Does Customer Engagement Impact the Value of an Organization?

The short answer is no. At least as it relates to the NFL’s Twitter accounts follow-back ratios. Now stay with me, like you, I’m having a hard time swallowing this conclusion and find it hard to believe. 

Most social media marketers are convinced that one important key to success is to engage your targeted audience. And one of the easiest ways to engage your audience on Twitter is to follow back your followers. When a targeted customer is followed back by a brand they support, engagement magic becomes possible. The customer now feels understood, and perhaps, more importantly, they believe that direct dialogue is now a reality. Direct messages for feedback and customer service issues are possible. And yet, most major brands do not follow back their followers. They still use social media for broadcast purposes only. The NFL is just one example of this social media strategy. 

September 2014

December 2017

As you can see, from September 2014 to December 2017 the average follow/follower ratio decreased from .46 to .20, and yet the average franchise value continued to increase.

Managing a major brand profile takes time and is hard work. But still, these numbers suggest that each team is passing up an opportunity to show their fans how much they really appreciate their support by following them back. How would you “feel” if your favorite NFL team followed you back? How cool would that be!  Based on the numbers above I may start cheering for the Chargers.