Best practices for rebranding using social media: Company name changes

• July 26, 2011

By Alexandra Reid

Rebranding using social media is a new and fascinating subject. Part of my job is to keep on top of the latest social media best practices, but after an extensive amount of research, I’ve found that there is very little comprehensive and applicable content offered on the subject of social media rebranding.

To help our clients and others currently going through this process, I’ve decided to share all of the information I have gathered on the subject, which includes how to change a company’s name, image and “voice” across accounts and how to spread the word of the change using the “big three,” Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. This is part one of a three-part series and will cover company name changes. Over the next two weeks, I will explain how to reflect and support your rebranding by changing your image and voice through social media.

Name changing

It doesn’t seem complicated at first, but name changes do present some roadblocks that you should be prepared for. If you are active on a number of accounts, start by making a list of these accounts, to ensure you don’t miss any. You must also consider that many of your social sites may be linked together. For instance, my Twitter stream is linked to my LinkedIn account. If you change one account, you must re-link the channels.

Twitter

Changing your Twitter name will not affect your existing followers, lists or any messages to other users. At face value, changing your username is easy. Simply go to settings and under “account,” enter the new username. However, there are some complexities that you must be aware of:

First, Twitter usernames are limited to 15 characters, so first ensure that all the usernames you propose to your team will fit within the character limit.

Second, usernames cannot be duplicated, so you must ensure yours hasn’t already been taken. Simply search the name using the search function at the top of the Twitter web-based client. You should include the @ symbol in the searched username, as I’ve found Twitter search isn’t the best and may overlook an account if it doesn’t immediately recognize it as an account. If someone is squatting on the account name, and the account appears to be inactive, I’d suggest tracking down its owner, either through a direct message or by using the web address associated with the account, to see if he/she will give it up. You could also Google the name of the company, if provided, and find contact information that way.

Third, once you’ve changed your handle, your old one will become available. To limit confusion, and to ensure search engine results, which hold your username, don’t direct people to a 404 page error, you should secure this other handle, upload your avatar and enter a company description that informs users of the change. Then, send out a Tweet telling users that the account has moved and direct them to the new account. If the old account has received some followers, send them direct messages informing them of the change and keep an eye out for new followers who also require the update.

On the new account, send out multiple Tweets informing users of the name change. These should be sent out periodically throughout the day to reach the most users. Count the number of retweets and shares of your name change to get an understanding of how many people are aware. Keep sending out Tweets, retweets and replies until you are sure enough people know about the change.

Facebook

One of the most frustrating aspects of Facebook is that it doesn’t allow name changes for pages, even if an error was made, if the page has more than 100 likes. Facebook’s help centre states,

Once you have claimed a username by clicking the ‘confirm’ button, it is not possible to edit it, or to transfer your username to a different account on Facebook. Additionally, when an account has been removed from the site, its username will not be made available to other users for security reasons.

Furthermore, only one username is allowed per page. This makes it difficult to reflect your rebranding through Facebook. However, there are a couple of options that can help you circumvent this roadblock.

Create a new company page: The first, and most obvious, option is to create an entirely new company page. You will need to move all of your fans over to the new account, which will set you back a bit temporarily, but if you handle it properly, you should be back on your feet in no time. First, you must inform your current fans that you are moving. Give them plenty of warning using wall updates. You can also send your most avid fans personalized direct messages informing them when the change is coming, in hopes that they share this information with their communities. Once you create a new page, link to it from your old page. You can also mention the name change in the new company description, at least until people get used to it. Send out lots of exciting updates on the new wall to attract users to the site and inform them that the page has changed. Delete the old account after about a month.

Update the existing page to reflect the change: The second option is to reflect the rebranding under your existing name as best as possible. You could upload an updated photo that includes the existing logo and the new name, for example. You could also update the company description to reflect the change and send out wall posts to inform your fans, including any press releases your marketing team may have created on the subject and any third-party coverage. To prepare fans for the change, you could start discussions about the new name. This could also be a good way to receive feedback, if you are deciding between a few different names. The downfall of keeping your old account is that you will always appear to be a hybrid between old and new, which may confuse your customers. Another downfall to this approach is that it will hinder search results for your page if users search for your new name. The benefits are that you save time and mitigate the risk of losing fans in the transfer of accounts and keep all the updates you have built up over time.

LinkedIn

The name of your LinkedIn company page can be updated by contacting its Help Centre. You must provide them with your existing company page name and what you would like to change it to. They will need to verify that you have a company email address registered to your personal account. Your company name must be less than 100 characters.

Something to remember is that LinkedIn company pages usually contain a lot of content. You will want to go through this content with a fine-toothed comb to ensure all company names are changed to the new one. If you have changed your website to reflect your name change, you will also want to update the website presented on your company profile, which can be done through an administrator.

For more information on how to switch company accounts, I suggest you check out this SlideShare presentation, a simple go-to guide on how brands can change their usernames on social networks.

Did you find this helpful? What have been your experiences going through this process? Did I miss anything?

Image from: Tech Nick Tips