Are you thinking of re-branding? I have been rebranding my art-account and even though it was still a small account with less than a thousand followers; I was quite ... let's say thorough (cc: overthinking) with the whole rebranding process. So in case you're feeling the same way, this article is for you. I hope it helps!
Before rebranding, think again. Throw yourself back to the beginning, to why you started and what has changed that you must do this hassle of rebranding process because it is truly a hassle. Especially if you did a good job of branding in the first place. Let's be frank, sometimes we're just bored with our brand. But will it not bore us again in a few months? Do you really need this rebranding? Read my thought reason here.
If you've decided to re-brand, let's dig right in!
Do the branding process: I am not going to go in details here as you have probably do this before. But a few keywords here would be brand name, logo, story, visual style, content pillars, and language. Save this somewhere and keep it handy.
Audit your brand: Which online platforms do your brand have? Make a list and write out the account informations on each. How about physical presence? Prepare to pull out your banners/ menu/ change up your business cards.
Prepare your content: design/write several posts, prepare a video announcing your new brand. Something that would engage your existing followers.
Showtime: The case would differ depends on which platforms you have, but let's get technical next!
From isneezetoo to findingkubi, here's how I made the change (also, I embed a link to my account in case you want to give me a follow please? hehehe) :
Website: I want a major change on the look, domain, and content on my website. I also found it hard to use my previous website hosting platform so I decided to start from scratch with wix. So far it has been great! However, designing a website do took some time so if you want you can always do a domain transfer.
Email: I make a new email (findingkubi@gmail.com) and then, make it a forwarding address from my previous one. You can find it on the gmail setting under "forwarding and POP/IMAP"
Instagram: Simply change your username and email if you already have a number of active followers. If you have just a few and they're not active then maybe you can consider creating a new account.
Facebook: I am not too active on facebook so I decided to just delete the page and make a new one to connect to the instagram. But you can also change the page name.
Youtube: Apparently, there is a was to change your email/account for your channel/ You have to first change the channel to a Brand channel and create the new brand channel as a destination. There, you can add managers and add your new email. For details, check this out. Don't forget to change your link afterwards.
TikTok: Simply change username and email on tiktok too. Also, I found out that we can set it as a brand account to get access to the insights.
Behance: This one is a bit of a hassle for me, but I learnt it the hard way that there are actually two easy ways to change the email on behance. First is clicking change your adobe id (meaning you have to make your new adobe id) or just click change account which brings you to adobe to change your email (meaning your new email cannot be registered previously). You can find both options on settings to account information. Don't forget to change your link afterwards.
Ko-Fi: For ko-fi, you can change your email in account & billing. And then just change your link and acc name.
Online Shop: I only had Tokopedia account and it hasn't been performing very well so I decided to just make new accounts for my online shop.
I decided to prepare some content ahead before making the switch on my online platforms. For instance, I start with my website and write a few blog posts like this one. And then, I prepare some illustrations for my instagram page and videos for my youtube channel.
After they're ready I change the platform names and start posting my 'new branding'.
Since my biggest followers are on Instagram, I decided to do a 'meet the artist' post. I thought of doing a do this in your style challenge as well. I also posted a re-introduction video on my tiktok and slip it in on my new youtube video. Some fun things to try are maybe involving and giving a peek to your followers throughout the process or do a countdown. Or maybe, write your experience of re-branding in your new website! ;)