If you’re trying to build a brand or grow your business on social media, the handle you choose is crucial. This is because prospects and clients will identify you by your handle on social media. It’s how they’ll find you, talk about you, and engage with you. Furthermore, your handle creates an impression in the mind of social media users. This can positively or negatively affect how they see your brand.
While some social platforms let you change your handle, it’s better to settle on one that you can grow a following around. After all, you want people to use your social handle to engage with your brand, but this will be difficult if you change it frequently. Additionally, the handle you choose should be consistent across all the social platforms you use. This will ensure that people can find you no matter what social channel they use.
For these reasons, you need to come up with a social media handle that’s memorable, represents your brand, and is unique to you (no one else should have something similar). It sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it? Not to worry, we’ve got you covered. Read on to learn how to come up with a good social media handle.
Table of Contents
How to Find a Good Social Media Handle
Make it Relevant
The best handle for your business or brand is one that is easily identifiable as belonging to your brand or business. In other words, you want a handle that is as close as possible to your brand name. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Social media is saturated with brands and businesses, so the chances that your name is available to be used as a handle are slim.
To avoid disappointment and frustration, you should use a social media username checker before signing up for any social channels. This tool will tell you if the handle you want is available on the platforms you want to use.
Make it Short and Memorable
A good handle will identify your brand to prospects and customers, which means it needs to be simple enough to remember. Therefore you should try to keep your handle to one or two words and limit it to 15 characters. Additionally, if you can’t get your brand name, you should create something that either incorporates your brand name or references it. For example, the lingerie brand Panache uses the handle love panache.
Avoid Using Numbers and Underscores
A social handle with numbers or underscores in it is not only hard to remember; it also doesn’t look very professional. Additionally, it’s hard to stand out if other accounts have the same name and a different number attached to them. After all, how would a prospect be able to tell which account was yours?
How to Act if Your Ideal Handle is Taken
After much brainstorming and winnowing, you’ve finally found the perfect social media handle. And then the worst happens. Your handle is taken on one of the social platforms you want to be active on. What do you do?
Well, first, remember that you want your handle to be consistent across all social channels, so you’ll need to modify your chosen handle. Here are a few ways you can modify your handle, so it works across all platforms:
- Shorten it. Instead of @DogBreeder, you could be @DogBreed.
- Add a keyword. For instance, @DogBreederPugs.
- Include a location. For example, @DogBreederArizona.
Next Steps
Once you’ve found a social media handle that represents your brand or business and is available on all the platforms you want to be on, it’s time to lock it all down. In other words, sign up for the social channels you want using your chosen handle. Do this sooner rather than later to avoid someone taking the handle you’ve worked so hard to come up with.
