How to Select the Right Social Media Handle

Having brand consistency is important. This is just as true for your social media handles (@username) as it is for the products and services your business offers. So, selecting the right social media handle is important. This article will cover why you should and how to go about choosing the right name for your brand.

Why Does It Matter?

Your social media handle is as important as your business name. By keeping it consistent, your online identity will be congruent. This makes finding your business online easier for your customers. Additionally, it will be easier to remember, look more professional, and save space on business material when sharing your accounts.

Consistency Is Key

Securing your brand is important, but how do you go about doing so with so many social networking sites? There are a couple of website that allow you to do a quick mass search for social handles and domain names across dozens of sites at once:

• Namechk
• NameCheckr

Another powerful way to ensure consistency is to select a social handle that matches your domain name, or vanity URL (e.g., www.businessname.com AND @businessname). This will help increase your brand recognition across platforms.

That’s Not My Name!

The ideal situation is to claim your business name as the domain name and social handle on all platforms. However, more often than not, this isn’t possible for one reason or another.

• Maybe your business name is too long
  (if so, have you thought about rebranding?).
• Maybe your handle is already taken on one of the major social networking sites.
• Maybe the handles are all available, but the domain name was taken.

If any of these prevent you from grabbing your business name as both your domain and on all major social media sites, here’s the process I recommend.

They Call Me [Blank]

Twitter has a character limit of 15 characters for your social media handle. So keep this in mind when selecting your name. With that in mind, here are some rules to follow when selecting a name.

The Dos

Here are some ideas to help you select a quality social handle.

• If your business name is available (and 15 characters or less without spaces), grab it quick! (@businessname) If not…
• Turn your business name into an acronym (@bn)
• Shorten your name (@bname)
• Add “The” to your name (@TheBusinessName)
• Utilize your city, state, or other location (@BusinessNameTN)
• Append “Inc” or “HQ” to your name (@BusinessNameHQ)
• Prepend “Join” or “Try” to your name (@TryBusinessName)

The Don’ts

Here are the things you should avoid.

• Just adding numbers (@businessname1)
• Using underscores (@business_name)
• Misspelling your name (@biznessname)
• Selecting too long a name (@thisismybusinessname)

Final Thoughts

Now, it is okay to have a different domain name than your social handles. It is also okay to have more than one social handle across the social networks. The point is consistency. Perfection is typically unobtainable in the real world, so don’t stress if you can’t find the right name.

If you’re struggling to think of a name, try out the Business Name Generator! And if you’re still stuck after that, feel free to contact me. I would love to help!

If you’d like to learn more about getting your business online, you’re in luck. Here is a FREE Resources I’ve been working on to help small business owners and entrepreneurs expand their reach and build brand awareness. 🤩

Click the link to download now and let me know what you think. If it helps you or your business, feel free to leave me a review.