When a particular business outgrows the vision of its founders, it sometimes runs into an identity crisis that can be addressed only via a social media rebranding process. A Social Media Rebrand is a tedious and involved process that involves thousands of tasks associated with a logo update or a name change. For those organisations and businesses that are highly visible and active on social media, great care must be undertaken to introduce a new brand to prevalent followers without leaving them confused. When executed well, such rebrands can take businesses to new and ideal levels.

Brand reliability and uniformness across all marketing touchpoints are a challenge for every company, let alone each social network. How do you differentiate between how you speak to your diverse varieties of audiences? How do you make sure that you’re writing in a similar tone in your email marketing, that fine-tunes your brand’s vibe in TV ads? How do you make sure that customers can recognise your brand even if it’s their first time seeing you on social media?

A brand is definitely more than a set of colours or a logo, and it’s definitely so much more than a cover picture. A brand is how you make your clients feel, and it’s developed by taking a consistent approach across every interaction they have with your potential brand.

Rebranding involves a whole host of digital identity checks and transformations that need to accompany the business’ image transformation. Without such changes, a rebrand can definitely turn into an identity crisis. Rebranding is one of those processes that have to be undertaken in its entirety. Anything halfway, and you can end up with an identity mess, particularly when it comes to the concept of digital assets.

For instance, when in 1996, Federal Express shortened its name to ‘FedEx’, the rebranding procedure was a monumental effort that succeeded in a massive manner. The rebranding was tedious then, and in today’s digital age, the challenges of rebranding are even greater than they were nearly 20 years ago.

In the practical sense, a rebrand carries with it diverse technical repercussions and ramifications contingent on the social network. Some enable you to have complete control over all aspects of your account, while some are limiting in what you can change without having to begin over from scratch – resulting in loss of uploads, views, and followers.

Signs that your branding may be due for an effective revamp

• The business has taken on a new brand vision. Your present branding reflects where you have been, but not where you want to go. With new plans must come a new and effective strategy.
• The target audience has expanded or evolved. The most vital element in the business mix. If you’re including new demographics, then you need to appeal to your audience members.
• Your branding idea does not celebrate what makes your brand innovative. It does little to deviate you from your competitors. In this highly busy world, you must differentiate yourself from the crowd.
• Your products or services have expanded. Since you first developed your brand identity, your brand narratives, visuals, and messages are no longer reflective of your brand. You require something to portray the entire extent of what you have to offer.
• Your business initiative has plans to collaborate with another business. If your business is taking on a major project with another initiative, then you require to undertake some changes. You need to communicate in a new, fresh, and exciting way.  

Rebranding is a massive undertaking, especially in this era where Instagram is deeply rooted in our present culture. There’s a right way and a wrong way to move forward with it, and we at Socinova are here to steer you on the path to makeover success. Each aspect of your company’s identity will need to be examined. From logos, social media accounts, and websites. All the way down to your mission statement, approach to client service, and advertising campaigns.

We have detailed a 20-step guide with which you can rebrand your social media accounts without much hassle.

1. Create a detailed plan

You must understand that rebranding is a serious business. When beginning, you must plan and organise everything, from debuting your new logo, relaunching your website to having a social media rebrand by replacing the cover images or banner images. Transformations like these do not turn the tide overnight, and we are sure you wouldn’t want to make your clients wonder what went wrong.

Make sure that before you begin rebranding on social media, you must have all information and assets prepared or at least in production. Make sure that you create tone and messaging, too, since that’s vital to how you communicate with your potential customers.

2. Take the process slowly

It is a fact that people do not like change. Rebranding – whether you’re just changing the aesthetic of your Instagram feed, or changing the logo, or doing a complete overhaul – can ruffle many a feather. Transitioning out of your old ways into your new image must be slow as to least upset clients. We at Socinova recommend to take it slow and survey your new content’s performance. Make sure never to punch your followers in the face. (figuratively)

3. Jump into the data

Collecting all the stats, numbers, and metrics of your business can be a tedious task. But your rebranding strategy will be better for it in the end. The more data-driven your strategy is, the more you can avoid potential mishaps and better predict business outcomes.

We at Socinova specifically recommend taking a look at your brand mentions, brand searches, media mentions, and your net promoter score. These metrics can benefit from gaining a comprehensive understanding of what the readers are saying about your business, what sections of your brand they appreciate the most, and what motivates them to purchase.

4. Let readers have a sneak peek

As a part of your social media rebranding, get your readers talking by offering a preview of a new website design or packaging or any changes you made with the rebrand. Since they are a huge part of your initiative, they should get the opportunity to be a part of the loop.

Steps like teaser photos, social media stories, and giveaways, are an easy means to get them excited over it and make a buzz over your rebrand. Effective engagement helps the followers to keep up with the new updates.

5. Be engaging and informative

Your customers will be confused at the start, there’s no getting around it. You’re going to have to make yourself free to answer questions, whether they come via DM, email, posts, or comments. The more you interact with your customers, whether old loyal ones or newly acquired, the higher the chances for them to be on board with your newly minted image. Make sure to speak in the company’s new tone and answer in the rebranded voice to solidify what is going on.

