I’m going to tell you a story about a former client that lost 5,000 followers in 6 months after I stopped managing their account.
As a social media manager, a central focus of my job is connecting to the audience. Understanding their hopes and aspirations, their concerns and hesitations… all of this is essential to guiding my content strategy.
For nearly a year, I ran the social media accounts for a diamond jewelry company that specialized in engagement rings. The instagram profile flourished into an active community of brides-to-be, romantics, and fashionistas, eagerly engaging with our posts that garnered millions of views per week.
When it was time for me to my leave my role in order to accept a more prominent position elsewhere, I was not given an opportunity to train a replacement, and I can see how badly this hurt their account.
In just a few months, they lost a staggering 5,000 followers. The engagement rate shrunk to less than half of a percentage. They started hiding the likes from posts to conceal the low numbers, and the employees were leaving comments from their own profiles to falsely convey interest.
What happened? What were they doing wrong?
And more importantly, how can you avoid the same issue?
It’s actually pretty simple.
We’re going to cover one of the main issues in this post. (There were other weak points in their strategy that I can dive into later).
Most importantly, though…
Their content was not aimed for their audience.
The feed changed substantially after my departure. What was once a neat and orderly grid of diamond rings, manicured hands, bouquets, and proposal videos… suddenly took on a very male-oriented look. They posted numerous photos of a model in various states of undress, bathrobe-clad and swimsuit-adorned. The shock value was palpable, but it was such a left turn from the elegant narrative we had crafted for so long.
They even shared a close-up video of a female model sensually eating a cherry, a diamond ring perched provocatively on it. Their new content was not only crass but frankly incomprehensible. Why would you wear a $17,000 tennis necklace with your swimsuit? Why post a model in a bathrobe five times in a row, why not choose a variety of looks? Why would you put a diamond ring on a cherry?
What if you accidentally ate it?
And, from a customer’s point of view… if I purchase from your store, am I buying something that has been that close to a stranger’s mouth? Wouldn’t the saliva and lipstick damage my purchase?
It was odd.
Social media managers cannot simply create the content that they like.
They must take the audience perspective into account.
It doesn’t take a marketing genius to identify their misstep. Their followers were 88% women, and one can safely assume that most of the women following an engagement ring company on social media are likely to be in committed, heterosexual relationships. We knew this from our knowledge of our customer base.
It was a fatal error to change the brand narrative so drastically.
How can you avoid this mistake?
It’s not enough to just know your audience. You have to prioritize them over yourself.
While you should enjoy and be proud of your content, if your aim is to grow your business using social media, then your own opinion is actually secondary.
View your content through the lens of your ideal customer. Is it helpful to them? Is it appealing to their sensibilities? Is it emotionally evocative? Is it entertaining?
Every piece of content you post should be able to check “yes” next to at least two of them.
And should never check this box:
Will this piece of content make my audience concerned that their purchase will be covered in saliva?
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