Now’s the Time for Your Company to Do a Digital Spring Cleaning

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, springtime is officially here. The clocks have been set forward, the first day of spring has come and gone, and for many folks that means one thing: spring cleaning. This year may feel a bit different, but let it be an opportunity to take spring cleaning to another level and take a deep dive into your organization’s digital presence. While many people are working from home, now’s the time to scan, scrub, and cleanse the messages of dated posts.

Social media cleanse

When it comes to an individual’s personal social media profiles, an annual cleanse isn’t unheard of. Plenty of folks who used Facebook or Twitter from the earliest days of the sites’ inceptions have hidden or deleted photos and updates for a variety of reasons, and that same mentality can be applied to an organization’s profiles.

Choose one social media profile at a time, scroll as far back as the site allows, and start with these questions:

1. Do the images and graphics reflect current brand standards?
2. Are there posts that no longer feel appropriate?
3. Does the tone and language positively reflect the organization?
4. Do all videos still load and play properly?
5. Is the profile professional?

Answering these questions will help steer the conversation about which posts could be removed, or in some extreme cases, whether a profile should be completely wiped and refreshed. This practice is quite common when an organization is launching a new product or service or unveiling an updated brand look and feel. Think of how Taylor Swift wiped her social media accounts and then relaunched them all to promote a new release. Similarly, an Instagram refresh where the entire feed is deleted and replaced with a new, on-brand grid of photos can be an effective way to tease a new product. Whether an organization chooses to delete a few old posts or embarks on an entire profile overhaul, there’s no question that examining old content with fresh eyes is a critical part of any social media strategy. There’s no time like the present!

Blog scrub

Many organizations post blog articles once, twice, or even three times per week, and in some cases have been doing that for several years. Publishing hundreds or even thousands of blog posts is an impressive feat, but when was the last time those blog articles were checked for accuracy or misinformation? One useful spring cleaning exercise is to take the time to review all of the previously published articles and ask these questions:

1. Is this article still relevant?
2. Does it provide accurate and useful information?
3. Can this article or topic be recycled into a new, updated piece?
4. Are the appropriate tags associated with this article for search purposes?
5. Do all of the images and links still load properly?

If past blog posts don’t fit the accuracy or relevancy criteria, perhaps it’s time to consider updating or removing them from the site altogether. Remember, there are no rules about the lifetime or longevity of blog articles; sometimes they’ve served their purpose and removing them is the right call. If the majority of articles still feel relevant and useful, double check that all the links still work, images and videos are loading, and keywords or tags are added to improve SEO. Blogs are one of the first pages new visitors go to when checking out a site for the first time, so make sure to take the time to prune and fine-tune what they see!

Website refresh

While an entire update might be out of the question due to resources or budget, a holistic look at an organization’s website is a great starting point. A website should be seen as a fluid asset to an organization — something that’s updated and changed on a regular basis. Many organizations fall into the pattern of letting websites get stale or ignored for far too long. Don’t let that happen! To start, spend some time looking at each page and the site map and ask these questions:

1. Does the website reflect an accurate customer journey?
2. Is the imagery on-brand?
3. Do the tone and language say the right message?
4. Are links navigating correctly?
5. Is anything missing or unclear?

The beauty of this type of exercise is the chance to find broken links, typos, off-brand language, or gaps in the user’s site journey. If the current landscape has left you with extra time on your hands, this is an excellent opportunity to fill some of those hours. View it as a chance to give the organization’s website a fresh look.

While this April feels a bit different than years past, spring cleaning doesn’t have to! Taking a closer look at your organization’s social media profiles, blog, and website offers a new perspective on the overall digital strategy. It might be just what your company needs now that spring has sprung.