How to Avoid Annoying Your Customers on Social Media
Are you ticking people off and you don’t even know it? The marketing purpose of Social Media is to build relationships with customers, and there are lots of reasons they’d want to follow you: discounts, inside scoop, helpful tips, etc.
On the other hand, there’s some pretty good data on what they don’t want to see. And here’s how you can do some detective work to figure out if you’ve got annoying habits. According to researcher from digital communication firm Sprout Social, these are the things that could bug your customers when you show up in their news feeds:
57.5% don’t like for the brand they follow to post too many promotions. This is not the place to be “in your face” with every offer you’ve got. For contractors, we recommend a 70/30 split between non-promotion and promotion.
38.4% don’t like too much slang and jargon. Forget all your favorite buzzwords and technical terms. Just talk like a human. But not a boring, sad-sack sort of human because …
34.7% don’t like for the brand they follow to not have any personality. Be upbeat, clever, lively, but be careful with jokes because…
32.3% don’t like it if you’re trying to be funny (but you’re not). Humor is in the eye of the beholder. A goofball style might work well in the office, but in the newsfeed, maybe not so much. Plus, online you miss tone of voice – or wink of the eye – that lets people know it’s humor, even if they don’t get the joke.
24.7% don’t like it when brands they follow don’t reply to messages. Social Media is “interactive” – which translated means you need to interact. If someone posts a comment or sends a message, be sure to respond.
The list is similar for traits that can get you unfollowed, but also includes posting information that isn’t relevant (41.1%) or posts too often (34.9%).