6. Always check for availability

This may seem like a no-brainer, but the reality of the internet is that sometimes, websites and handles are taken. To avoid a potentially humiliating situation, undertake proper research. Try to be creative and search for a variation that works best for your business.

There may be other companies or pages that already have the name you want. If that’s the situation, you have two choices:

• Create a different name: If you can’t get the company to sell the name and handle to you, you’ll be required to get creative and think of a means to develop a username that works best for your business.
• Buy the name: You can reach out to the person or company that has your name and offer to purchase their social media profile URLs from them.

So, as you make an effort to claim a profile name for your brand, make sure it’s available on all platforms. Consistency is crucial, so if one of your platforms doesn’t have the username available, go back to your drawing board for new and better ideas.

7. Maintain a robust alignment

Social media is not the primary touchpoint of collaboration with your clients; there can be email marketing, blogs, and a website for communication. Each channel and its advantages must be lined up with your rebranding efforts. If you have all the networks ready for the launch, it will guarantee a strong brand character that sticks in the client’s or prospect’s minds.

8. Be sure to be consistent across channels

Imagine the confusion your followers would experience if they saw that your Facebook page uses a different logo from your LinkedIn page. Or that your Instagram handle hasn’t been updated since 2017. But more than creating confusion, inconsistency like these can send diverse signals, diluting the major message of your campaign. That’s why it is vital to plan your social media campaign across channels.

Make sure to unify your social media marketing and enforce style guidelines that keep your content consistent. When you decide to rebrand on social media, make sure to rebrand across channels. Consistency makes the difference between success and failure.  

9. Identify your key locations

Your clients and potential customers should be the core reason for rebranding on social media. After all, without them, your business would not have any grounds for staying open. Utilising social media platforms where your audience is will offer you the boost you require. If all your audience is on Facebook, you need to be there too. Using all of the main social platforms is an ideal idea but focus your attention on the places that matter. Offer your rebranding on social media the time it deserves, think of everything from cover photos to respond to comment, attention to detail is key.

10. Have a detailed FAQ

No matter how smooth your transformation is, customers are likely to have questions. The last thing you want is for your social media community to feel confused about this massive shift in branding, so make sure to anticipate their needs. Make sure to put together a list of all the most likely questions you’ll receive after launch. Develop thoughtful yet straightforward answers that will put your community at ease.

If you are serious about offering a high-quality experience for the people of your community, appoint a person for keeping an eye on your social media profiles the following launch, addressing questions clearly and informatively. It might seem superfluous in the beginning, but having someone to offer speedy answers to a user base that has experienced a huge shift can help prevent confusion and frustration down the line.

11. Divert social media links

If individuals are looking for your old name, a redirect will guarantee that they’ll have the option to search for your new one. Make sure to shift through your website, email newsletters, blog, and other marketing surety for social media links. Setting up redirects can be a little uncomfortable, so now is your chance to make sure that each link works. Always check your redirect links once again to make sure that there is a make way from the old name to the new name.

12. Upload more posts

To get your audience excited about the rebrand, offer your followers a taste of your idea. Mix up your posting content. Never settle for status messages alone. Go for social media graphics, gifs, infographics, or videos as part of your initial rebranding efforts.

13. Update your profile pictures

If you are rebranding on social media, always update your profile pictures. You must always have a consistent look on your social media profiles that matches your new brand. When updating the profile photos, use an image of your logo. By including the new logo in the profile picture, you’ll begin to develop brand recognition with your audience. It will help the audience identify your new brand.

When you upload your profile picture, make sure that it’s scaled to each platform’s profile photo requirement. You’ll want to follow image size guidelines to make sure that your logo isn’t too huge or stretched when you post it.  

14. Search for potential pitfalls in advance

Social media operates on third-party platforms, which implies ensuring that your different social media accounts can be adjusted to reflect your new brand identity. As you decide on another business name, you need to make sure that you can get a matching Twitter/Facebook/Instagram handle to deal with it.

15. Turn your employees into rebranding advocates

Your employees would definitely have a unique following on social media that can exponentially increase the reach of your potential brand, so make use of those following to publicise your rebranding effort. If you can get your employees excited about the rebranding, you’ll be able to encourage and incentivise them to share details about it on their potential social media accounts.

This is where Socinova’s social media management services can assist you in your social media rebranding efforts.

16. Advertise and promote

It is not adequate to let your followers know about your rebrand on social media and other diverse channels. You can layout a press release via your website or PR websites to get the word out. Then, you can even post that on social media too.

Run interactive social media ads to reach more audiences. The purpose will be to introduce your audience to the new website and the revamped social media profiles too. it helps your target audience become more familiar with your brand.

17. Study social media influencers

Connecting with and collaborating with famous influencers is an ideal way to get your brand known, but it definitely takes some time. You have to devote time to developing good relationships with influencers before they’ll see you as an expert.

