Comments on: How to Select a Twitter Handle

By: Marc Frechette

Marc Frechette — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:06:03 +0000

The practice of a descriptive name has its advantage for those who initiate contact by following others. Take into account the ‘default journey’ of a Twitterer (Tweep?) acting without the aid of a deck or app such as TweetDeck: The user receives an email alerting them that @MarcFrechette is following them. So what? Many of us (sadly) do not take the time to inspect every profile of every follower. A descriptive name can solve the problem of such an enigmatic first contact.
If you’re truly up for the challenge you may consider having dual Tweet-pens. Common with popular bloggers, this allows for a ‘personal’ feed as well as a more directed ‘professional’ feed. Occasionally you’ll catch them referring back and forth between pen names to remind followers which pen has what content available in its stream.

By: Rachel Levy

Rachel Levy — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:04:14 +0000

Good points all around. I was thinking actually, that my next post will be
about Twitter handles and avatars for companies. I agree with the echo
chamber — it's not an engaging account — and I think using a company logo
contributes to that feeling.

By: annabarcelos

annabarcelos — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:50:46 +0000

Great take on this Rachel. I used my name (@abarcelos) and am facing a couple of those challenges, especially now that I'm with a company (@mercuryco) and am tweeting under both. The plus is that I'm leverging my personal brand for my company and am finding that it has been more helpful than not. I feel using your real name initially may be a good way to go because in the end, whether you're with a company or on your own, it's always people talking to people. Companies need to board the cluetrain when it comes to that and be more responsive to their community. I've unfollowed some of my favorite brands on Twitter because I felt it was just an echo chamber.

By: Rachel Levy

Rachel Levy — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:32:34 +0000

If they take the time to go look at your profile yes. But we both know
that not everyone has time for that. Also, what I'm talking about is
top-of-mind… maybe they looked at your profile when they first started
following, but it's been a while, so they forget what you do.

By: martinpiraino

martinpiraino — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:05:52 +0000

Rachel,

Some very good points on the pros and cons of using different types of user names on Twitter.

However, I disagree to a certain point on the con you have using your own name. What I mean is that while someone won't know immediately what you do based on your name, if they've got some common sense, they will look at your twitter page/bio and see what you're about, if you've done the job of branding yourself that way, there is less of a question what you do or what you're about.

I know a lot of people probably have the default twitter background, and nothing on their bio, but if someone has a purpose to utilize twitter for a business or marketing strategy, that's one of the first things that should be updated.

As far as using a 'brand name' like yours being BostonMarketer, I've actually said "BostonMarketer" to someone I was speaking with and then followed up with "Her name is Rachel Levy, and she's on twitter."

I consider my name a brand, and as such, most of my public profiles on various social networking sites are "martinpirano" as it is on Twitter. I've taken that spot, and in the last year, pushed most any other results not referencing me from the top 3+ pages on Google because of my involvement in various social media platforms and blogging.

By: Rachel Levy

Rachel Levy — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:30:44 +0000

Exactly. Well said!

By: warrenss

warrenss — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:28:25 +0000

Excellent points, all around. I think your strategy has a lot of merit in that it instantaneously lets people know where you are from and what you do. Certainly memorable and effective.

By: Rachel Levy

Rachel Levy — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:45:05 +0000

That's true, I don't introduce myself as BostonMarketer, that's why I added
that to the Con list (missing name branding). But, the referrals I've
gotten over the past 14 months, I believe are due, in part, to the
descriptive nature of my name.

Are the majority of my tweets about Marketing? No, but the one area I tweet
the most about is Marketing/Social Media.

But, as I said above, both methods have merits.

By: Ari Herzog

Ari Herzog — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:38:31 +0000

The problem I have with your name, as I've shared with you in the past, is you don't walk up to random people, extend your hand, and say, “Hi, I'm Boston Marketer. What's your name?” They give you the third eye.

I have no problem with corporate brands using such enigmatic names, but you're a person and you tweet about a person — and the majority of your tweets are not about marketing in Boston, are they?

By: Rachel Levy

Rachel Levy — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:26:59 +0000

Ha ha, yes… exactly my point — it's confusing :-) Thx for pointing it
out. Fixed now.