Consumers crave diversity. Too much of anything is boring—especially if it’s repetitive and predictable. And in Social Media, that’s the recipe for unfollowed.
Routine can be good, and even a great formulaic strategy for posting can hit its mark every time—but there is danger in too much predictability and not enough organic engagement. Social networks are about connecting. People don’t want to follow brands per se, they want to follow ideas and people. And brands that aren’t meeting the personal needs of these followers are the first to go in crowded user feeds when consumers decide to clean house.
If you can answer yes to any of the below questions, you may be at risk of losing your audience to boredom.
- Is your “voice” too vanilla? Some brands are chatty, some are casual and approachable, some are cheeky, and some are uniquely witty. Those are the brands that know their voice and who understand and effectively portray their personality consistently online through their posts. (Many brands post things in an attempt to be funny but end up coming across as weird or creepy—if this is you, consider that “funny” may not be your authentic voice.) Other brands want to play it safe and stay in the vanilla.
- Do you post at the same time, with the same kind of content, routinely week after week? To keep folks excited and engaged about your brand you need to mix up your content and posting schedule. People engage differently and have different personal interests, so it’s important to give them different kinds of brand-related content in order to provide a well-rounded path of ways to keep engaging with you. Post strong visual impressions with images, ask questions with live Q&A’s, provide interesting offers and show a little video. (Recent trends have shown that videos shared from third-party sites (like Youtube) generate less organic activity than if the video was hosted directly to the network you’re posting in.) It’s also important to remember that all of your content should be relatable to your brand. If something is trending and you want to get in on that action—find a way to relate it to your brand before you repost.
- Do you only engage with the positive folks? It’s a trap many brands fall into. Avoid the negative and it will go away. It doesn’t. Anyone who comes to your page (aside from trolls and spammers) needs to be heard. Engage with everyone—equally. Be personal, be relatable, be consistent, and show that your brand has people behind it. Be accountable and responsible to your entire following. Goodwill grows.
Creating diversity in engagement with a consistent personality shows your audience that you’re present. That you’re there with them in the moment. And the single biggest driver of stickiness in social media is that simple, authentic simplicity.
