Why People Unfollow Your Brand On Twitter

Twitter packs a ton of value and ROI for brands that know how to use the platform.

It’s superb for brand awareness, customer service, sharing your brand ethos, and driving traffic to your company website. To reap all these Twitter marketing benefits and more, you need raving fans.

But here’s the thing.

12% of people claim they unfollowed a company on Twitter in the last few days. So if you aren’t vigilant, your fan base will shrink and you won’t enjoy the benefits.

Here’s why people unfollow your brand on Twitter. Importantly, I will also show you what you can do to fix it.

#1. You Produce Drab Content

Content is the currency of social media, and Twitter is no exception.

Without solid content driving your Twitter presence, you risk losing hordes of followers.

But what makes content tedious and flat?

First, snoozefest content doesn’t grab attention. It doesn’t stand out from the unending stream of content. Second, it doesn’t connect with people at an emotional level. And it doesn’t inspire people to take the desired action such as clicking through to your landing page. Here’s a handy list of tools for building landing pages that convert Twitter traffic into leads.

Nothing humanizes a brand faster than humor. That’s a magnificent tactic to engage and thrill your followers.

How to fix it

Talk about topics that matter to your audience. That’ll pique their interest because you discuss issues they care deeply about.
Embrace visual content such as GIFs, memes, and emojis. It engages people better than unattractive plain text.
Vary your content types because monotony is boring.

#2. You Are Boring

Too many brands do social media in a ho-hum, dry, stilted style.

If that’s you, you will lose fans fast.

People dislike sleep-inducing brands that don’t talk like normal humans. They will reach for the unfollow button in a flash.

Drop bone-dry formality. Leave your fancy high-sounding business jargon at the office. Did you know that one of the primary reasons people stick to companies on social media is for entertainment?

Source: Sprout Social

Sprout Social reported 48% of respondents said they follow brands on social media for enjoyment. So put on your best performance to amuse your followers enough to lure them into your funnel.

How to fix it

Spice up your content by creating over-the-top videos and pushing them on Twitter and other social channels.
Add a dollop of personality and emotion for your content to fizz and pop. Social media is the best place for trying out different brand personas and seeing which one sticks.
Adopt a relaxed style in your content. Loosen up. Social media isn’t the office, relax and have a blast. People love that.

#3. You Tweet Too Much

We live in an uber-busy world.

Your followers are swamped. With 500+ million tweets sent per day. To put things in perspective, that’s 6000 tweets per second. Content fatigue is real. Don’t add to the overwhelm and noise by bombarding your fans with an endless stream of so-so content.

They’ll unfollow you in droves.

Ease up on updates. Give people breathing space and they’ll stick with your brand. Better make them long for your nicely spaced-out delightful tweets than wear them down with a torrent of watery ones.

The flip side of too many updates also leads to unfollows. If you are too quiet and there’s no activity on your page, people leave. Nobody wants to live in a ghost town.

How to fix it

Get your content cadence right. Try different post frequencies per day or week and see which one your audience responds to.
Read niche reports to see the suggested industry benchmarks about when and how many times to post.
Spy on your competitors for help in deciding the right content cadence. You want just enough content to engage your audience and feed your sales funnel program with fresh traffic from Twitter.
Survey your fans and hear what they prefer.

#4. You Over-Promote Your Products

Social media is all about the promotion of your brand, right?

Wrong.

If you get onto Twitter with a turbocharged promotion mindset, you’ll overdo it. You will only talk about your products, your offers, your next big thing.

The result?

Your fans will get fed up with all the shameless chest-thumping. They’ll wave goodbye and leave you to continue with your self-promotion obsession. Studies show posting too much promotional content is the number one reason people get annoyed and stop following brands on social media.

Source: Social Media Today

Realize this: authentic marketing is having a helpful conversation with your audience about how you can best meet their needs.

To hook them, focus on them, not your awesomeness.

How to fix it

Earn the right to promote your products on social media by providing value first through helpful no-strings-attached content.
Become known as a value provider so when the selling moment comes potential customers will be likely to convert because they trust your expertise.
Be selective with your promos. Don’t sell everything on your product list, that’s a bit much for social media. Only push special offers that give them a bang for their buck.

#5. You Don’t Engage Your Fans

Social media followers love meeting their favorite brands on Twitter.

It gives them a chance to see the faces behind the organization they love.

What are they after? Fun. Banter. Interaction.

So they will comment on your posts, ask questions, or even reach out for customer support because they need help with a particular issue. These activities are signs of engaged, loyal customers who love what you do.

