Balancing frequency and relevancy is key to successful marketing

Small business owners have a number of communication channels they can use to reach consumers nowadays, ranging from social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to email. The allure of having so many different ways to communicate with prospective buyers has led many entrepreneurs to ramp up the frequency at which they send messages to consumers, as they feel the need to capitalize on the variety of platforms.

As a recent study from ExactTarget shows, however, just because small businesses can promote their products to consumers through these channels, doesn't mean they should. The report found that the majority of consumers unsubscribed to brands that flooded them with messages, regardless of whether it was through Facebook, Twitter or email.

Nearly half of Facebook users (44 percent) said they "unliked" a company that wrote too many wall posts, which was also the leading reason respondents ended their social relationship with the offender. Consumers who subscribed to a company's email list also indicated that messages being sent too often was the No. 1 reason to unsubscribe, with 54 percent of respondents expressing this concern. While this wasn't the top reason for Twitter users to unfollow a company, frequent posts was an issue for 39 percent of users.

Walking the fine line

Small business owners need to get their promotional messages in front of consumers to make the most out of their social email and marketing campaigns. However, as the report confirms, they can't do this by aggressively sending out messages. This leaves many small business owners in a jam - how can they walk the fine line in between?

By observing other responses from ExactTarget's study, enterprises can get a better idea of what consumers want to see in their communications with brands. Other common reasons that prospects stopped following an organisation is because messages were irrelevant, content was boring or overly promotional and brands stopped sending offers or discounts.

This means that consumers are looking for content that is targeted and valuable and they also want incentives from companies. By using shopping history, customer surveys and other information about consumers, entrepreneurs can create content that is fine-tuned for their specific audience. With their email messages, SMEs should also be looking to segment their subscriber list so entrepreneurs can further target their communications.

Breaking up is hard to do

Sometimes, there is nothing small business owners can do about a consumer wanting to unsubscribe from their presence. While this is definitely a loss, as 42 percent of subscribers say they are more likely to shop with a company that they are receiving communications from, that doesn't mean that it's the end of their relationship with the customer.

As ExactTarget notes, companies should be sure to quickly remove email subscribers from their list after the request is made to do so.

"Handling a break-up properly goes a long way with consumers. Only 16 percent of consumers believe their intent to purchase from a company declined after unsubscribing. Either they weren't buying anyway, or they don't harbor negative feelings that would deter them from doing business with the brand after unsubscribing," explains the source. "On the other hand, making it difficult to unsubscribe can seriously damage a brand's credibility with consumers."

With social networks continuing to exhibit explosive growth, small business owners need to be at the top of their game to see success with their social media marketing initiatives. Facebook has more than 500 million members, while Twitter has nearly 200 million.

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