Difference between revisions of "Learn/How-To-Get-Unfollowed-and-Lose-Followers-on-Twitter"

Revision as of 03:50, 18 April 2012

This article is a work in progress. It will be complementary to the How To Get More Twitter Followers article that was published on March 15th.

It's pretty easy to unfollow someone on Twitter. That's both a good and scary thing.

Getting Twitter followers is half the battle. But hanging on to them is just as important - especially because it's the most engaged tweeters (or tweeple) who are the most valuable for helping you get your message out. They're the ones who are paying attention, and who will reply, retweet and favorite you. These are the people you want to hang on to, not the spammy types who will follow anyone and then never pay attention to them or their tweets.

Engaged people do choose to unfollow sometimes - after all, they are paying attention! Here are some tips for keeping your most valuable Twitter followers happy and un-annoyed, so they won't want to unfollow you.

Make sure your Twitter bio and tweets are on the same page.

If your bio says you're an expert in underwater basket weaving, many people are going to follow you expecting tweets about underwater basket weaving. But if your tweets don't deliver what they were hoping for - say you mostly tweet about what you ate for breakfast - you are bound to lose followers.

By the way, this is very similar to how you should do email marketing. If people sign up for emails about natural medicine, but you send them emails about weight loss products, many people are going to unsubscribe or mark your emails as spam.

Don't automatically DM (direct message) people when they follow you.

When I asked my own followers on Twitter (many of whom are online marketing and social media experts) what things would make them unfollow someone, this was the answer I heard most. For some people, nothing is more annoying than an auto DM that sounds canned and artificial. Social media should be social and human after all, right?

Don't have apps tweet for you, unless you think they'll be interesting for your followers.

For example, many people tweet automatically every time they check in on Foursquare. Tweets like that get boring or annoying really fast, and some people (like me) are bound to unfollow you. EXAMPLE NEEDED HERE

Have some variety and good stuff in your last three tweets.

If I started following you because you shared good tips about online marketing, but then a while later I see 10 in a row about your latest diet, I may forget why I followed you in the first place, and unfollow you on the spot. Or if I remembered why I followed you, I may still may decide that your signal to noise ratio is too low, and choose to unfollow you.

Also, when I see a lame tweet and I'm trying to decide if I should really unfollow that person, I click on them and look at their last 3 tweets. From there, I can easily click to unfollow them, or I can go back and continue following them. NEED SNAPSHOT HERE

Don't just talk about yourself.

Few people want to follow someone who only talks about themselves - their blog posts, their company, their product, their day, etc.

It's not very social to just toot your own horn, and it's not as effective as someone else tooting your horn in social media anyway. You should engage with other people on Twitter and link to content other people wrote so that you will be seen as a valuable source of information, and as a real, likeable person.

Don't tweet too often.

Unless you're following thousands of people, it can be annoying to have your Twitter stream dominated by someone who isn't one of your closest friends. When one person's tweets are crowding out everyone else's in my stream, I will usually unfollow them unless their tweets are pure gold.

Tweet regularly.

If you don't tweet for a while, some people will forget about you and why they followed you in the first place. Then, when you start tweeting again they will be less likely to engage with your tweets, and they may unfollow you if they don't recognize you.

Also, there are various tools that give people suggestions on people they may want to unfollow. One of the sections are usually people you're following who haven't tweeted in some amount of time. TwitCleaner.com is one tool that does this.

Be wary of politics and religion.

This shouldn't be a surprise, but if you tell people in your bio or recent tweets that you're a strict Verdukianist who feels very strongly about the Third amendment, you're bound to lose some followers who don't share your beliefs, or who don't want to hear about your beliefs.

Be mindful of your potty mouth.

If your tweets regularly contain swear words, adult humor, or links that are not safe for work (NSFW), you may lose some followers who have strict bosses or morals.

Be consistent with your language.

I commonly see bilingual people on Twitter whose tweets will switch between English and another language. This can be hard on followers who only speak one of the languages you tweet in. You may want to use two separate Twitter accounts - one for each language - so that you can build a strong following for each. It could also be helpful to give people a heads up in your bio that you tweet in this and that language.

Don't ignore @s (mentions).

When I reply to someone's tweet or mention them with an @ on Twitter, I usually remember and anxiously await a response. If I haven't heard back in a few days, I will sometimes feel bitter enough to unfollow them. Maybe they're snubbing me, or their tweets are just automated and they don't pay attention to replies - either way, I probably won't miss following them.

Unfortunately, Twitter only emails you when someone who you're following mentions you, so you have to regularly log in to Twitter to notice @s from new people.

Don't just auto-post from Facebook or another social network.

Chopped of tweets with links to Facebook don't look good, and they don't encourage engagement. I won't expect someone whose tweets automatically come from Facebook to notice or care when someone replies to or retweets one of their tweets. Why waste my time? Also, people usually want to stay on whatever social network they're on.

See if your Twitter triggers any red flags.

TwitCleaner is a free tool I use to help me find people I may want to unfollow, and they will also check your own Twitter stream to see if you would show up on anyone else's TwitCleaner reports as someone they may want to unfollow. Check your account here.

What makes you unfollow someone? Share your frustrations or advice in the comments below.

Could you use some tips for getting new followers? Read this article.