A company’s digital brand presence is represented by the number of points of presence (POPs) –– social media accounts, web pages, micro pages, and digital profiles –– associated with that company. (Note, a company does not have to have control of a POP for it to be a part of its brand presence.) Some companies have a very large brand presence (or digital footprint), which contain hundreds, or even thousands, of POPs. But if the brand presence is disjointed, off-brand, or filled with rogue accounts, how strong can the customer experience (CX) be?
Bigger is not always better when it comes to a company’s brand presence and how customers related to the brand. Often, large corporations need to consolidate brand presence in order to maintain quality control over their accounts and eliminate potential threats to brand reputation. Here, we’ll list the key reasons why brand presence consolidation is important and explain how it will lead to an improved customer experience:
Fewer POPs = Greater Focus
Companies that locate, monitor, and manage their POPs effectively gain control over the customer interactions happening online, and therefore gain control of their digital brand reputation. By consolidating multiple accounts and taking down rogue accounts, businesses improve both their brand presence and their ability to manage it.
Benefits of Brand Presence Consolidation
Regular brand presence consolidation offers companies a number of advantages, including:
- Ability to focus on highest ROI accounts. With fewer POPs to manage, professionals can direct their attention toward managing and optimizing their most successful accounts and web pages.
- Better brand consistency. Consolidation eliminates confusing inconsistencies like duplicate accounts or POPs with outdated or incorrect information.
- Less POP abandonment. Consolidation reduces the risk of unknown rogue or dormant accounts occuring. These POPs have a negative effect on brand reputation and need to be either deleted or combined with active POPs.
- Easier governance. Marketers, account managers, and corporate team members are better able to govern a brand presence once it has been consolidated. Consolidation allows them to more efficiently deal with changes to accounts, staffing, and digital platform behavior. (E.G. Facebook business page alterations.) Consolidation also makes it easier for companies going through a transition –– like a merger or acquisition –– to maintain brand consistency throughout.
- Decreased ownership costs. Fewer POPs mean companies don’t have to spend as much to own, manage, and run them.
Improving the Customer Experience
After a consolidation, businesses can expect the customer experience to improve as a result. Here are three reasons why:
- First, consolidation removes dormant accounts. So customers won’t waste their time (or get frustrated) trying to communicate with an unresponsive entity.
- Second, since brand consolidation strengthens brand presence and reduces inconsistencies, hackers, counterfeiters, and/or cyber criminals will have a much more difficult time impersonating the business. This means that customers can easily find the proper communication channels to interact with an organization online and avoid potential scams.
- Third, customers can trust the information they encounter online about a brand that has successfully consolidated, since consolidations update outdated info and remove incorrect data.
Expanding the Customer Brand Experience
Once the corporate digital footprint is cleaned up and well-managed, it allows a company to expand brand presence with programs such as a Certified Employee Ambassador program, and managed community or partner programs. These programs then become part of a well-planned strategy and communication program in order to expand brand conversations and brand reputation.
Customers will then see consistent messaging from third-party programs associating with the brand, which strengthens the trust in brand information and adds to a positive customer experience.
Conclusion
At Brandle, we have years of experience helping corporations improve their brand presence management and govern their assets on social media. We have the skills, know-how, and resources to help your company strengthen its brand. Our centralized inventory and discovery solutions allow professionals to identify and manage both known and unknown points-of-presence. Contact us here, or check out our solutions to see how Brandle can help your company.
