Yesterday we started off with some brief instructions on opening your own twitter account. I mentioned that I feel you are better off using your real name as your twitter “Username”. And I have my reasons.
Use your real name
What you will find once you have been on twitter for a while is that you will start to notice people by their names and avatars. (We will discuss avatars in the next week or so). And their twitter name will become a form of branding for them and you will notice this too.
I know there are going to be those who will argue that it does not matter. There are those who have some great brand recognition with other names. For example, there is Remarkablogger, Copyblogger and Problogger. And I know you are asking, “why can’t I do the same?” Why can’t I use my business name or firm name. First of all, if your blog has the readership as the previously mentioned, go ahead. But I would venture to guess if you are new to twitter, your blog does not have such readership. In fact, I would venture to guess, most of the people you network with know you by your name before they will know you by a business or firm name. Or even your blog’s name.
Twitter is a tremendous networking tool. And networking is one of the activities you need to be using it for. When you network at parties or at business functions, do you network as “XYZ Service Firm” or as you? You most likely network as you. Do the same on twitter.
Firm, business or blog name
I am not saying you can’t use your firm, business or blog name as a twitter ID. In fact, I have more than one twitter account and at least a couple of them are my blog’s name. We have one for this blog at @BlogForProfit. You should do the same. However, make sure you have your actual name as one of your accounts and I would encourage you to use it as your main account. If anything the other twitter names you get will help you protect your brand.
Finally, open an account for your spouse, children and grandchildren if you have them. You need to remember that someday they may want one. And you need to protect their own brand too.
Disagree, tell me
I know there are some of you who disagree. Leave a comment, let’s discuss it. And let’s keep the conversation going.
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