How to Harness the Power of Twitter with Your Name

The power of Twitter when it comes to generating traffic for your website is undisputed.  With features that will allow you to start conversations with vast groups of people and advertise your website in a fun, interactive manner, Twitter is the tool that savvy online business owners will want in their marketing arsenal because it’s cost effective, time efficient and it brings results.

However, something very simple can bring all of your marketing plans and strategies crashing down, and that simple something can actually be the name you use as your ID.

Keep Things Consistent

Stephanie Lichtenstein, a social media expert and CEO of Micro Media Marketing, in an interview on James Martell’s Coffee Talk says that when it comes to using Twitter successfully as a marketing tool, the name you use becomes incredibly important.  Inconsistency with names on different social media and networking sites will confuse potential clients.  “We want all of your names to match,” she says.  For example, if you’re planning on using several social media websites, decide on your Twitter ID first because it is the most limiting, and once that has been decided and settled, use the exact same ID for all other networking sites.

Keep it Short

Twitter names can only be 15 characters long.  If you have a long business name, you’ll have to shorten it.  Lichtenstein states in her interview:  “Try to make it short…just take out the vowels.”  A good example is her Twitter ID which is “@micromediamg”.  However, taking out the vowels will work for some businesses and not others.   If using pure consonants makes an ID like “gnwerbbjk”, clients will have no idea what your business is about and may actually think your tweet contains a virus.  So in this case, try an ID that will reflect on some characteristic of your business.

Keep it Clean, Professional and Upbeat

Avoid negative connotations and vulgar innuendo at all costs.  You don’t want your ID to become a laughingstock that gets highlighted negatively in the press or internet discussion forums, and you certainly don’t want to be the target of hate e-mails or messages. As Lichtenstein recommends, keep your ID upbeat, professional, and related to your business or your real-life name. Something as simple as adding the letters “tlc” which is shorthand slang for “tender loving care” will give potential clients the impression that you pay extra attention to detail in your business and customer relations.

Points to Remember

To sum up how to get a good, catchy business ID name for Twitter, here are the main points to remember:

• Keep it short by removing vowels if possible

• Choose words related to your business if vowel removal results in an ID that makes no sense; for example “sparklehome” if you sell cleaning products or “carecards” if you sell greeting cards online.

• Avoid negative connotations at all costs.   For example, if you have a business called “Hit List Radio Services” do not shorten it to “hitlirservices” in a misguided attempt to be funny.

• Keep to IDs that sound professional and upbeat

• Use one ID for all social media websites; inconsistency confuses customers.

An example of a good Twitter ID for a company that specializes in something like personal checks online would be “customchecks4u” or “checkdesign4u”.  Both names are easy to remember, are short, and are positive in nature.

Finally, when setting up your Twitter account and deciding on a catchy name, don’t forget to ensure that your website has a proper payment processing system that will be able to deal with the increase in sales traffic that a good Twitter campaign will surely bring.  PayPal, merchant account, bank transfer and bank check payments should all be accepted in order to give your new clients as much flexibility as possible.

A good ID can make or break web-based or bricks-and-mortar based business.  By following our guidelines and ensuring that you’ve got a good payment processing system on your business website, your product or services are sure to be a hit that will be the talk of the town on the internet and beyond.

Benjamin Baker is a writing addict who loves researching new things and finding out what makes businesses tick such as www.personalchecksplus.com whom he is working with on blogs.  When he’s not writing or playing the guitar, Benjamin likes to go camping and fishing in the Denver, Colorado area.

Post Tags: business, mobile, PayPal, social media, tips, twitter