41.50% of Users Unfollow Brands for Excessive Posting — GoodFirms Survey

Consumers, existing or potential, engage with brands on social media platforms solely to appease the human tendency of dealing better with another human. It is the custom of putting a face to a name that entices a social media user to interact with a brand on social media.

The user, having started following a social media account, gets access to engaging content, and relevant promotional activities — elements that hold the bond between a user and a brand/celebrity. What also keeps a follower interested is the reach to the backstage view or up-close glimpses of off-stage lifestyle, which are usually concealed.

However, the recent unfollowing trend on social media urged GoodFirms to gain a deeper understanding of this phenomenon. A survey was conducted that divulged that 4 out of 5 social media users recently unfollowed a brand.

The social media usage survey focusing on unfollowing patterns indicated that 85.12% of users had unfollowed a brand or a celebrity in their usage lifecycle.

Nearly 3 in every 20 users have unfollowed a social media account owing to fake news or false information. Nonetheless, this does not constitute the top 5 reasons why users unsubscribe to social media accounts and profiles.

The survey, while trying to unveil the reasons why a brand/person is unfollowed on social media, has also been able to answer what users expect on their feeds from the accounts that they have followed. Whether the account is a corporate consumer brand or an individual influencer profile, users expect to see content that is not only entertaining but also adds value to their daily routine.

Positive influence and value creation is a driving factor that compels users to continue following a social media account. This can be easily construed from the survey which listed offensive/inappropriate posts (38.59%) and lack of engagement (37.14%) as major concerns to unfollow, which rounded up the top 5 reasons.

Christina Albe recently unfollowed a few home improvement brands, “who made me feel self-conscious or who were serving the same kind of content they had been for years. I was no longer inspired. I don’t need more notifications of when they do post because, well, it’s just not interested anymore.” This forms the crux of reasons every user unfollowing a brand.

‘Lack of Interest’ Emerged as the Top Reason for Unfollowing a Brand on Social Media:

Nearly 4 in every 5 (79.37%) users unsubscribed a social media account as a result of declining interest in content since it became repetitive, or boring, or delivering an antiquated message. Too much advertising (12.38%) or poor quality of products (10.92%) did not coerce users to unfollow as much as the quality of the content.

A brand or a persons’ disparity from others is what users are interested to know about. Every post should have an essence of its own from which some value can be added to satiate the intellectual appetence.

Jeremy Rose, who currently runs CertaHosting — a UK-based service that explores the possibilities of web hosting, advised that “shift to a more relaxed style or use memes to make statements if you want to shift your follower base and increase their number. Or go in the opposite direction, and make more concrete and serious posts.”

Frequency of Content Posted Is an Essential Aspect to Be Taken Care of to Retain Followers:

The relevance of posts on a social media account causes unfollowing (66.99%) if the content is found to be extraneous. However, posting too much and too often clutters up the followers’ feed which leaves only one option for every 2 users out of 5 (41.50%) which is to unfollow the account to be withdrawn from their feeds.

Brands need to comprehend that social media users follow other brands as well apart from theirs.

Posting in minimal amount would not assist in keeping constant communication with followers, but posting too much makes users feel like being spammed.

Content managers of social media accounts for brands must build a schedule regarding the frequency of posts and stick to the same. Having a program would prepare followers to know what to expect and when which in turn helps develop brand loyalty.

“Publish quality-content periodically. It does not mean posts have to be published every day, but rather at a constant frequency (once a day, thrice a week, etc.), so that the page does not look like it has been abandoned, and instead build up expectations for when upcoming content will appear. A great way to achieve that is to set up a social media calendar.” is what Thibaud Clement had to suggest.

Social media users nowadays have become quick in identifying whether the content of the posts of a brand they follow online is relevant to the brand identity and aligned with their interests or not. Promptness in recognizing feed content helps in decision making regarding continuing following a brand or not.

Irrelevance, losing interest, and disorder in the periodicity of posts eventually leads to unfollowing of a brand/person on social media. Since people with common interests tend to follow common brands, unfollowing might also see the same swing, and a tumbling effect could drive to realize more and more users disassociating with a brand online.

The discovery made during this study presents a unique opportunity for brands as well as social media marketing companies to rethink their strategies in order to maintain a hold on their followers since efforts made to retain followers are as essential as making similar efforts in earning them in the beginning.

GoodFirms surveyed more than 450 social media users.

Read the full survey report:

https://www.goodfirms.co/resources/reasons-brands-get-unfollowed-social-media

For questions about the survey, contact at nathan@goodfirms.co.