Has the number of your social media followers slowly been decreasing instead of going up? When starting your business I bet you never thought that losing social media followers would be something you worry about. While losing a few followers from time to time isn’t necessarily a cause for alarm, the constant loss of followers is. Which means you’re most likely not incorporating the right social media tactics, but you are also doing something very wrong.
Let’s delve into the matter and uncover the most common reasons why businesses find themselves facing a decreased number of followers.
The top 5 reasons why you are losing social media followers
Just bear in mind that there are a bunch of reasons why you’re becoming less popular on social media. The following are just the five most common mistakes people make.
BUT the task of marketing your business on social media doesn’t always have to be on your shoulders. You can hire someone who specializes in and focuses on social media marketing (me!). For example, if you really wanted to get specific and you’re a moving business, you can actually hire a company like Movers Development (they take care of digital marketing services specifically for moving businesses). It’s always better to work with specialists than generalists!
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You are too active and post too often
One of the most common reasons why people click the unfollow button is simply because they get tired of seeing your name pop up every time they log in. It’s true, you need to post frequently and consistently in order to gain followers, but there’s a fine line between posting frequently and posting way too often. It’s completely okay to share your company’s milestones on social media, but it won’t be okay with your followers if you do it a hundred times a day – or more!
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Your content isn’t delivering any value
Yes, you’ve probably heard someone tell you, “Post valuable content.”
But it’s true, if you’re constantly losing social media followers, you’re most likely not delivering valuable content for your loyal followers. It’s completely okay and advisable that you fit in a bit of self-promotion, but you should definitely not be too sales-y. At the very least, half of all the things you post on social media should be focused on delivering useful information to your followers. Social media isn’t purely used only for monetary purposes – you are also doing it to build a loyal follower base and community around your business.
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Your line of work and posts have nothing in common
Let’s say that you promised to deliver content that will speak to your local community of small-business owners. But instead of posting content related to business success and attracting customers, all you are doing is sharing blurry stock photos (ew!). Considering the fact that a lot of your followers are most likely people who are looking for valuable tips on the topic you promised to deliver, you’ll definitely witness a backlash if your content isn’t delivering what you said it would.
So, before posting anything on social media, think whether what you’re about to post fits the image of your business you want people to have and speaks to your marketing goals. If it does, go ahead and hit publish.
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You’re not “connecting” with your followers
Social media is all about connecting with your followers. You might think posting a perfect image and writing a killer caption and CTA is enough to keep your followers interested, which might be true for a portion of your followers, but if someone is taking time out of their day to leave a comment on your post, they’re actually expecting a response from you.
Do you know what happens when that reply doesn’t come more than once? You start losing social media followers. And it’s true that social media is a great place for you to build your brand and create a customer base, but it’s also the place where all of that can be ruined if your behavior doesn’t match your promises and other people’s expectations.
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You’re using ‘black hat’ methods
Unfortunately, a lot of people fall into the trap that is known as ‘black hat’ in the marketing world. I’ll admit – buying fake followers and exponentially increasing the number of your followers can be appealing, but that doesn’t make it right. If Instagram notices you’ve been using any of the classic ‘black hat’ methods, they are going to limit your account. Which means that your reach and visibility will be limited which will result in your followers not seeing your content… And that will result in a gradual decline of followers.
It’s ten zillion times better to gradually grow your follower base so you’re only attracting qualified followers (meaning they’re within your service area and can actually convert to a lead or sale). AND one the benefits of an organically grown follower count is the people who follow you are truly interested in your content.
Finally you might not even be doing anything wrong but you still end up losing social media followers. It could be simply because people change, and so do their likes and interests. If you’re losing an insignificant number of followers, it’s mostly due to the fact that they’re no longer interested in your niche and the topic you cover.
And that’s completely okay.
You still have a large fan base to which you can dedicate all of your time and effort. And that’s legit all you need!
