Rebranding Your Social Media Presence
There's something about putting up a new profile picture on our personal social media pages that makes us feel good and attracts attention, and it's sometimes tempting to do the same for our business social pages too. After all, putting out a fresh new look will get attention and that has to be good thing, right? Well, when it comes to business social media profiles it's not a good idea to chop and change looks on a whim just because a competitor has, or because it's been a while since you updated the look. Using a new logo or changing a business profile picture without notice can reduce engagement as people don't recognise your posts at a glance.
A social media rebrand should only be done under specific circumstances, with the need arising from
- listening to customer (and prospective customer) buzz
- a change in business tone and direction
- a change of management
- a change of target demographic
- a need to formalise branding that was never intentionally developed
- a need to rebrand the entire business
If you're at the stage where a social media rebrand is needed then read on, because there's a bit more to a successful social rebrand than there is to rebranding your website, stationery or signage. A social media rebrand will be subject to much more scrutiny with public feedback to manage, so it needs more attention going forward.
Be prepared to spend time trawling through old posts checking for things that are no longer relevant (like discontinued products) or which are not in keeping with your new direction or tone. Unless you're undergoing a complete change in direction you shouldn't need to wipe your entire posting history, but it is a good opportunity to remove content that no longer fits. You may decide to archive your old content on a different account rather than ditching it entirely.
Make notes of your follower count, engagement rates and other useful metrics across each platform so you can compare the performance of your rebranded social media pages with your previous offering. At this stage it's also a good idea to drill down into the types of content that perform best (if you don't already do this) and use this to inform the direction and format of your new content. If text posts get more engagement than shared posts from other brands, or memes you find funny, then perhaps it's time to ditch the curated content and stick to your own voice? If images and videos get more attention than plain text then you know that visual content is the way forward.
Once you have a new look designed, it's a good idea to trial a rebrand on social media and even ask your audience for their input or feedback. This can hugely increase engagement and turn fans into ambassadors as they'll feel they have a personal stake in the new appearance of your business. When you're happy, and you're getting good feedback, it's time to bite the bullet and set a date for rebrand.
We know that a rebrand will garner attention and feedback, so avoid Fridays, weekends, and Mondays to launch. Monday launches run the risk of being ignored among the slog of the start of the week, while Friday launches can be similarly overlooked, or create a whole lot of weekend work for someone; it would be worse to leave comments and concerns unanswered! A midweek launch is best, trailed the day before as a teaser to ensure engagement once you hit that publish button.
Rebranding your social media is a big task, which is part of a wider rebrand and therefore needs excellent project management and buy-in from your entire staff to ensure success. We're here to help with rebranding any and all parts of your business so if it's time for a new look, we've got you covered.
