Social Media Username: How to Look Like a Pro

Choosing a username for your social media accounts may seem pretty straightforward, but there are a lot of things you need to be thinking about. All social media platforms and most websites require a username now, so you get into the bad habit of recycling that old username from 10 years ago. But do you still see yourself as “JamesBond007”?

"I guess it doesn't really suit the business..."

Well, you might, but does it suit your business?

When coming up with a social media username for your business/professional persona, there are a few things to consider. Let’s run through them.

1. Social Media Usernames are a Form of Branding

Ok, so you’re not Coca Cola, Virgin or Heinz, but creating a strong brand image for your business should be top of your list.

Branding your business involves your logo choice, colour palette, font choice & more, and your username should fit in with those branding choices, whether you decide to be young and fresh, or established and reliable. A consistent theme in all you do is what you’re aiming for.

So for example, if you’re a Christmas shop, it is unlikely that a username like @sunshine will be on-brand.

This is especially important if your business name does not fit neatly into username character limits. For example, VitalHike is nine characters long, so this was the obvious choice for all of our social media accounts. 

However, a longer business name would cause issues, because of the character limits on some social media. In this case, you might look for a way to blend the business name with an on-brand word, e.g. FunkyFoto, BoldBlinds, DesignerClothes.

Consistent use of the same name across all social media sites will boost consumer awareness of you as a business and a brand, solidifying your online persona.

2. It must be Memorable!

Making your username easy to remember is one of those things you might overlook when trying to focus on branding. It might be great for your brand to abbreviate your business name down to an acronym, but what if the acronym is an impossible list of letters?

For example, if your business was “Coffee and Sandwich Sellers in UK”, and you shortened your name to @CSSUK for Twitter, just how memorable is that? 

@Coffee would arguably be better, but it’s unlikely it would be available...

So you’ll have to make a lot of judgement calls during this process, but it’s important to weigh all the options.

"Nope, I still can't remember what that username was..." 

3. Length of your Username

So you've done your branding, and hunted for something memorable, but when you go to sign up for your shiny new social media account, your name is too long! This is one of the main obstacles in creating your new username.

So lets take a look at your limitations.

1. Facebook sets a username character limit of 50, but it would be unwise to make a username that long anyway (it wouldn’t be memorable, and is unlikely to be brand-focussed).

2. For your Facebook Business page name, you have a character limit of 70. So you get a bit more leeway with your page name over a username, which means long business names won’t need to be changed.

3. Google+ sets no limit on your business name, so you’re safe there.

4. Your YouTube channel name is currently linked to your Google+ account, so if your username is good for Google+, it’ll work on YouTube too.

5. Twitter sets a strict 15 character limit on your username, which excludes the “@” symbol. Remember that Twitter posts also have a character limit of 140, so if people retweet your posts, a 15 character name will take up a lot of real estate.

As a general rule of thumb, try to keep it short and snappy, whilst still remaining related to your business and brand.

Think Chihuahua: Short and Snappy

"Actually, I'm a delight"

Branding, how memorable it is, and length are the top three things you should keep in mind when setting up your social media accounts. It can be a bigger task than it seems at first, but taking the time to get it right leads to stronger, future-proof results. 

Plus, you'll look like a pro.

Don't forget about the Planning Stage

When Creating a Username

- vitalhike

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