Social media branding and naming
Choosing the right name has always been immensely important in a business set up. Heck, being given the wrong name at birth can even set you back so making sure your business name is spot on is vital for your business success.
So you’ve chosen a great business name and got yourself a fabulous website with the perfect branding to help your viewers understand your message and what you have to offer them.
In 2012 your branding and naming shouldn’t stop there.
You also need to think about your social media network and with any luck you’re reading this blog before you’ve really had the chance to set them up.
To stand out you need to ensure your name is outstanding.
You can’t have the business or brand name of Coca Cola and then name your twitter account @glassofcoke and your facebook account https://www.facebook.com/ilikecoke/1563292593
There has to be consistency in your name choices and branding, you must ensure there is a familiar thread throughout your naming and you need to think things through before you just jump in because you may have regrets later down the line.
Twitter and some other social media platforms only allow you a set number of characters for your name so it can be a bit tricky, and if your brand name is already taken then this can be even more difficult for you to keep the name thread, but there are ways around this.
Abercrombie and Fitch are simply @Abercrombie because twitter only allows up to 15 characters for the twitter handle. However, in their username they have the full brand name Abercrombie & Fitch.
Generally it doesn’t matter about ‘case’ as URLs are not case sensitive. When you’re choosing a social media account name, then, always try to make it appealing to the human eye; such as WildTurkey rather than wildturkey.
If you’re the brand then you clearly have to have your handle as your name like @EmmaWatson or a variation of your name if that’s taken like https://www.facebook.com/ActressEmmaWatson or @EmWatson or http://Name.tumble.com because your name is what people will search on to find you.
If your name is already taken then do a variation on your brand, product or personal name trying to keep it as close and in sync with the original as possible. If someone on twitter is using your name then go to https://support.twitter.com/entries/18370 to see if they can help you gain control of it.
Following on from the name side of branding; you can go one step further with your social media personalization and that is to visually brand your social media accounts in-line with your website colours, logo and theme. This shows your viewer consistency and helps them to recognise your brand and this is now so important because we humans are much more visual creatures.
If we like what we see then we tend to shout about it.
Consumers now prefer to get their updates from their favourite brands through social media. They like quick hits of information and like it even better if it looks pretty and has something to offer that they either find of interest or want to buy.
If you ensure that your online presence has a familiar thread flowing through it then you will build a devoted following fairly easily and one who wants to champion your name and brand.
By: Rachel (Rae) Sanderson
Director at Rae Social Media