A few months ago we warned how Facebook users were beginning to turn on the brands they were following, clicking out of the relationship with increasing regularity. A new bit of research drills down deeper into the question of why consumers are breaking up with brands with such frequency. The number one reason: brands are too damn pushy.

Get Satisfaction and Column Five put their research into this interesting infographic, detailing the top reasons why brand break-ups occur so regularly. Social media marketers, here are the top no-no’s cited by jaded consumers:

• Content became repetitive, boring
• Too many notifications
• Updates were too marketing-heavy
• Only liked the brand to take advantage of one-time offer; and now, see ya!
• Didn’t offer enough details

Here’s the full painful infographic (click to enlarge):

Ok, so that’s what consumers don’t want. Flipping that question around, here’s what they do want.

What is a more sustainable formula for success? Meaningful, insightful, human posts. In our work advising organizations and brands on best-practice social content creation we stress the basics.

• Be informative.
• Be clear.
• Be timely.
• Be human.

To be sure, a stream of marketing messages is a sure-fire turn-off whereas simple self-expression – sharing a photo you’ve taken, an article you’ve read and admired, sharing a genuine observation, or valuable piece of information even if your company didn’t come up with it – will get others to pause and reflect on what you have to say. It’s a way of thinking all brands and organizations will have to figure out in this age where brands and organizations are, to put it simply, publishers. You have to think like a news operation to get people to respond, remember and return. In other words to get them to not just like you, but to care about you.

Learn from the digital pioneers, brands like Coca-Cola, Carnival Cruises, Whole Foods, Vodafone and scores of others. Their social media blunders – in the areas of crap customer service, plain dumb marketing or simply being caught short in a crisis – provide valuable lessons from which to shape future corporate comms policy. It all can be found in our new e-book, #FAIL: The 50 Greatest Social Media Screw-Ups and How to Avoid Being the Next One. Buy the book today on Amazon UK, Amazon or on Lulu where you can find it in paperback and epub.