You are checking your Facebook Page, and you’re surprised coz it seems that the number of fans has been declining instead of improving. Day in and day out you check your Facebook analytics yet the graph really is on a downward trend. What could have caused this? Why do your fans unlike your Facebook page?
A Facebook page is an extension of your business, brand or organization. This is the place on Facebook where you can give updates regarding your business and keep in touch with your clientele. This is where people would go to on Facebook if they want to learn about the latest news concerning your business. You cannot please all of your followers. Most of the time, someone is bound to disagree with your posts. While others would simply choose to ignore your posts, there would also be other people who would click the x mark of your post. The bad thing would be when they choose to unlike your page.
A person unliking your page is not a good thing. If it’s just 1 or 2 isolated cases, you can probably ignore it but you would be left wondering why your fans decided to ditch your page. But you can never ignore it if you’re consistently losing fans. In fact, you should be alarmed when this happens, and you have to act fast and get to the bottom of this before you lose more fans than your Facebook Page can afford to lose.
Here are the 11 top reasons why people unlike your Facebook Page:
People do not like to get updates about the business all the time. Too frequent Status updates can be equated to spam so when this happens, some people avoid it not just by clicking x on the newsfeed but simply by unliking the page itself.
So how often should you post updates on your business page?
Definitely not every couple of hours. Not even every single day. There is no known rule or recipe on how often you should update your page but too often will only annoy your fans and too little will risk your fans forgetting all about your brand. Try to limit Facebook status update to 3-5 times a week unless you have something worthy to share with your fans.
While it is true that this is your page, banish the thought that you can promote it anytime you want to. If you do not wish to risk losing more fans, then lighten up on self-promotion. Nothing turns off fans faster than the obvious show of push selling or hard selling. The Facebook page is created to pull fans to get to know your business and not to do hardcore selling of the goods and services your business is carrying,
In pull selling, you are acquainting the people about the business. You are showing them the features and benefits of your brand without doing actual selling of these goods. By highlighting the benefits of your products, you are enticing these fans to give your business a try.
Information is key to business but posting too much information on your FB page will only harm you. Same with controversial topics. While it’s true that controversy sells, it’s not always a guarantee that it will work favourably for you.
Posting an update regarding controversial topics will put you in a position to comment or take your stand. And when this happens, there are people who are bound to disagree with you. So you have to be very careful with your comments and especially in dealing with people who do not agree with you. No matter how tactful your replies might be, you’re bound to lose a few fans simply by joining the bandwagon of controversy so might as well avoid this headache.
Ignorance is bliss. Apparently not. It was reported that in an investigation done by ExactTarget and CoTweet aptly called “The Social Breakup”, an outstanding 49% of the social media users are not aware of the fact that they will automatically receive updates of your business the moment they clicked on the Like button to your page. The moment when they do know about this fact majority of these users will unlike the page.
Also, there are people who might have liked your Facebook page by accident and are really not interested with the products you are offering so they would definitely unfollow your page.
Again, your Facebook page was created to give your followers updates on anything regarding your business. These fans are after relevant information regarding your products that they can put to good use themselves. So do not post any sports related topics on your page when you are in the business of selling clothes or generating leads.
While Facebook Page fans balk at the idea of hard selling, they are actually hoping for businesses to give them freebies and special offers and when you do not provide these types of incentives on your Facebook page, they will soon lose interest in your business and might decide to unlike your page.
One good way to increase user engagement on Facebook is by creating contests or doing electronic raffle draws. Users love these types of gimmicks especially when you give free samples or free trials of the goods and services you are selling. People like certain brands’ Facebook page to get access to discounts, freebies, and special offers.
This is the direct contrast of #1. When you do not post enough updates on your Facebook page, it gives the impression that either you do not have something new to offer, your business is dead, or you do not care enough about your fans to give them updates regarding your brand that they are following. Absence does not make the heart grow fonder. In this case, by not updating, your fans are in danger of forgetting your brand.
Still with “The Social Breakup”, 38% of Facebook fans have “unliked” a page because they found the updates boring and repetitive. You can avoid losing fans with these reasons by ensuring that the content you post is fresh, insightful and entertaining. You do not have to rehash old posts. Better create new ones that are socially and economically relevant to current times. Make it a habit not to post the same content, unless you have additional information or you want to correct some mistakes you might have made with your past posts.
No matter what you do, never lose putting personal touches to your posts. Your fans lose interest fast when they cannot connect on a personal level with the business. This is also what separates you from other similar businesses. Facebook fans want to see that you have put a little bit of time and effort in posting updates. These personal touches are distinctly yours and without these, you do not have anything that sets you apart from the rest.
Again, refrain from posting negative comments. Especially when it comes to talking about your competition even when some of your fans are asking for it and no matter how true these allegations might be. Nothing good is ever gained from trash talking your business rivals. You will only come out as desperate and unethical.
What you can do though is highlight your own product’s benefits without mentioning the competition at all. It’s better not to say anything at all when you do not have anything good to say.
Part of taking care of your followers is to ensure that you give them feedback in a timely manner. Address whatever issues and concerns have been thrown at you. Be tactful. Do not be condescending. Your fans will feel their importance when you take the time to answer their comments and private messages. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions so do not retaliate by insulting your customers back.
There could be other reasons why Facebook page fans have decided to unfollow you. It could be one of the reasons stated above or it could be due to a lot of other reasons. There’s little you can do about that. What you can do though is to prevent or minimize future unfollowers of your Facebook page. The recipe seems to be confusing at first but with ample exposure over time, you will get the hang of it.
So to retain your loyal followers you need to create posts or status updates a few times a week that are relevant, interesting, positive and full of value for your Facebook Page fans. In this round of social media concern, quality still wins over quantity.
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