Spring Cleaning for your brand’s online presence

If your brand is like most, then chances are that its web presence has grown organically over the past several years. A Facebook page here, a Twitter feed there and before you know it you have a constellation of web assets in orbit, like space junk around your brand.

Case in point, we recently conducted a web presence audit for a global brand manager who said his brand had almost no presence in social media. In addition to the company’s numerous web sites,we found over 125 social media assets globally. Some were set up by different employees acting on their own initiatives, some were set up by brand fans, some were set up by people who did not like the brand. Many were abandoned but still registering high in search results. All were affecting brand perception.

The web plays an important role in how your brand is perceived. By getting your web presence under control, you will be better able to manage your brand’s perception and shape it strategically. That’s where a good Spring Cleaning can help.

Here are a few steps we follow.

1. Audit
   Catalog and assess all web assets that bear your brand’s name.
   
   
2. Cluster
   Cluster the assets around common targets, objectives and topics.
   
   
3. Align
   Align the assets in each cluster to measurable business objectives.
   
   
4. Arrange
   Ensure the mix of assets match your business objectives. Cut or add assets as required.
   
   
5. Architecture
   Organize the assets in a global architecture based on each asset’s geographic reach.
   
   
6. Visualize
   Visualize the architecture in a platform architecture map.

This gives your online presence a structure that is motivated by business objectives and visualized for easy management and communication. Once this is done you can begin to look at how each asset is managed and reported, and how they can be systematically improved over time.

If you would like a little help with your online spring cleaning, just give us a call.