I recently read an article on Penn-Olson about the top reasons why people unfollow brands on Twitter. Based on the study Social Break-up, the top reason at 52% is that people find the tweets of the brand boring or repetitive. 41% also feel that their Twitter stream is already being spammed by marketing posts that they can’t relate to.
Some thoughts I’d like to share based on this study:
- Interaction is key because it’s not boring, it serves a purpose, and it gives value. If your brand will be on Twitter, it has to be interactive and not just 1-way.
- Since interaction is key, the social media team has to be ready for customer service inquiries. Create an advanced FAQ especially when launching new promotions or products. Don’t let them wait for answers.
- If you will use it to push products or services, don’t spam. Also try to figure out a way to offer incentives and deals for your Twitter community.
- Use DM’s as much as possible with customer service. Goal is to serve and deliver value, not just to promote.
- Promote when needed via public replies. This is important if the issue being raised is common/persistent.
reality is, most, if not all, follow brands on twitter and facebook for the end-incentives. regardless how boring these brands may be – as long as they’re attracted to whatever they’ll receive (or chance to receive) they’ll stick to follow it.
can i just add – that i find it plainly stupid for brand twitter & facebook pages to initiate conversations like asking your day, or simply asking how are you… yet they never really interact with the people who tweet back or post replies…