Show them the money on Facebook and Twitter? Not so Fast.
Why would anyone “like” your company on Facebook or follow you on Twitter? Matt McGee of the excellent Small Business Search Marketing blog calls it the million dollar question. His answer? “deals.” I think it’s the wrong answer, or rather, an incomplete answer based on a misreading of the data. [Read Matt’s full article: Why We Like & Follow Businesses Online]
From Matt McGee’s Small Business Search Marketing
Matt presents data from two sources to make his case that people just want deals from companies they follow on Facebook and Twitter. First from ExactTarget’s Subscribers, Fans, and Followers report (Matt’s cool graphic pictured above), showing that the number one reason people will follow you on Facebook or Twitter is “To receive discounts and promotions” (40%) and the number three reason is “To get a freebie” (36%). The percentages are not cumulative, as people could provide more than one answer.
Then there are the results from Razorfish’s annual FEED survey that show the number one reason people will follow a brand on Facebook or MySpace is for “Exclusive deals or offers” at 37%. It’s also the number one reason on Twitter at 44%.
What does all this mean? According to Matt “show them the money.” He says it’s pretty obvious, but I say it’s not. Let me explain.
Minority Interest
What these statistics really show is that less than 50% of people who follow companies on social media do so because of deals. The way I read these results is that 60% or more of customers are following brands for other reasons. Most people actually don’t follow companies for freebies, although some do. So the advice to "show them the money" is advice to ignore more than 50% of your followers.
In my opinion, the numbers from these surveys are somewhat skewed and influenced largely by what people have come to expect from companies on social media. Because it’s more work to engage and create interesting content and easier to offer discounts, that’s what companies do. Consequently, that attracts followers who want discounts and deals. But even still, the reality is that more than 50% of followers expect something else.
What else do they want? Lot’s of different things, which is why you should have a diverse posting strategy. [See: The Science and Art of Your Facebook Posting Strategy] Yes, that includes some freebies, exclusive offers and discounts. After all, it is the number one answer in these surveys. But it’s not the majority answer.
Continue reading here: Keep On Blogging in the Face of a Social Media Wind
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