The perils of online branding

Online branding is hailed as an indispensable business strategy, often for a good reason. This concept is a convenient and effective method of advertising. You can personalize your information to your target audience, improve and strengthen your brand, and give customers an appropriate message through easily accessible online platforms. However, there are several perils that business should be aware of before they integrate social media into their marketing mix. These are six common online branding deadfalls to look out for vigilantly. Read them below:

1. Damage to brands’ existing reputation:

Enterprises need to match the quality of their online activity with the credit that they’ve built for their brand utilizing established tools. The image of a business today is primarily conveyed through its operations online, making it essential for them to have an online footprint. Your business must be considerate of its audience and analyze thoroughly before clicking the post button to avoid damage to your brand. Insensitive posts have caused contention for many companies including Adidas, after 2017 Boston’s marathon, the company tweeted out, “Congrats, you survived the Boston Marathon!” unintentionally recalling imagery of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The company recovered swiftly by immediately taking the tweet down and issuing a heartfelt apology. A great way to protect these mistakes is to be literate of the repercussions of the online content.

2. Inconsistency

Business often rushes into social media without knowing what they’re getting into or a plan of action. Inadequate and outdated social media pages could dent the identity of your business, if not managed. A company’s social media handle that hasn’t been updated in a year is unacceptable while representing your brand. The best way to avoid an incompatible online image is to create a digital marketing plan and stick to it. Being glued to a plan and persistently updating your pages with engaging content, your brand will keep a consistent image and remain competitive.

3. Overuse

On the flip side of having outdated media pages, some businesses make the blunder of overwhelming their customers with too many posts that are dull or irrelevant. The best recommendation here is to not mistake quantity for quality. A company’s online content should entertain or educate a viewer, not beg for their attention and engagement. Comprehend what your customers want to see and limit yourself to that. A good place to start is by understanding the platforms (especially insights) and researching how frequently leaders in your niche post online.

4. Security Issues

Your brand is continuously subjected to online scrutiny, and the last thing you need is a hacker jeopardizing the integrity of your product or service. The smallest mistake can lead to distrust from your customers. Prominent businesses have fallen victim to the threat of online hackers. For example, In March, a shocking tweet from McDonald’s came out, trashing President Trump: “You are a disgusting excuse of a President, and we would love to have Barack Obama back, also you have tiny hands.” As you might figure, it wasn’t McDonald’s itself but hackers who wrote the tweet. The company took the tweet down, but the event determined how exposed online accounts could be. Companies should also consider doing social media risk assessments to help spot stains in their security system and keep undesired intruders away.

5. Attracting Negative Publicity

Bad publicity can come in the wake of an exposed lie or imprecision by the brand. Significant energy of Digital PR people is invested in pumping businesses’ capabilities and consumers’ expectations. When an organization fails to follow with the promises, customers, employees and partners are more likely to doubt the integrity of all the organization’s present and past commitments. Suspicion expressed through social media can take years to heal and often can only be aided by the number of subscribers eventually outnumbering the critics.

6. Global Competition

When you stay in your little bubble away from the internet, you might not even apprehend the volume of competition out there. As soon as a brand starts developing a new online profile, this starts to sink in. Yes, you have lots of opponents. But with that knowledge, a brand could use their online presence to distinguish.

Being conscious of these risks before your business involves in online branding is the most reliable way to be secure and in charge of the content, you release. Check out our blog for more ideas on managing your digital presence! Contact us to strengthen your online accounts with our expert solutions.