, you have to acknowledge it! Users understand that they are communicating with a brand and they expect professionalism, that is, for the brand to react to their posts in a timely and appropriate manner. However, they also expect the communication to be adapted to the social network environment, which allows for a more relaxed, less corporate manner of communication. You should also make an effort to initiate interaction with your users through your posts: the more comments or shares, the bigger the reach of a post, and that can only work to your benefit.