How To Rebrand Yourself: An Intro to Your New Identity

“If you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll end up being nothing to no one.”

—Jessica Zweig, Founder of SimplyBe.

This is the mantra to remember as you consider rebranding. Not only as a participant in the online space, but as a thought leader, business owner, and frankly, a human being.

If you haven’t heard, Elon Musk has moved to rebrand Twitter as “X,” aiming to shift away from a micro-blogging website to an all-in-one, “everything app.” He plans to incorporate “comprehensive communications,” and the “ability to conduct your entire financial world” within the scope of a single app.

Twitter, a micro-blogging app, transitioning to an app that seems to encompass everything under the sun? That seems to speak to a much broader audience than Twitter’s original user base. According to Pew Research Center, Twitter users are younger, more educated, and more likely to be Democrats than the general public. However, Musk’s idea for this rebrand is to target people from all demographics, backgrounds, political affiliations, and the like.

If Twitter was a human, there would simply be no way to cater to everyone in every audience bucket. There’s simply no “all-in-one” person that everyone likes, agrees with, or looks up to.

That’s the beauty of personal branding, after all.

The beauty of social media lies in the ability to connect people from different backgrounds and interests. From a human perspective, it’s just not possible to satisfy every single person. And again, we direct you to the quote at the start of this blog (it’s Marketing 101).

Rebranding is a transformative process for brands, businesses, and people. It allows for an image refresh and a new face for the world. The abrupt rebrand of Twitter to “X” is a point of confusion for many, and it begs the question of how to rebrand yourself the right way.

Here are the dos and don’ts for how to rebrand yourself.

How to Rebrand Yourself: Dos

How to Rebrand Yourself: Don’ts

Determine if you’re really in NEED of a rebrand.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Conduct research on the status of your brand in the present moment. Collecting the thoughts and opinions of key stakeholders can help you determine if a shift or rebrand is necessary for growth.

Leave reasoning and objectives uninformed.

Feedback from current customers, employees, and other peers within your industry can provide the context needed to rebrand effectively. You can discover what your audience benefits from and what they don’t just by asking.

Test on a small scale.

Focus groups (think: your clients, your network, your trusted peers who will give you their honest feedback) are a great way to gauge the potential success of a rebrand. This can inform how you adjust and go to market.

Neglect customer needs.

The wants and needs of your audience are constantly evolving. Failure to take note of what your target audiences actually needs versus what you want your brand to look or sound like will lead to disconnection with your clients.

Make it a moment.

Your brand is taking on a new identity. Plan intentionally and execute a memorable and exciting launch that aligns with your new messaging and visuals.

Rush the process.

Thorough planning is crucial to bringing a rebrand to life, and a hasty rebrand is susceptible to flaws and shortcomings (not to mention confusion in the market).

The new “X” platform has sparked uncertainty among users. A successful rebranding process calls for clarity of purpose and necessity for growth.

How you rebrand yourself can be approached in a lot of ways, but there needs to be a reason behind every decision. And Elon Musk’s strategy seemed to be almost nonexistent. People are asking why this even happened in the first place.

So here’s what he did, compared to what we would do.

If You’re Elon Musk:

If You’re SimplyBe. Agency:

Abruptly change the Twitter identity with little to no context.

Twitter, a 17-year old brand with one of the most recognizable logos and names, was swiftly wiped away. Replaced with the name “X” and a logo to match, Musk removed Twitter’s longstanding brand identity overnight.

Roll out a soft-launch of a new brand identity.

Prior to the release of any big news, it can be valuable to tease some new ideas to your brand evangelists to get the word out. This prevents the jarring shock that many felt when finding a new app on their homescreen. (Plus get additional feedback before rolling it out to your masses.)

Announce functionality changes that drastically change UX.

Combining social media, messaging, banking, and payments into one app is overwhelming to say the least. Not to mention it stretches far past the original microblogging and messaging intent of the app. Audiences who primarily used Twitter for this purpose are likely turned off by these new features.

Align our new offerings to meet the needs of current and future clients.

We know our lane. While we’re a full service agency, we are clear on what we do and don’t offer. Whenever adding services or products to your offerings, ensure that they are, in fact, in respond to demand and filling a need amongst your target audiences.

Place another hole in a sinking ship.

Rebranding always comes with the risk of losing customers. However, the hope is that you gain more new audiences than you lose. However, with the release of Threads, a well-funded competitor, and the existing negative trajectory of Twitter after Musk’s acquisition, this might have caused more disruption and user attrition than they can afford.

Find the sweet spot.

If you’ve grown to become a trusted and reliable player in your market and you’re considering a rebrand, keep in mind the balance between retaining the aspects of our business that already work while evolving your brand and/or offerings based on the needs of your clients and the direction of your unique industry.

The allure of reaching every audience is tempting… but unrealistic. You’re better off honing in on what you’re truly passionate about, and seeking out those who are just as invested as you. Just like many of “X’s” features may be irrelevant to their user base, it’s important to consider the relevance of what you are offering to your audience. Are you adding value? Or are you adding noise by telling people what you think they want to hear?

Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, true success is found when you lean into your passions and build relationships with those who feel the same. Leadership online and off demands standing for something.

Authenticity and consistency are guiding principles that reflect the essence of the brand going through transformation. Finding the sweet spot between innovation and familiarity, while embracing what truly works is the key to a solid rebrand.

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