It’s time to stop thinking of social media peeps as fans and followers. They’re gatherers and you may not be giving them enough to come back.

Blake Bowyer
Media Program Analyst

I’ve never really liked the terms “fans” or “followers” for Facebook and Twitter users, respectively. It’s the kind of marketing vocabulary that seems presumptuous. As a verb, someone may have fan-ed your brand or followed your company, but that doesn’t mean they’re a fan of your online presence and you don’t have anything to prove. As much as it pains me to throw another term in the mix, “gatherer” is more appropriate and meaningful. For some reason, this mob has approached your brand after an encounter in another medium or possibly through a tangible interaction. They could have read about you, they may have purchased your products, but now they’ve found you online.

What do you do next?

Act. Give them what they want. New fans and followers expect something, but not the same old something. They could get that from where they’ve been before, but they approached you online for something else. What can you give them? How do you keep the gatherers from dispersing? Know what they want and what they expect from you.

eMarketer gathered some recent information from a small MarketingSherpa study on Reasons for Friending or Following Companies Through Social Media and this table shows the results:

Additionally, a Razorfish study exploring the Primary Reason US Internet Users Follow a Brand on Twitter isn’t identical, but in the same vein:

While these responses seem intuitive (coupons provide instant, tangible benefits through savings), they’re important nonetheless. Your brand has gatherers because – surprise, surprise – they’re looking for an added benefit; they want value. Being a fan or follower is akin to being a member of an exclusive club or a loyalty program. Your gatherers are wondering, “I’ve found your brand and have chosen to show my support. What will you give me in return?” They’ve done something through social media that other media would never facilitate – they’ve reached out their hands and want to make a deal. Those are the three defining attributes of effective social media marketing: efforts are reciprocal, two-way, and both parties benefit to make it work.

They’ve gathered, now bring them back. You might be counting fans and followers, but seeing those terms as literal is old media thinking with new media execution. They’ll butt heads eventually and your gatherers are more likely to lynch your brand than advocate it.