Social Media’s Impending Flood of Customer Unlikes and Unfollows

This is part two in a short series to introduce The End of Business as Usual…originally posted on Harvard Business Review (edited)

There’s an old saying that carries renewed meaning these days: Give the people what they want. Brands are furiously creating profiles in social networks such as Facebook and Twitter in the hopes of building engaging communities with customers and giving people what the brands think they want. The main activity in this effort is to spur consumers to “like” and “follow” a brand’s Facebook and Twitter streams. But are these companies developing effective campaigns to build engagement and give the people what they want? From where I sit, I’d say many are not. If businesses are unable to change course, a very real — and likely very painful — lesson lies ahead. Once-willing consumers will soon become reluctant to connect with brands or will completely sever social ties to brands once they deem the connection fruitless.

Not long ago, I attended a daylong social marketing summit at the campus of a leading national brand that also housed a number of popular sub brands. Following my presentation, I returned to my seat to take in a presentation from a sales rep for Facebook. He talked about why brands will benefit from setting up shop in Facebook — consumers are willing to engage with brands that make it worth their while. But somewhere in the middle of his presentation, however, I was jolted into a state of disbelief. The rep looked upon the audience of brand managers with genuine sincerity and in a calming voice expressed, “Don’t over-think any of this. It’s not that complicated. Do four things every week…ask a question, run a poll, share links, and engage with your fans. Oh, and have fun!”…

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