Best Social Media Handle
How To Choose The Best Social Media Handle
The idea of a social media username or handle may seem like something that doesn’t require much thought, it can be a huge success factor for those who are trying to build a brand or grow their business on social media. While you can change your handle as many times as you want, you ideally want to lock one in as soon as possible so you can grow into it. Over time, you want your handle to be something that they see as a part of your brand, even be able to identify you by it. So if you’re looking to establish your presence on various platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitter, the social media growth experts here at Adwizar are here to guide you through the process of picking that perfect handle.
Go For Relevancy & Consistency
The ideal handle for your brand or business retains in relevancy in relation to your brand, and is consistent with how your brand is represented elsewhere online, whether that’s your website or other social media profiles. In action, this is pretty simple; do your best to get a handle that is as close as possible to your brand name. If you’re only creating your account on Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat account now, it’s highly likely that your first and even second and third choices are already taken, but if your brand name isn’t taken yet, you should claim it as soon as possible. For those who do have to go through a couple of attempts, just make sure you consider if the resulting handle can still be recognized as being relevant and related to your brand.
Keep It Short & Simple
As we mentioned earlier, a good handle can eventually become an identifier for a business or brand, but that also means it needs to be simple enough to remember. For example, our Twitter handle is “@AdwizarInc” which is short and to the point as it’s just our brand name. However, if for some reason that name and a few other simple variations of it were already taken, I could put in something like “@AdwizarCreateBuildMonetize” which implements our slogan of “Create, Build, Monetize”. While this newer handle is still very relevant with how my brand is represented online, it’s longer and we’re asking our audience to remember too much. Try your best to keep it to at least one or two words, almost like a first and last name for your brand that will be easy for your audience to recall. Also keep in mind that there’s a 15 character limit to your Twitter handle, which is the shortest of the various platforms so try to get the most out of that small space while creating a name that can be consistent across your other profiles.
Try To Avoid Using Numbers
Unless you’re brand name has numbers as a part of it, then we would recommend steering away from handles that use numbers. Most commonly, people that don’t get that ideal handle choose to settle for the same name with some numbers tacked on at the end, such as “@AdwizarInc818”, and is actually often an alternative suggested when choosing a handle. While it may seem like a small victory having your brand name in there, think about it in relation to all of the other possible accounts that could share that name with a different number. How are you going to stand out among them? If someone is searching for your brand name by your handle, but they have to sift through the results that are a list of “@YourBrand”, “@YourBrand12”, “YourBrand818”, and so on, it’s not going to make for a very smooth experience for your audience.
What To Do If The Perfect Handle Is Taken
We’ve already mentioned a couple times that it’s very common for the first name that you choose to be taken, and it can be a frustrating and confusing experience when trying to come up with an alternative that feels right for your brand or business. That’s why we’ve included a few steps that you can take if you run into the issues where your ideal handle is taken. You can also combine any of these steps until you find that perfect handle.
- Make It Shorter - If the handle for “@Adwizar” was already taken, we could shorten it down into something that is still recognizable such as “@Adwizr”.
- Use A Keyword - If we had a cooking channel, we could add that keyword to a handle and be “@AdwizarCooks”.
- Use An Underscore - A great workaround that doesn’t detract from the handle visually, such as “@Adwizar_Inc”
- Add A Location - Great for local businesses & capturing local audiences, and an easy addition to the handle such as “@AdwizarLA” or “@AdwizarNY”.
Contact Us For More Social Media Tips!
Once you find that perfect handle, you still have a long road ahead of you when it comes to building a successful social profile. The good news is that you have social media growth experts here at Adwizar to help you out, from consulting and training to complete account management that can help launch your social presence to new heights. If you’re looking for a partner in success, fill out our quick survey to see if we would be a good fit for you. You can also contact us at 1-800-661-5095 to speak with a member of our team and get a free consultation.
