In the blog post: If You Don’t Learn What Twitter is Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later I broke down what Twitter is why as a blogger you should care. Today we are going to talk about your Twitter name.
What’s in a name? I say everything that you can fit into it.
I like the words twitter handle, it reminds of the days of CB radios in big trucks and even some cool cars in the 70’s and 80’s. Your twitter handle should tell a lot about your business. When people see it you want them to immediately know something vital about you.
A Twitter name/handle consists of maximum of 15 characters. That may seem like a lot but I am going to suggest to you that you do not even use all 15 characters if possible. The shorter that your handle is the more room that you leave for a re-tweet.
Tips on Choosing a Good Twitter Name:
1. It should not be offensive in any way. It is important to keep in mind that people will automatically filter you out, ban you and ignore you if you are offensive, so really analyze the name that you pick.
2. Choose a twitter name that is relevant to your business. Your business name may be too long or even taken. If that is the case try and abbreviate, if that makes sense of course. If nothing else works it then use a descriptive name.
Example of Good Descriptive Names:
- @LinkedInQueen – Can you guess what this person does? If not do not fear, just contact this person and she will tell you all about the Social Media Tool LinkedIn.
- @FullCustodyDad – Just by glancing you can likely figure out that this person has full custody of his children and has lots to say about that.
- @WomenofFaith – Even if you do not know that Women of Faith is a conference you would likely expect to read encouraging and spiritual updates from this twitter handle.
Examples of Bad Twitter Names:
- @John77
- @John_1987
- @Room_Cleaner
3. Avoid numbers, strange characters or underscore. These items are more difficult for all us smart phone users out there and they are just awkward. If any of these items are relevant to your brand and will help in the search then by all means ignore this rule.
4. Be True to your Branding. Consistent Branding is a vital part of all things marketing. You want to make sure that you are sending a consistent message at all times. So try and use the same name across all of your Social Media platforms including your blog, your website url, business cards etc.
When you have that perfect Twitter name in mind, go to http://twitter.com/yourawesomename If it gives you a message saying that twitter account does not exist you have your name. At that point you just need to sign up and claim it before someone else does. If you decide that have the wrong twitter handle you can always change it. This is one of the few Social Media platforms that this is true with, so be cautious when building your Social Media platforms. Once you pick a YouTube username it is yours for life and that is the same for Facebook. So I recommend starting with Twitter and making sure you like what you settle on.
When choosing a Twitter name, go ahead and use case. For example @FunCityGal or @WheresMyOffice. When setting it up go ahead and use case because that is what people will see. When people go to your Twitter profile page they will see it with the uppercase but they do not have to type it in that way to find you. So it does not hinder your followers or your search but it does make you look better once they do find you.
If you are looking for more tips on twitter check out my latest book on Twitter. This Kindle book provides 15 Twitter tips for anyone just getting started on Twitter.
Do you have any Twitter tips that you would like to share with us? What is your Twitter handle?
[notification type=”info”]Have you joined the Blogger Mafia yet? On my membership site I have a Twitter 101 Series that you may want to check out. Signing up is FREE for now. [/notification]