The Four Rights

In 1962, Neil Sedaka released a song that one critic called "two minutes and sixteen seconds of pure pop magic." Nearly 50 years later, "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" isn't just a memorable pop ditty, it's a catch phrase that captures the difficulty of ending most any relationship.

Most any, that is, other than online marketing relationships.

As detailed in THE SOCIAL BREAK-UP, the 8th in our SUBSCRIBERS, FANS & FOLLOWERS research series, consumers are increasingly willing to exercise their right to unsubscribe, "unfan," and "unfollow" your emails, Facebook updates, and tweets if they don't serve their needs.  This comes as no surprise to the email marketers amongst us who have long understood the nexus between irrelevant, boring or content that is too frequent and the dreaded unsubscribe.

However, for social media practitioners, THE SOCIAL BREAK-UP highlights not only that consumers know where the "unlike" and "unfollow" buttons are--they are using them to end what they consider shallow or abusive marketing relationships.  Consider our findings about why people "unlike" brands on Facebook.

The #1 reason--and a reason that also makes the Top 3 reasons people unsubscribe and unfollow--has to do with frequency. We all know this person. You've met them in a bar or at a party, and all they can do is talk about themselves ad infinitum. Pretty soon, you're looking over their shoulder for an escape route from the quicksand of their self-indulgent conversation.

The thing is, on Facebook, the escape route is the "unlike" button or the "X" that removes your post from their news feed.  Facebook has done their very best to hide the "unlike" button, but our research shows that 55% of U.S. online consumers who use Facebook have, in fact, "unliked" a company. 

Now look at the second reason on the chart above--people unlike brands on Facebook because they are cluttering up their news feeds.  Call this the "curse of free."  Since it doesn't cost anything to post a status update, more and more brands are taking advantage of the Facebook communication channel.  The problem is that the wall is getting filled with noise--a real problem for consumers who aren't on Facebook for marketing message but to connect with the living, breathing people in their lives.  It reminds my of an overcrowded bar on "Ladies Night."  Sure, there are a lot of eligible singles, but good luck having a meaningful conversation.

The third reason for "unliking" brands on Facebook is that they became "boring" over time.  This is the classic, "It's not you, it's me" line that George Costanza loves to take credit for originating:



"Boring" could be code for a lot of things, but it points to a failure to entertain and engage consumers through Facebook.  And in the gold rush for FANS the past couple of years, Facebook is replete with truly boring Facebook fan pages.

THE SOCIAL BREAK-UP suggests that all of the challenges of email--relevance, frequency, and engaging content creation are quickly becoming the challenges of social media.  It also serves to remind all of us that breaking up is VERY easy to do online--it's just one click of the unsubscribe, unlike or unfollow button away.  It's our jobs as marketers and brand stewards to ensure that we give consumers less reason to break up with us by serving their needs--i.e., by making it less about us and more about them.  Do that, and the honeymoon may never end with your own subscribers, fans & followers.

I'll be sharing more of my thoughts about THE SOCIAL BREAK-UP in the coming days.  In the meantime, if you're new to our SUBSCRIBERS, FANS & FOLLOWERS research series, I'd encourage you to watch this webinar that the projects lead researcher & co-author, Morgan Stewart, and I did recently for BrightTalk.  It's about 45 minutes long and runs through the major finds of our prior seven SFF reports.  Enjoy!