It can be quite a downer to log onto your social media business page, only to find that you’ve lost followers and your overall engagement has dropped. Why would this be happening? What have you done wrong?
There are a few reasons why people unfollow social media pages
They Don’t Like Your Content
This is pretty straightforward – if they don’t like what you have to say they will stop listening.
So why wouldn’t they like your content?
- People will unfollow pages that they find boring and repetitive
- Overwhelming their news feed by posting too much
- Posting uninteresting or irrelevant content
- Offending followers by posting inappropriate posts that don’t resonate with your brand
Attracting the “wrong” followers
“Like and share” competitions are great for growing organic followers and spreading brand awareness, but you may find yourself collecting followers that may not care about your brand. People will like anything for a chance to get something for free.
Posting irrelevant content may have the same effect – you will collect irrelevant followers and page likes.
It’s to be expected that you will lose a few followers after such a competition, but you shouldn’t be losing more than you started with.
Schedule Social Media Posts Correctly
You need to find a fine balance between posting too much and not posting enough while ensuring that you are posting the right content. You also need to figure out when your audience is online and ready to engage.
- Your followers expect consistency, but this does not mean that you have to post a funny pic every single Friday at the same time – this may become too repetitive
- Don’t post for 2 weeks then bombard followers with 10 posts in one day – if your time is limited look for good content and schedule it over a few days so that sharing times are well spread out
- Do some research into how your engagement rate fluctuates and then post accordingly with valuable content
Time Your Social Media Posts Correctly
Facebook has sneaky algorithms. Simply put, if no one engages with your post soon after it is posted, no one will see it.
It works like a snowball – snow needs to be added and the ball needs to start rolling in order to grow.
Be sure to post at times when people will actually see and interact with your post, otherwise, it will not grow.
Facebook insights can show you the best times and days to post for optimal reach and engagement.
Social Media Golden Rule
The golden 20/80 rule should rule over what you post. Only 20% (at most) of your posts should be sales-related. The other 80% should be relevant, valuable information that your audience would be interested in. This includes industry-related news, tips, trends, etc.
For example – if your target audience consists of interior designers, they may be interested in décor trends, design ideas, and new products/programs that could benefit them. You can post content like this even if you actually sell furniture or paint – it’s still relevant, shareable and interesting.
Become More Social!
There is a reason you are using social media instead of a billboard or magazine ad (and it’s not just because it is less costly).
Social media requires two-way engagement and interaction. You need to join in the conversation you create – respond to comments (especially complaints) to show your followers that you care about what they think and have to say.
Remember that we live in an age where instant gratification is key – you should ideally be responding within thirty minutes, or one hour at the most.
To get more social media insights, why not sign up for our social media training courses?