SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues.
This week, we asked: Are you concerned about social media fatigue among your fan base?
- Yes: 59.66%
- No: 40.34%
Social media fatigue is a real phenomenon. Given the amount of hype that surrounds social networks and the number of networks out there clamoring for attention, it’s not that surprising that users might feel overwhelmed and want to back off a little.
As a brand using social media to enhance your business, you can’t control social fatigue. Don’t take it personally. Instead, you’ll need to pivot your social media strategy to account for a less engaged fan base.
How are you supposed to cater to your fatigued fans? A few ideas:
- You’ll have to rely more on word-of-mouth and less on serendipity. If your fans are checking in less often, you can’t rely on them just stumbling across your latest update. Instead, you’ll need to focus on reaching out to influencers and creating targeted content that fans will tell each other about.
- Try to get your fans to come to you. Use multichannel efforts to let fans know what they can get out of visiting your social media page.
- Get more serious about metrics. If you’re going to see fewer visitors, you need to make those engagements you do receive count for more. That means doing a better job of tracking what does and doesn’t work.
Remember that social media fatigue is a phenomenon that affects all brands. It’s not something you’re going through alone. If you do a better job of adjusting to compensate, it could even be a good thing for your brand, as your confused competitors get left in your wake.
How are you combating social media fatigue?