Don’t Be the Victim of Social Branding Sabotage

The business world can be pretty cruel sometimes.

When it is … you’ll usually hear someone say, “It’s just business,” as a reminder that you shouldn’t take personal offense.

But that can be hard when a competitor begins crippling the company you built from scratch. You have to be smarter than the competitors willing to go our of their way to cripple your company.

What is Social Branding Sabotage?

I sometimes help companies with their social marketing, content strategy, and optimization, so I’ve had the opportunity to see what competitors are capable of doing just to get a foot up on their competition.

One of the lowest strategies I’ve seen is something called Social Branding Sabotage.

This is when a company registers their competitor’s brand name in effort to control their main social branding handle, forcing them to default to an alternative. While this may seem petty, it can be very frustrating as the brand owner, because these accounts are usually static. The company creates a new Twitter account, for example, claiming their competitor’s brand name as their username, effectively rendering the brand owner helpless in terms of building their brand.

If you were the owner of a small surf lessons company in Santa Monica, called Yin Yang Surfing, and your local competitor were to go out and register the name “YinYangSurfing” on Twitter, Facebook, and a handful of other social platforms, you would be forced to select a different name and thus dilute your branding potential a bit.

The point is, there are competitors out there looking for the opportunity to crush your company. They’ll do this any chance they get, including sabotaging your branding potential on a social level.

How to Avoid Social Branding Sabotage

One of the best things you can do to prevent this type of sabotage from your competitors is register your social accounts early. Before you begin telling people about out brand, take the time to register usernames, grab vanity URLs, and lock down your brand across the web.

Check back for a list of accounts you need to register to avoid social branding sabotage.

Image by eelke dekker