An interesting poll I saw posted this past week asked readers to select what causes them to unfollow an individual or business on social networks. While some of the results were predictable others were insightful.
The single most important reason for unfollowing a person or business was that "Their over-communication gets overwhelming" (about 51% had this answer). Additional answers were as follows:
- The person or business does not add value to my day with their irrelevant postings (33%)
- They only talk about themselves or act irresponsibly toward their audience (10%)
- They rarely communicate or update their networks (3%)
- They're not open to feedback, dialogue or user-generated content (3%)
What I take from this from a personal and professional level is to communicate daily with a reasonable amount of updates based on the network. Twitter for example is a content sharing network so posting 5, 10 or even 20x a day is acceptable if it is relevant and useful to your followers. On Facebook or LinkedIn, that many updates would annoy people and possibly cause them to unfollow.
Also, be relevant! It's okay to post updates about what you're eating if you're a person but a business should refrain from such updates...unless your business is related to food. Make sense?
Finally, don't just talk about yourself. Share and engage in dialogue. That is why people are so enamored with social media afterall. We are social beings. So be social and keep it responsible and you'll be on your way to realizing the value that this media generates.
