Getting Unfriended? Evaluate Your Social Tactics

Lauren Owens - December 17, 2012

Just like in real life, there are things we can do on social media to alienate people. If you’re a chronic over-sharer, are offensive, or fail to make personal connections with your followers, you may get unfriended, says a new report from SocialVibe.

Among SocialVibe’s findings:

• 33% of users unfollowed brands that posted too many updates

• 22% of users did so because their values and/or content differed from the users’ original perception

• 19% did so because they didn’t find value in remaining connected

• 9% did so after signing up through an ad then changing their minds

How many updates are too many? That’s a little hard to pin down. SocialVibe reports that 17% of users checked for brand updates every day, while 23% checked at least once a week.

Ideally, you should be posting somewhere between these two extremes, say 3-5 times a week.

More important than how often you post updates, though, is what you’re saying.

People follow brands for updates, sure, but between true “updates” it’s important to stay connected with content that is informative, helpful and engaging. Content that reinforces the ideas behind your brand, and reminds users why they follow you in the first place, is ideal.

Just make sure that you’re content isn’t too aggressive or sales-focused. If you had a friend who clogged your timeline with incessant self-promotional messages, you would unfriend them too.