While it may seem like a trivial task, choosing your username for your social media properties (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube username, Gmail username) is an important branding task. Often, your username will serve as the “first impression” a new viewer has to your brand. In an attempt to make the process easier, I’ve included my views on how each type of username is thought to be perceived:
Real name – When someone uses their real name for their social media username, it shows that they want themselves to be their brand. They are focused on building “their name” as a source of knowledge on a certain topic. Therefore, all of their social media content, viewpoints, links, re-tweets and more are all reflective of their “brand”. The user is “all-in” on all the content. It is important that the person be careful when posting content – any “negative” content posting will be negative for the person’s brand.
Branded name – This is when someone uses a username that is reflective of their niche/skill. IE, someone focusing on SEO could name themself TheSEOGuy. Someone focused on PR could use the name of “TheDigitalPRPro” and so forth.
When choosing this type of username, the person is making a statement that all of their content/postings will be related to their niche. People looking to interact/connect with this type of niche would be more welcome to connecting with a user that has this type of username. By defining the type of content that will be posted via a username, it allows for less “social media confusion” where someone connects with you and is expecting different type of content.
Beyond that, I find it hard for someone who is using social media to brand themself professionally to be taken seriously with any other type of username.
