Why Your Business Is Losing Social Media Followers
Social media is a rollercoaster: one day you gain 200 followers, the next you lose 130. Sometimes, those fluctuations happen for seemingly no reason, while other times, the reason(s) for them can be readily identifiable. If you’re consistently losing social media followers, or if you want to avoid losing them, then avoid these common mistakes, found by HubSpot’s 2022 Social Media Marketing Report. While that survey only talks about Instagram users, this blog is relevant for every social media platform, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
You’re Not Posting Regularly
For this mistake, put yourself in the eyes of someone who uses social media, instead of a marketer. Your feed is constantly updating. Unless you’re following less than 200 people, it's unlikely for you to reach the end of your feed or to see the same post twice. It’s so easy to miss posts and it’s so easy to see when someone is posting too much. If you’re like us, then you likely go through who you’re following on a regular basis and clean it out. If you don’t recognize a name or a brand, it’s probably going to be unfollowed immediately. On the other hand, if you see too much of a brand or influencer to the point where they are filling up your feed, you may consider unfollowing them as well. Regular daily updates are the best way to avoid this. We don’t recommend posting more than 3 times a day, unless there is some huge news you want to share. We also don’t recommend skipping too many days a week either. You want to find a balance between being recognizable and being spammy. The data backs this too: HubSpot found that 40% of Instagram marketers said that not posting enough is the number one reason why brands lose followers, while 33% said posting too much can have the same impact.The first step to avoiding this mistake? Make a killer social media calendar. You can learn how to do that here.
Too Much Sales, Too Little Conversation
When you go on social media, you likely look for juicy gossip, hot celeb takes, updates on friends and families, and pet photos or hobby-related news. You don’t want your feed to be turned into hundreds of billboards that are telling you to “BUY BUY BUY!” Keep that in mind when you’re marketing your business. Too much sales-talk and you’ll lose social media followers. Too little and you may be missing out on a few sales and brand awareness opportunities. In fact, you don’t want to eliminate sales-centric posts entirely. HubSpot found that “content centered around a brand’s products/services is leveraged by 39% of IG marketers and has the second-highest ROI.”However, don’t forget to engage your audience. You don’t want to be a sales-machine, you want to be seen as a person. A good example of this is Wendy’s Twitter – their sassy jokes and personality offer a great balance to them tweeting out deals and “eat at Wendy’s” content. Again, balance is key!
Bot Followers Are Purged Regularly
Twitter and Instagram, among other social media platforms, are at war against bot followers. They regularly attempt to purge them from the platform, which means you’re likely to lose some followers (even if you didn’t buy any bot followers!). HubSpot found this is an extremely common reason why Instagram users lose social media followers: 39% of Instagram marketers surveyed said this was the third largest reason why your follower count drops.According to Twitter, it found 5.1M instances of spam reports from January-June 2021, and about 130.3M anti-spam challenges in the same time period. This means Twitter has upped their game to confirm whether an authentic account holder is in control of accounts engaged in suspicious activity (aka whether it’s a real person behind the account or a bot). Twitter has also stated multiple times throughout the years that they are working to increase their security to prevent spam and mass bot follows. The bottom line? Don’t buy bot followers. You don’t need them and they are a waste of your money, especially if the platform will remove them. If you want to gain an organic (natural) following, all you need to do is be consistent, be on-brand, and share your word using hashtags, multiple platforms, and word of mouth. You’ll be over 1,000 followers in no time. If you’re overwhelmed by the idea of managing multiple accounts or need a little help, don’t worry. Helix House can help! Our social media manager is exceptional at creating trendy, on-brand posts that boost engagement. Don’t believe us? Reach out to find out!
