To Brand or Not To Brand, That is The Question

July 21st, 2009 by Miguel Llano

Twitter is the new hot trend in social media. According to the most recent data from SoftPedia^™, Twitter is starting to grow once again with almost 23 million unique visitors in the US last month. Keep in mind that these numbers do not include those who access Twitter via other Web or mobile applications.

The biggest benefit that Twitter brings to businesses is the ability to listen to what consumers are saying about your brand. Yes, that’s right, I said listen. Twitter allows companies to “get inside the head” of consumers and see how people view the company, brand, and/or customer service. After listening to what others are saying, you have to figure out the right strategy to engage these individuals. This is where I state, “To Brand or Not To Brand, That is The Question.”

A branded profile is just that, instead of a picture of a person, the company uses an image of its brand on its Twitter profile. This option has advantages as it increases brand exposure since every time a “tweet” is sent out, your brand appears next to it. However, this option also has some disadvantages. Social media is about two-way conversation, and a branded profile does not “personalize” the brand, making people feel less likely to engage the brand in conversation. (Ex. http://twitter.com/MartinoFlynn)

Another option is a personalized profile. For this option, a company representative uploads his or her personal picture, yet represents the company and/or brand. These types of profiles are much more personal and allow the company to look more human by putting a face with a name. After all, for the most part, people do business with other people. This option also allows the company representative to engage others and lend an active voice to conversations. The downside, however, is less brand exposure since you are using a face and not your brand image or company logo. (Ex. http://twitter.com/miguelallano)

One of the growing trends for businesses on Twitter is the use of personalized branded profiles. These profiles tend to have a photo of a company representative with a small branded logo added to the bottom or side on the profile picture. This option is beneficial because it allows for the benefits of both brand exposure and the ability to “humanize” the brand. (Ex. http://twitter.com/JulieWegman)

So which option is better? Well, that is yet to be seen. Social media is a finicky beast and is constantly changing. The most important thing to consider when a company enters the social media arena is to figure out whether or not using Twitter works within its existing marketing strategy. If using Twitter will add value, it is worth it to spend a few seconds to analyze what you want to get out of your Twitter profile. Once these benchmarks are established, a company can now decide whether to brand, or not to brand.

— Miguel Llano

This entry was posted by Miguel Llano on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 and is filed under Blogging, Brand Strategy, Social Media, Technology, User Experience. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.