The question is simple enough; what exactly do your followers want to see you post?
They’ve elected to follow you on social media therefore there is an aspect about your business that they enjoy. Now how do you retain those followers, gain new ones, and be a social media expert that people LOVE to follow along with?
I read several articles on the subject, and while there was sound advice out there, I wanted to hear directly from the very people that use social media on a daily basis. I reached out to friends, family & coworkers and asked them to send me their favorite social media accounts and, more importantly, WHY they love following them. Because what better way to learn about your audience than by actually listening to them?
So Who/What Do We Like?
“They maintain a great balance of posts, from historical flashbacks to future announcements. Additionally they have awesome content! Some posts are stats based, some more humanity based, and they all do a great job of shouting out their other social accounts.”
(L to R; an homage to a legend; players & staff lending a hand in Haiti; simple yet stunning photography)
Venture Beat
“I find Venture Beat to be the best example of an account I follow that really has mastered the ability to cast a wide net while still staying on-topic. They post informative, easy-to-read articles from all areas within the tech world. Upcoming summits, hot new apps, new Apple announcements, electric cars, net neutrality; they tackle it all and I NEVER feel as though they post something irrelevant.”
Topo Chico (Mineral Water)
“Lots of posts featuring re-grams of everyday people (and celebs) drinking Topo. They get out to events, like South by Southwest, and utilize their IG to attract new followers in a non-intrusive way.”
(L to R; Repost of a Topo fan’s biggest nightmare, engagement of the fans, taking the product to SXSW to get more fans)
Fun Fun Fun Fest (Music Festival in Austin, TX)
“One of FFF’s extremely golden moments (and there have been many) came last year when a band that was slated to headline one of the stages, broke up for the umpteenth time. Death Grips announced their break up by posting a photo of their ‘statement’ written on a napkin. Within hours, FFF posts a pic of a hand written note, also on a napkin, announcing their break up with Death Grips.”
FFF’s timely, well-crafted and candid response was picked up by a wide variety of media outlets, and even in the face of losing a major headliner, ticket sales for the fest TRIPLED the day they posted their response to Death Grips. #NapkinPower
(Left; Death Grips’ announcement, Right; FFF’s response)
Lots of cool brags about Sacramento businesses and residents. They use guest Instagrammers, which is a really smart move, because it keeps their content fresh by letting different people show off their favorite elements of the city.
Comic Book Resources
“I love following these guys on Facebook. Not only do they post about comic books; but its all things comic book related: Movies, TV appearances by comic book industry peeps, actors, etc. They have also worked hard to establish themselves as a highly reputable source and hardly ever run into a situation where their information is incorrect or misleading.”
(Left, engaging fans while also posting informative article; Right, even contests & giveaways stay on theme)
Now of course, you can’t have good without bad.
In a world where the ‘like’ button lives right next-door to the ‘unfollow’ button, it’s incredibly important to stay true to your brand because people won’t hesitate for even a second to unfollow your business if they are not stimulated or entertained. So what do we hate?
- “Clickbait. Just stop. It is my honest opinion that companies that use this tactic have a very low opinion about their readers (we know you’re just trying to up your ad revenue with page views). Or maybe they really just do have a very, very low bar of what they consider to be ‘shocking’ information.”
- “Know your strengths. Buzzfeed, stop trying to attempt legitimate journalism. I will never read about Syria on the same site that has a quiz about what planet I should ACTUALLY live on. (hint, it’s Earth, because the other planets can’t sustain human life, you dolts)”
- “Not understanding the meaning of quality over quantity. Yes, it’s important to be consistent with your posting. But it’s a million times better to wait a day or two (or five!) until you have quality content to post, rather than throwing garbage on my feed.”
- “I don’t want to feel like I’m being lectured to, I want the copy to read like a friend of mine is speaking to me. If I read a post that sounds like it was written by a robot, then you can just go ahead and f*ck off because that bores me.”
- “If your spelling and/or grammar is on par with a 2nd grader, you will get the boot IMMEDIATELY.”
So there you have it. What we hate, but more importantly, what we love. Straight from the source.
