The Power of the Social Media Space

Conclusion

Being on the Internet is all about ‘location, location, location.’ Anticipating where digital investments make sense is about adapting to known data on customer preferences rather than relying on ‘gut feel.’ Social media is about having conversations that are largely uncontrollable. If mishandled, these elements and behaviors can lead to brand dilution and financial losses. If they are managed wisely, however, they can open new doors and reveal different methods for reaching and engaging customers, thereby improving productivity and value.

The importance of owning intuitive domain names and the right social media usernames so that new and existing customers can “find you” will continue to grow and is the backbone of all digital initiatives. By controlling the usernames that customers will assume to be official, a company will possess the most logical addresses to use and can prevent adversaries from owning or having access to intuitive names to post potentially harmful, confusing, or misleading content.

There is not a one-size-fits-all solution for every company, brand, or social platform. However, it is generally advisable to protect your brand in the places where Internet users are most likely to look for it and ensure they view whatever they find there to be authoritative. Unlike the domain name world, where rationing resources is critical, there are no incremental or ongoing costs associated with holding social media account/user names. Although there was no clear predictor that cybersquatting would ultimately develop into a billion dollar problem for large enterprises, we now know that the squatting of social media site usernames is following a similar path. We are already seeing usersquatting occur and the practice continues to grow. Therefore, we believe there is an incentive to secure these names and preserve the option to use them later if it makes sense to do so. More importantly, this approach blocks those not associated with the brand from usurping the brand’s message in the most official-looking spaces in social media.

All brands, regardless of how deeply involved they will be in social media, must be prepared to do some ongoing monitoring because of the ever-changing nature of the space. Brands have to make sure to have ears close to the ground in order to detect and adapt to shifts in consumer sentiment as it relates to their online and offline activities. FairWinds does not monitor or track consumer sentiment or what is being said about brands; FairWinds is plugged into where Internet users are most likely to look for brands and can provide sound advice to companies regarding the right social media real estate to own and use to grow the reach of companies’ online efforts.

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