If you ignore them or take an eternity to respond, they will click away— and never return. Research shows that 79% of customers not only want brands to respond to their needs, they demand a response within 24 hours whenever they reach out on social media.

In a survey by Buzzstream and Fractl, 34% of respondents said they unfollow brands that use automated messaging.

Source: Buzzstream

Why would people disengage from auto messages?

The reason is simple. Robots don’t talk back.

Automation isn’t wrong. But relying on it alone isn’t a smart move because people crave engagement. Yes, robots are smart but they can’t interact with people deeply.

How to fix it

Keep the balance between automation and the human touch. If you haven’t done so already, outsource social media management so your team can provide the engagement your followers demand. That will complement your automation strategy.
Respond to your followers’ comments and questions as soon as you can. You will delight consumers and your customer satisfaction ratings will shoot up.
A powerful way to spark a conversation and octane engagement on Twitter is by asking intelligent questions. People love being heard, it’s part of the human psyche.

#6. You Bundle PR

No matter how excellent your brand is, one day something will blow up on your face.

Perhaps a sales rep mixes up an order of a finicky client. Or a frazzled customer services assistant snaps and tells off a demanding customer. Maybe one of your executives gets caught in a morally compromising position.

Whatever the case, the issue erupts on social media, Twitter in this case.

Mishandle the case with the world watching and there will be a stampede for the unfollow button by irate soon-to-be ex-followers.

Poor Public Relations includes:

Zipping your mouth. If you decide not to comment on the negative press you get, you make a terrible mistake. Why’s that so? Most people feel silence means you just don’t care about them.
Fighting fire with fire. Yes, ticked-off consumers say many, ahem, unsavory things, but giving it back to them isn’t the answer. It’ll worsen the situation.
Giving excuses. Deflection and defending the undefendable will mar your brand’s reputation further and cause fans to desert you.

How to fix it

Respond promptly to any negative Tweets that can harm your brand. The sooner you douse the raging fire, the better for you. You will appease the aggrieved party, impress your watching fans, and emerge from it all as a stronger reputable brand.
Take responsibility for your mistakes. On top of that, say how you will make amends, right on Twitter where the issue blew up.
Get the issue off Twitter to a support channel.

#7. Your Customer Service Is Below Par

It’s easy to think only your social media activities cause fans to unfollow your brand.

Not so.

Sometimes things that happen far from the Twitter streets rub customers the wrong way. People don’t follow brands out of the blue. They click the follow button because they love you and the things you do. Whether you’ve wowed them with your five-star customer service or they identify with your mission, they decide to keep in touch on social media.

But the day you take them for granted and provide lousy customer service, they won’t see any reason to follow you.

Beware of these top customer service issues that might cost you followers:

Making customers hold for too long on the phone.
Failure to fix the same customer problem over a long time.
Lack of follow-up on issues they have raised.
Poor product or service whose value does not match what the customer paid.
Clueless customer service reps who don’t understand the root cause of issues dissatisfied customers bring to the table.

How to fix it

Improve the quality of your product or service so customers get value for their money.
Train your help desk staff adequately so they handle customer complaints professionally.
Respect your customers and value every interaction with them.

#8. You Post Offensive Content

Another reason people stop following you is posting offensive content.

The two major culprits of controversial content are:

Politics

Your fans hold their political parties close to their hearts. Often, they have been following them for decades, ahem, well before they connected with your brand. So they don’t take kindly to anyone who disrespects their political set-in-concrete political beliefs. Whatever you do on Twitter, stay clear of politics.

Religion

Another social media sacred cow you mustn’t dare touch is religion. Nothing divides humans faster than religion. Nations have fought wars to defend or extend their religious convictions. Therefore, don’t start a religious war on Twitter, otherwise you will lose your hard-won followers.

How to fix it

Stay clear of controversial issues. Stick to neutral universal themes
Unite your followers around common causes

#9. You Are Silent About Social Issues

Your followers aren’t robots.

They are people with values and beliefs. Humans want to be part of something bigger than themselves. A good rallying cause.

Brands that articulate and support good causes grow their social audiences. Those that don’t diminish their influence as fans lose interest in them.

Forbes claims 87% of buyers would switch their allegiance to a cause-driven brand if quality and pricing were closely matched.

How to fix it

Support community causes that matter to your audience. They’ll appreciate you more and even Tweet about it.
Make a splash on Twitter about the social impact your brand makes. Your current fans who share the same values will love you more and you will also gain new followers.
Share your brand story on social media so your values and mission shine through.
When there is a trending social issue like the COVID-19 or the Black Lives Matter, take a stand. Contribute finances. Raise your voice and be heard.