Read Part 1 of this two-part series.

Rationale for Following Back

If your Twitter account is one you’d define as a BRAND –YES – follow back most/all of those who follow you. And you may find this true for your personal account(s) as well – here’s my WHY:

• When a brand follows someone back, it’s an action of recognition – you took the time to find me and follow me, and I noticed – I am following you back. You have value. One could argue that by not following back, a brand is being downright aloof.
• Engagement is a hallmark of social media. On the most basic level, following a consumer back opens the door for direct engagement. You can only send a direct message (DM) to someone on Twitter if they are following you. Your customers don’t have the option to DM you on Twitter if you’re not following them back – so you’re losing a channel of communication that goes straight to your consumer.
• For those loyal brand consumers out there, a follow-back is a subtle nudge to reinforce an existing relationship. For a “brand shopper,” it can be a checkmark in the “pro” column for you. Let’s say I follow two yogurt brands I like, and only one of them follows me back. True, I might not even notice, but if I do, it’s a checkmark.

There will always be exceptions – accounts you won’t/don’t want to follow back, like spam accounts, accounts which post prolific profanity or those which focus on activities your brand doesn’t support. (You can always add a disclaimer to your public description that following a Twitter account does not necessarily imply endorsement). And if you want to make sure users are really interested in having you follow them back, you can ask them to request it (that will mean more work for you – responding to all those public requests, rather than just regularly reviewing your followers and reciprocating).  Deciding who/how many you’ll follow/follow back is going to vary for your individual brand – so determine your own criteria.

Here are actual examples of brands on Twitter, and recent numbers – and while you can’t declare that a brand is following the exact same account list that is following THEM, this still gives you a good idea of how actively these brands are following others (these accounts have been “verified” by Twitter, which means their identify has been authenticated by Twitter – especially useful for a brand/celebrity where “fake” Twitter accounts may be prevalent)

Check out the difference between Coke and Pepsi – who appears to be validating/reinforcing their followers more? And while there’s a large gap between their following/follower numbers, at least Virgin America and Whole Foods appear to be following a substantial number of Twitter accounts. Now look at the account for late night talk show host Craig Ferguson. Does this appear to be an account that fosters direct engagement with its followers?

The bottom line for a brand on Twitter – when someone is interested enough to follow you, shouldn’t you be interested enough to follow them back?

(Shaun Amanda Herrmann)