Just how to Rebrand A social network And Live To inform Regarding They

Anybody manage bring their pitchforks, sign-up a beneficial posse, and you will burn off the web based down

Editor’s Notice: Guest factor Catherine Plan is the Vice president, Brand Method from MeetMe, Inc., a myspace and facebook getting conference new people, and you may co-maker of MeetMe’s ancestor myYearbook. She collaborated about blog post that have Geoff Plan () and you will Jeremy Zorn, each of MeetMe, Inc. Find out more at its site:

Imagine the outcry in the event that Facebook was to alter their name. One to nights once we made a decision to carry out the unthinkable: rebrand a social media utilized by more than so many anyone a day. I changed the name of myYearbook, a social networking having meeting new-people, in order to MeetMe.

Whenever i already been myYearbook within the senior high school with my brothers, title experienced correct. But all of our solution and exactly how anybody tried it rapidly made the name out-of-date, while we steadily narrowed the attract to just one question: meeting new-people. Our solution has been around since new re-creativity of your own club, an electronic digital coffeehouse, a social gathering set, but the name discussed a high school reunion. It actually was no wonder that people were commonly mistaken for Class mates because of the the key listeners – individuals who hadn’t entered united states yet.

After past year’s merger into Quepasa Firm, we know we had the perfect possibility to prefer a name that really fit, as well as in the method carry out just one international brand name to own meeting new-people. After a painstaking process of ideation, internal and external surveying during the several languages, symbol innovation, domain purchase of meetme and you will , Twitter-deal with acquisition of to quit a cooking pot-smoking Elmo incident, securing the brand new ticker Fulfill with the NYSE AMEX, and you may mindful simply click-due to speed experimentation – aside from that late night working with an excellent Ouija board and you can a rabbit’s foot – we compensated toward MeetMe.

There is an individual condition: we had zero template to own carrying out an excellent rebrand best – just horror tales of performing it incorrect. Whenever NBCUniversal’s Sci-Fi Route changed its label so you can a slang name to own syphilis, it had been ridiculed. Whenever Netflix launched these were altering the Digital video disc-by-post service so you can Qwikster, social outcry and you will a great plummeting inventory speed triggered a rapid changes regarding agreements. In the event the giant mil-dollar enterprises constantly damage rebrands so badly, how would we hope to find because of ours unharmed – especially which have a purportedly volatile personal community.

But really that is what i performed. Nearly 30 days pursuing the rebrand, the key calculating sticks we used to gauge representative purchase and you can engagement have all lived constant, if you don’t improved.

I went down this road 50 % of-looking to eradicate around twice-thumb rates of one’s affiliate ft; as an alternative all of our audience expanded

Right from the start, we approached brand new rebrand below no delusion which our members would agree of your alter. What we were doing is seriously unpopular, and we understood they. One to skills coloured all the decision i made. Even though studies shown the people overwhelmingly came to myYearbook to meet new people, they still a whole lot appreciated the name “myYearbook” – anyway, that’s the solution it decided to join!

I understood the fresh new limits was indeed high, however, we had been in reality shocked you to various other surveys only 17% said they will never log on once more if we altered our title to MeetMe. Specific may have checked-out a comparable analysis and you can believe double about rebranding at all, but we had been pretty happy it wasn’t 80% to make that claim. I presumed most of the individuals who generated such as an effective claim create in reality stay, because their household members and people is right «baДџlantД±» here. We just wanted to guarantee that i did not incite a-riot otherwise a frustration who does spark an exodus.