So you’ve spent countless months and marketing dollars to build up a decent sized network, and if you’re lucky, a vast majority will stick around because hey, they like you. But for those of us that aren’t a major brand or don’t have a cult like following, we might notice our fan and follower numbers fall and rise like the tide. So how do we keep those numbers constant and people in the folds of our social networks?
While there’s no one simple remedy to plug a leaking circular hole with a square peg, there is one easy way to limit the amount of followers that slip away – interaction. Once individuals and businesses start listening in on what you’re offering and saying, engage them!
Start out Small - daily pick 5 new followers on Twitter, 5 friends on Facebook, and a few blogs or individuals in your groups and read a little bit about who they are and what they do. Take this information and turn it into a conversation. This may take a little extra time every day, but it’s bound to spark a deeper interest in who you are and stick your brand in the minds of your targeted followers.
Add/Follow Back – market tests have shown that followers on Twitter that receive a follow back are 65% more likely to stick around than not.
Focus – do you have people in your networks with common interests? Of course you do, so develop content (i.e. write blogs, develop infographs, create contests, etc) that are geared toward these individuals and link this content on their pages.
You don’t need to limit yourself to online interaction either. Call up an old client to see how their business is doing or go to that friend’s networking event you’ve been blowing off for months. If you’re a small business, you never know where your next big lead is going to come in from, but you do know why you network is the size it is – because people like you. Duh. So get out there and remind them of it!
