As a brand’s social media pages begin to flourish, maintaining and building upon this is one of the hardest aspects when constructing a strong following online.

While brands may find themselves in a brief ‘honeymoon’ period soon after they’ve set up their page and fans look to engage, they may find new follower numbers begin to drop after a certain period. As acquisition may begin to a fall, a brand mustn’t instantly resort to increased posting and engagement to attract new fans, but instead research the most effective way to maintain follower happiness while attracting further fans.

In its infancy, a page is likely to see a ‘core base’ emerge, as long-term fans like the page, and often engage with both the brand and other fans. As the page and/or brand grow in stature, there’s likely to be continued growth in acquisition. This will lead to an increase in followers, within both the core base, alongside an increase in fringe fans.

It is with these fringe fans that a brand might run into problems with when attempting to maintain positive acquisition figures. While it’s easiest for a brand to appeal to their core base, it’s important not to alienate newer fans, or vice versa. As a page grows, it is important to try and encourage new fans to comment and like content posted by the brand. The likelihood is that fans on the fringe will be less likely to post and comment, so it is vital to encourage them to change their behaviour.

Given this, brands must be prepared to change content and/or their calendar if necessary. As a page becomes more popular, a brand is likely to see a variety of different fans beginning to follow. Throughout a social outreach campaign, keeping track of fan comments and opinions regarding brand content is essential to plan engagement strategies for the future. If fan numbers or engagement doesn’t increase over time, a brand must look at new methods to help attract new fans.

It is vital for brands to look at methods for improving the ratio of acquisition against engagement. Due to Facebook’s newly implemented EdgeRank algorithm, only popular and regularly-visited pages appear in a fan’s news feed. If engagement is low, brand posts may not appear in a user’s feed, which would be detrimental for the growth of the brand’s profile and fan base.

Brands need to understand the potential detrimental effects of alienating their original fans when looking to expand their social strategy. Obviously brands will look to expand their online fan base as much as possible to help build traffic to the brand’s website and profiles, but through distancing itself from their original fan base, a brand may easily see acquisition and follower numbers drop. A brand must find a middle ground between appeasing its existing fans whilst attracting new ones to help construct an effective social media strategy.

Ben is vice president, global head of digital engagement and CRM for Sony Ericsson. Image via Alessio85’s Flickr stream.

Tags: acquisition, ben padley, engagement, sony ericsson