The #1 Reason Customers Follow Your Brand on Social

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Yes! Yes we do, says a compelling article by Patrick Spenner at Forbes, published last week. His piece is making marketing professionals everywhere rethink their strategies.

He writes, “…60-65% of business leaders who believe that consumers follow their brands on social media sites because they want to be a part of a community. Only 25-30% of consumers agree. The top reason consumers follow a brand? To get discounts.” He accuses brands of trying too hard to engage with customers and says that flooding their feeds with too much information is only making the sales harder and more complicated, and it’s not helping brand loyalty or profits; these brands are essentially shooting themselves in the foot (feet?).

So, what does work? Spenner cites an idea called Decision Simplicity, and he says that  ”the impact of simplifying purchase decisions for consumers is four times stronger than the favored marketing strategy of engagement.” Four times!

Let’s break down this idea of Decision Simplicity. It’s got 3 really simple components:

1. Establish TRUST by listing ratings and reviews from your clients, customers and participants.

2. Let your customers LEARN WITHOUT DISTRACTION. Offer clear and streamlined product/event/service information catering to every stage in the decision-making process.

3. Make it clear what differentiates your brand from others so that your customers can WEIGH THEIR OPTIONS CONFIDENTLY. 

 Basically, stop overwhelming consumers and instead, be really direct about your approach and message.
This doesn’t mean you have to get all lecture-y and start an education website about what you do.  What you write shouldn’t feel educational – people log onto Facebook for a break from school! Just keep the subject matter relevant and light.  Above all, keep it simple and to the point.  If you always have something going on with no downtime, it’s too much.  And you need some Ritalin.  Just sayin’!

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2 Responses to "The #1 Reason Customers Follow Your Brand on Social"

  1. John Housand says:
    September 3, 2012 at 11:18 AM

    I work with restaurants / B&B’s in implementing ‘augmented reality’ marketing strategies and encourage them to promote their yelp / trip advisor ratings. The analytics shows proof positive this strategy is very effective.

    For my law firm clients, I encourage they produce a ‘video help center’ The ‘help center’ is a small library of short video clips that help potential clients with FAQs while, also serving as a vehicle to showcase that particular attorney’s niche in law expertise compared to all the faceless names in a google search.

    Reply
  2. 7 Social Media Strategies for Small Business Owners | Pizero Design. Apps and Themes for iOS, Android, Nokia, Windows Phone says:
    September 25, 2012 at 12:59 PM

    [...] Offer special promotions, online deals and exclusive discounts on your social-media pages to give customers a reason to follow your company and to help generate sales and [...]

    Reply

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