As marketers have moved from mass media, where we don’t “own” the audience, to permission-based direct marketing, many of us still haven’t learned how to hang on to our peeps. Often what we do runs counter to what subscribers want. Well, guess what? If you haven’t figured this out with email yet then your social strategy may too be doomed.
Last year we surveyed 1,500 U.S. consumers of all ages on their uses of all different types of media, including in-depth questions on their motivations and usage of email, and social media –primarily Facebook and Twitter. One interesting takeaway for me was that though consumers engage with brands for very different reasons via email, Facebook and Twitter, the reasons they sever relationships with those same brands on these media have a lot in common. In this data is a warning for marketers.
Motivations for Engagement
For email, over 93% of online consumers have opted into a brand, and 81% of them say they were motivated to provide a company with their email address as a result of a promotion. The top 3 reasons they cited as their motivation? Discounts/Promotions, Freebies, and updates on upcoming sales.
With Facebook, 43% of consumers said they have become a fan of, or “liked” a brand. One of the key reasons? To show their support of the company to others. Some call this “social badging.” But does this give the brand license to send promotions? Fans are divided: 51% of them think it is okay for brands they like to market to them, while 40% say that even when they become a fan, they don’t want marketers to promote to them on Facebook.
Twitter followers also mentioned discounts as a motivator, but even more users chose to follow a brand in order to be informed and get updates. Twitter users seek influence and information. However, they are even more likely to be motivated to make a purchase as a result of a tweet.
Why they Break up with Marketers?
Whether it was a fan on Facebook, a follower on Twitter or an email subscriber, all of them cite content and frequency concerns as the main reasons they unlike, unfollow or unsubscribe. 44% of Facebook users unliked a brand because “the company posted too frequently.” 38% said the content became “too boring or repetitive.” Twitter results were similar: with 52% saying that repetitive content is what drove them to unfollow a brand.
What to do?
If you follow this blog closely, you know that not producing content that matches user preferences (or the reason they opted-in in the first place) is the main reason consumers unsubscribe or complain about a sender. For email, spam complaints have a big impact on reputation with receivers, and they have for some time. However, apathy can also have an impact. If a growing portion of your audience is apathetic to your emails and is no longer opening, clicking or replying to them, this will affect your reputation and could harm deliverability. Focus on putting the subscribers’ preferences first – for content and frequency in all channels. For Facebook and Twitter, be mindful that lots of them are your friends just as a “badge” or for a single deal or to get more information from you. Don’t wear out your welcome.
Learn more about this research at www.exacttarget.com/sff
Last 5 posts by Chip House
- The Four P’s of Marketing + One More for Deliverability - April 12th, 2012
- Facebook Messages: Implications on Deliverability? - April 7th, 2011
- What binds Email, Facebook and Twitter users? All of them hate spam. - March 8th, 2011
- What Would You Tell your CEO? - July 1st, 2010
I couldn't agree more, about the connection of those who use email, Facebook, and Twitter.
I fall in the realm that Facebook should be more about social-badging instead of marketing. I feel that it is within the right of the business page to have particular tabs (though they aren't really tabs anymore are they?) that will promote sales or products, but going for the 'hard-sell' on a Facebook page is inappropriate. Not only is it inappropriate, I believe it is ineffective, people on Facebook do not have their wallets out ready to purchase a product or service, people on Facebook are looking for interesting original content to share. What are your thoughts?
Great data worth reflecting on. I believe the main challenge is how to *integrate* email, FB, and Twitter. More info (although need to test frequency) on the latter two, and hard sell on the first. Do you know of any exemplar case studies in this?
Luca Semprini
http://www.sipsofcopy.com
Hi,
Great sharing. Facebook or other social media tools can be used to get connected with potential customers and we can market our business there. Beyond that we cannot do anything and spam is the common problem faced by all of us.
Well said! haha. There's like zero spam on all of those platforms. Maybe that's why I always check them first, and then sigh when I have to check my email. Although, I do love actually getting emails of substance, they give me a small rush!
The key to successful Twitter, Facebook and email marketing is to only send out content that provides the user with some sort of value. Don't just send out an email or a tweet or a status update just to do it. Followers will quickly get annoyed and opt-out.
Is it possible (desirable – sic) to accept direct messages on Twitter?