BY TONY FONTANA

Maybe I’m taking Twitter’s rebrand to X personally. Or maybe I’m still in shock and I’ll get used to the rebrand eventually. If I’m being honest, I don’t think it’s the latter.

The makeover of the social media catalyst now known as X has hit the Twitter community hard. But why? When I really think about it, professionally speaking, I grew up with Twitter. I’m that Millennial who was given the keys to the social media castle in their first job out of college. At the time, my more experienced peers in the workforce weren’t sure what to do with it. Can we give Twitter to the new guy? 

This was textbook learn-by-doing, not to mention trying to impress my new colleagues. Hashtags, 140-characters or less (save some characters if you want to include a link!), direct messages, the @ symbol—sure, I’ve got this figured out. By the way, can you make us go viral?

This all reads so passe today but hidden beneath Twitter’s relics are some important brand lessons. Twitter became iconic because of its unique characteristics and the fact that its features evolved over time because of user innovation. And the brand was much bigger than its infamous white and blue bird logo. The truth is, Twitter traits like tweet, hashtag, @mention, the verification checkmark, and direct message or DM, all acted as a matter of branding. And now most of these words and phrases show up in our daily conversations.

This kind of adoption at the cultural level is rare and highly coveted. So much so that Twitter’s biggest competitors, LinkedIn and Facebook, made some of these features their own. Threads, anyone?

So, why does Twitter’s rushed rebrand sting so badly? Because the seemingly overnight “business” decision to rebrand without consulting those who built it, from current staff to the Twitter community, feels like the rug has been pulled out from under us.

Rebrands Are Good—When Done Thoughtfully

Rebranding a company, especially with a complete rename, is a big deal. In the best of times, a rename and rebrand marks a positive change in your organization. You’re often planting new roots in the ground: evolving your company’s identity and story to signal how bold, exciting, and impressive you are. In Twitter’s case, the swift name and logo change was fueled by personal vendettas that led to harsh layoffs and internet backlash. Not the kind of news you want surrounding your new brand debut.

Seemingly absent from Twitter’s abrupt rebrand was a thoughtful and conscientious process where key stakeholders could be involved and have their opinions heard. To be sure, new leadership at X views community engagement differently than their predecessor. It’s a case study of directive decision-making if I’ve ever seen one.

Change is as hard as it is necessary. When starting a rebrand, we recommend staying true to a few core steps.

Embark on a discovery. It’s important to understand where you’ve come from to know where you’re headed. At the beginning of a rebrand project, we do our homework by reviewing key company materials, assets, and strategic documents and conduct a competitor audit. We use this knowledge to interview key stakeholders and guide clients through a “Brand Discovery Boot Camp” where all sides align on the past, present, and future of the business.

Engage your internal teams. At Hencove, we respect keeping the inner circle small when conducting a rebrand. At the same time, there are ways to involve others from marketing, sales, operations, and customer success teams (to name a few) to gather their input without pulling them into the depths of the project. Their valuable intel can help guide your brand’s new identity and story and shape the dialogue for the brand boot camp.

Creating an internal survey to capture employees’ feedback on very broad topics can surface some hidden themes or pain points that senior leadership may not be aware of. One question set could focus on the vision and impact your company wants to have on your target audiences. They also represent aspects that should be understood across the organization.

List up to 5 of your customers' main problems.

How can our company solve each of these problems?

What is the greatest good we can do for our customers?

How would you describe the end benefit of our services for our customers?

Ensure your people are the first to know. No one likes to find out big company news from anywhere but within. Leaders of the rebrand project should work closely with the leadership team to develop pre-launch communications with need-to-know details related to the rebrand well in advance (weeks, not days). These should strike the balance of informational and visionary:

• Provide employees with a basic understanding of how the rebrand will impact them in the short- and long-term

• Send a team-wide, sneak peek message from the CEO or similar role explaining the importance of the rebrand and what it means for the business

• Point people to important brand assets, collateral, and messaging that are essential for people to immerse themselves in the new brand and showcase it far and wide

• Give your teams a heads up when the announcement will be official on social channels so they can be brand ambassadors by amplifying the news (and hopefully avoid accidental leaks)

…and make sure you’re in lockstep organization wide. The build-up to the rebrand announcement is real—and definitely worth celebrating!—but for marketers, it marks a new beginning, not the end. Consider organizing an all-hands meeting to create a forum for others to ask questions and learn about the creative vision or logic behind the new brand. For those who aren’t inclined to speak up in large meetings or need time to collect their thoughts, we also recommend creating a survey for people to submit their reactions or questions. This signals, “we want to hear from you”—and you’ll probably get constructive feedback that will strengthen the new brand.     

A Tribute to Twitter…I mean X

As with any social media company, Twitter experienced its peaks and valleys. At its best, it was a global town square and gave people a space to connect with one another—and of course business leaders, elected officials, and celebrities—like never before. At its worst, Twitter created or deepened divisions between us, acting as a proverbial mirror that reflects the best and worst of who we can be. One thing you can’t argue: Twitter was a catalyst for worldwide change in our personal and professional lives.  

On a much smaller scale, figuring out a Twitter marketing and content strategy as a young professional sparked my creativity and it was something I could “own” early on in my career. As a fresh-out-of-college-20-something, it wasn’t always pretty, but the Twitter-of-old was a great sandbox for me to fail fast and fail forward. How many brands can do that?

I guess I always considered myself a Twitter (fine…X) apologist, and I assumed I’d always be along for the ride. The rush to rebrand has changed my mind. Where do you stand?