This article looks at 7 reasons why you might be losing followers on social media, such as LinkedIn, and asks whether you should be worried about it and what you can do about it if you are
Parents and psychologists will tell you that children can be seriously traumatized by being 'unfriended' on Facebook, or other social media, and the word has even passed into the dictionary to signify an abrupt cessation of friendship. Whilst as businesses we might not need counselling for our separation anxiety over the loss of a contact, we do need to consider how and why it is happening and whether we need to do something about it.
Sometimes you're up, sometimes your down
With a large number of connections and followers, I do notice that on a daily basis there can be some fluctuation in the numbers, most of the time it is in the upwards direction, but sometimes you spot that you've lost one. In Twitter it's easy to spot, because applications such as JustUnfollow allow you to track this, but it is less easy to identify on LinkedIn, unless you have a small number of contacts and you know who they are.
So what are the 7 reasons why we sometimes lose followers?
My focus here is on the individual LinkedIn or Twitter account, rather than the large corporate social media machine:
#1: 'Over-sharing'
This is the social media equivalent of "too much information"! 'We are what we share' and people will make judgements about us as a connection, by the type and quality of things that we 'like' and distribute on social media. Over-sharing has entered the lexicon as suggesting we are distributing too much stuff that is not relevant to all or some of our contacts. Some contacts will take exception to what they judge to be 'over-sharing' and unfollow you as a result.
#2: Inappropriate Sharing
Some of your contacts will have a fairly fixed perception that LinkedIn, for example, is a business social platform and if you share too many amusing pictures or you ask them too many times to 'solve this if you are a genius', then they may actually reciprocate by un-following you.
#3: Follow/Unfollow
This is specific to Twitter and it's a conscious strategy to build a large following by avoiding the platform's follower limits and encouraging contacts to follow them, by following you first and then un-following you later. It's a brutal, but sometimes effective strategy, for those who want to build a list of connections fast and they're not bothered how they do. You can often spot the follow-unfollow practitioners by the fact that they start following you and yet they have a disproportionately large number of followers compared to the number they themselves are following. Do you follow?
#4: Open/Closed Network Ethos
Open networkers tend to view social sharing as something that is beneficial with as large and diverse a group of contacts as possible. The trade-off is that you may receive postings and messages that aren't entirely relevant to you, but you accept that as part of the territory. Closed networkers, on the other hand, tend to view their social networks as part of their inner circle and they are less tolerant of accepting invites from people they don't know or receiving messages that they feel are irrelevant to them.
#5: "Spring Cleaning"
You may simply lose followers because they have closed their account, moved to another job and can't access their old profile, or they've passed away, or even ceased to see social media as relevant to them. It's inevitable, so I wouldn't worry about it.
#6: You've upset them somehow
You remember that guy from the office whose name you can't quite remember and who you ignored at the Christmas party, well now he's getting his own back in the only passive-aggressive way he he knows how. And, you know what, he secretly hopes you'll notice too! Don't worry about it.
#7: You're a Spammer!
Probably one of the most heinous and unforgivable crimes that anyone is capable of on the Internet: sending large volumes of unwanted and unrequested posts, messages, or emails, without the consent and permission of your contact. Expect to be unfollowed if you do this! However, what constitutes spamming, can be interpreted fairly broadly and you may find that one person's spammer is another's beneficial sharer.
Should you be worried?
If you are actually haemorrhaging followers, then you have got a serious problem and you need to do something drastic, but chances are that you might be engaged in #7, so you are getting what you deserve! The numbers you will lose from #5 'Spring Cleaning' and #6 'because you have upset someone' - unless you make a habit of it - should be mercifully small.
If you lose someone because they have more of a #4 'closed network ethos', then you may have overstepped the mark and they've unfollowed you as a result. On Twitter, #3 'follow/unfollow' practitioners can be spotted very easily by looking at the follower-following ratio and it's only a problem if you are particularly bothered by it.
The 'Sin of Over-sharing'
Finally, there is 'oversharing' and sharing inappropriate content. This, however, boils down to the basic truism of marketing: 'know your audience'. If you have a range of contacts with whom you are familiar and you know that they like the amusing stories and the pictures that you send, then there's no harm, unless you've judged it wrong and they're heading for the exit! 'Oversharing' is another subjective judgement and it's almost a polite way of saying that you think someone is a spammer. If they really are uninterested in the content that you are sharing and, providing it is appropriate and not excessive, then they may have very little relevance as a connection anyway and may not be such a great loss.
What can I do about it?
So if you are worried by it, here's 5 Golden Rules that might just save you from being 'Billy-no-Mates' on social media:
- Know your audience and share what you and they like.
- Don't treat it as a one-way street - engage with the content of your connections, as you would expect them to engage with yours.
- Expect that you will lose some contacts, because it's inevitable, but don't become obsessed by trying to find out who they are or why they've done it, because you'll just go crazy!
- Try and keep the amusing stuff, and the mathematical conundrums, to a minimum and largely for Facebook!
- Accept that social media is about 'give and take' and use it to further your contacts, but remember to help others and you'll be surprised how willing others will be to help you, which is what networking is all about.
Will Trevor is the Founder and Training Consultant at Windsor Training. Please click 'Follow' if you would like to hear more from Will in the future. Feel free to also connect via his Linkedin page, or via Twitter and Facebook or email: will.trevor@windsortraining.net
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