LinkedIn is an ideal place to search for and engage with other experts in your industry, as are numerous influencer marketing tools. Once you’ve found the finest influencers in your area, analyse their networks, uploading habits, and content to determine what you could be doing better. Observe how their followers respond to what they post, and learn best practices from their personal branding strategies and execution.  

18. Observe rebranding feedback on social media

Social media is one of the quickest and most insightful means to collect feedback about virtually anything, so when you rebrand, you must make sure to listen to your audience more carefully than ever.

Although the readers may be negative and critical of the rebranding, they also may offer you suggestions and ideas for how to tweak and improve your rebranding strategy.

19. Be ready for any kind of loss

No one gets out of a rebranding unharmed. There may be collateral damage, and on Instagram, that means a decline in the number of followers. But do not despair! This is just a temporary side effect and we are sure that you’ll be on the progress path again once the growing pain subsides.

Not all clients are going to be pleased about your changing and transforming ways, and you have to be prepared to accept that you cannot make everybody happy. It is best to stick to your north knowing that this is the ideal decision for your business and that it’s been thoroughly scrutinised and evaluated by your team of executives.

Seeing those figures declining at first will be discouraging and will trick you into thinking that you aren’t doing the right thing. But you must tell yourself that you’ve re-crafted your brand image mindfully and purposely, and are carving yourself a diverse niche that will eventually attract your newly identified target audience. Those dwindling numbers will surely be climbing back up in no time if you do things the right way.

The rebranding process will lead to some grey zones that can’t be planned and predicted. A large number of rebranding situations are contingent on factors that aren’t foreseeable, all while being unique to each company. What emerges on Instagram should be the result of a well-executed plan, but it’s simply impossible to anticipate every odd detail of how things will go down. You must be prepared.

20. Development and maintenance of the rebrand

It might seem as if the job is done and dusted, but the reality is that the process has just started. With the rebrand launched, the battle to maintain it begins. You must make all efforts to develop your social media existence gradually, and must also understand that the rebrand launch is not going to make things turn around for you, overnight.

The promotion of your new brand or image is extremely vital. It plays a vital role in developing your social vision. Develop original content that is identical to your rebrand. You can create a blog post or video through which your readers understand the change and why it is being undertaken. Also, pay attention to making your business content celebratory and explanatory. Never focus too much on just one of the two factors.

Secondly, paid ads are advantageous when it comes to rebranding the company, and you must also never overlook their power. Paid ads are being portrayed negatively for some time, but they are actually substantial game changers which a lot of people have begun ignoring. They definitely bring in organic traffic for you, which is what your business requires the most. Paid ads are the most beautiful ones, and are highly effective. They make sure that your brand is fetching the potential audience’s attention. And we all know that it is what matters at the end of the day.

Lastly, in order to maintain and keep growing your social media existence, you must make an effort to engage with your audience. Clients do not appreciate brands that never communicate with them when required. Effective and meaningful interactions with your users can introduce life to your rebranding. If any customer has a query, you must answer it as soon as possible. Be helpful towards the audience so that they can look up to your business. New users are going to be clueless about your brand, and your old users will have a lot of confusion regarding your rebranding; thus, you need to keep them all covered. It will make you a highly reliable source for them.   

What will your business look like after rebranding?

If you are inquisitive as to what your company and sales will be like after you’ve entirely rebranded your business initiative on social media, the answer is actually up to you! If you put forth the time and effort to rebrand the business and stick with positive changes completely, you’ll easily observe an increase in sales and client retention. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true if you choose to allow your company to revert to the way it was before the rebranding process.

The key to successfully and effortlessly rebranding your business initiative on social media will be to demonstrate all changes and allow the audience to see it for themselves. When this happens, your conversions will improve, and people will naturally want to be a part of your success!

Social media offers businesses a rich, multi-layered platform on which they can easily feature a rebranding effort. By effectively following the steps above, your social platform audience will be bound to support the rebrand. Advertisers spend tons of energy and money to gain followers, thus it is urgent not to lose any as you relaunch your new brand.

To take full benefit of social media after rebranding, always remember to do the following:

• Plan and strategise about the downfalls and opportunities in advance
• Promote your rebranding with your social media audience
• Get all of your employees involved in the rebranding process
• And observe closely to the feedback you fetch through social media

Developing a personal brand on social media is not easy. It requires a lot of thought and research to do successfully. It is not about what you look like or where you reside, it’s about what you stand for and what customers should expect when they see you’ve posted a new piece of content. Always think long-term and remember to take note of what’s working and not working and adjust as necessary and required.

Each company is different and will approach the process of rebranding from its distinct standpoint. You must stick to the above-mentioned points as your guide and rely on your gut to nail this. We at Socinova will always be there for you at every step to make sure that you do not face any hindrances while on your path to success. We focus specifically on your brand’s social media presence and positioning your company as an industry leader on the world’s fastest-growing group of social networks.

As you begin the process of rebranding, we can step in and make sure that your social media presence is as visible as possible. We also help people understand why you are choosing to rebrand, reach new potential customers, and help you learn the right way to engage with your potential customers. Confidently develop and implement successful digital strategies with Socinova!