How to Protect Your Brand Identity Across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok
Social media makes brands easier to find and engage with than ever, but they come with new risks. The years spent building an identity on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok could be disrupted by misinformation through counterfeit profiles, copycat accounts, fragmented branding or hacked accounts.
Most customers do not go far enough to determine whether it is actually the official account they are interacting with, meaning safeguarding your brand identity has become crucial. The foundation of good branding involves more than just your logos and content.
Usernames, verification, ownership and uniform business information all factor in to enabling customer recognition and trust in your brand across social platforms.
Why Brand Identity Becomes Harder to Control Across Multiple Social Platforms
A lack of brand identity almost never begins with impersonators and hackers. This often starts with inconsistent login information across various platforms.
For instance, your brand might have an Instagram account called @BrandOfficial, a TikTok account known as @BrandCompany, and an entirely different company name listed on Facebook.
When searching for your brand, a consumer might compare usernames, profile photos, contact information, and websites before choosing the legitimate one.
If another account is using a username closely associated with your business, an Instagram username claim may help you regain control of an important part of your brand identity and reduce confusion among customers who are trying to find your official profile.
Common issues include:
- Different usernames across platforms
- Old logos that remain active on one account
- Outdated website links
- Former employees who still control social accounts
- Duplicate business pages created years earlier
It becomes quite difficult to manage issues, especially when a variety of people are managing a variety of platforms. Maybe the marketing company handles the Facebook page, one employee handles Instagram, and the content creator runs TikTok.
After a while, account information tends to deviate and a consumer has more opportunity to be misled and trust the wrong account and more chance for your brand to develop a dual identity online.