Why Do Consumers Unfollow Brands on Social Media?

Growing your brand’s social media following is a key component of connecting with your audience and consumers. Posting relevant, relatable images and content is important for brand relatability, and offers direct ways to get in touch with interested clients. From direct messages to shop buttons, to posting links, having a strong, engaged social media following can only benefit you.

So it is naturally assumed that watching your follower count increase is a good thing, but what happens when people start unfollowing? That’s not a great feeling, and you’re going to automatically think you’re doing something wrong and wonder how to fix it. The idea of full control over follower count is partially correct and partially reliant on variables out of your control. Social media is fickle, and there are variables you can’t possibly control, like people’s reactions, attention spans, and overall interest.

However, there are ways to slow the loss of followers, and specific actions brands take that make people unfollow them. Overall, keep your content updated and engaging, vary your posts, don’t simply sell things, and stick to a moderate posting schedule. Here are a few more tips which will help you avoid losing followers, and aid in the best possible posting strategy to keep your following.

1) The brand is always trying to sell something

The purpose of the social media account might be to sell a product or advertise a service, and that’s likely why people followed you in the first place. However, try to vary your content so people continue having a reason to follow you. Constantly trying to sell something makes the consumer feel devalued. They want industry communication, relevant topics, and variations in what they’re seeing… not just promotions.

2) The brand’s facade is too easy to see through

Back in the day, it might be easy to hide sponsored content, or to be sneaky about trying to sell something. These days people are more jaded from countless hours spent on the internet, and they know when they’re being sold. Being up front and honest about your objective is a way to feel more real with the consumer, and for them to feel like they’re on the same page as you. They don’t want to feel like you’re pulling a fast one on them, so while you might be trying to sell something, just be honest about it.

3) The brand page posts too much

Oversaturation is a real issue. People will burn out fast if your posts constantly appear on their timeline, especially if the content seems forced or irrelevant. Try for a balance of posting every few days… enough to keep users intrigued without seeming desperate or taking over their timeline.

4) The brand doesn’t post enough

Yes we know, this is confusing. But hear us out: there’s a balance in posting frequency, and it lies somewhere between flooding feeds with too many posts and vanishing for weeks on end. When users go to prune the accounts they follow and they pull your somewhat defunct account up, they’ll think there’s no point in continuing to follow, thus punching the unfollow button. Like we said above: try to post once every few days. This is enough to make your account worth following while not overwhelming the people who follow you.

5) The content isn’t engaging

This is where the captions and actions come into play. If people have nothing to interact with, they will lose interest. Ask questions, foster engagement, and make your page worth following and clicking on. This also brings the algorithm into play: the more followers engage with your content, the more your posts will appear at the top of the timeline and on other people’s feeds. If people aren’t seeing your posts or they’re being buried by the algorithm because of lack of engagement, it will look like you aren’t posting at all, and you’ll start to lose followers.

6) The content isn’t relevant to the account

While you don’t want to be continually promoting or selling, people follow your brand’s account for a reason: they’re interested in the product or service. It’s important to vary what you post, but most of your posts should stay within your realm or industry.

7) The follower is no longer interested

Lastly, this is the major variable that most brands can’t control: user’s interest. This is also the top reason that brands get unfollowed on social media. If the person doesn’t have a personal or vested interest in the brand (unlike following a friend’s social media account) they might very well unfollow because they’re no longer interested, not that you did anything wrong. Maybe they followed the page while shopping for a similar product or service. Maybe it was part of a promotion, or they just no longer have the need for what you’re promoting. Brands can help mitigate this by varying their content, not simply publishing promotional posts, and keeping the content engaging, but in the end, if the follower no longer has a use for the brand, they’re going to unfollow.