Social Media Handle
A social media handle is a unique public username of a social media account.
A social media handle is usually represented by the symbol @ in front of it.
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How to choose a social media handle
For better social media marketing it is recommended that you use business names for the handle.
Because usernames are unique, the social networking platform will not let you use your desired name if the handle is not available.
Yes, there are situations in which someone else claimed your social media handle before you had a chance to do it.
In this case, an easy marketing strategy you can opt for is to use the domain names of your websites. For instance, you can add “dotcom” after your domain name. Example: @brandmentionsdotcom.
Once you have decided on the desired social media handles, check availability across all popular social media platforms before creating the actual accounts.
This way, you can secure the handles and make sure that users can find you under the same handle, on every social media platform on which you are performing content marketing.
Careful not to grab the handles and not use them. This is called squatting and it is against Twitter and Instagram rules and regulations.
If you are looking for a personal social handle, make sure it is an original one, easy to spell.
If you are not interested in having your account linked to your business or name, you can use a name generator to randomly pick a name for the handle.
Twitter social media handle
Twitter was the first social platform to use the term "handle".
When creating a new account, the first thing you add is your unique handle. After that, you can add your name to your profile.
As you can see in the image below, the first text is the name of the account, while bold letters that follow the @ symbol represent the Twitter handle.
Also, because Twitter is used to send short messages called Tweets, for an account to mention another account in the conversation, it will use the “@” symbol followed by the account’s handle to tag them.
A user can also click on the @handle to view another user's profile.
Instagram social media handle
Instagram handles are similar to Twitter handles and the tagging process is the same.
When it comes to Instagram’s social media handle vs. display name, there can be some confusion.
On Instagram, the social media handle appears on top of the profile while the name of the account appears lower, in bold letters.
Facebook social media handle
Because Facebook is designed for more personal use than Twitter and Instagram, the social handle is not so often used.
Users don’t use the handle to tag someone in their posts. They still the use @ symbol but it is followed by the user’s name in order to mention them.
If you want to choose your perfect handle for Facebook, it would be a good idea to have matching handles on all your social media profiles.
If you are set to grow your social media presence while using a personalized Facebook handle you need to go to Settings, General, Username. If you don't have one set, your profile URL will consist of random numbers which are not easy to remember and don’t help with search engine optimization.
Difference between social media handle and username and display name
In the digital marketing world, it is very important to match social handles all over social media platforms in order to keep the brand consistent and create awareness around the company’s name.
So it is essential to understand that not all usernames are handles, depending on the platform.
Usernames are more often considered login credentials.
Display names are considered the names that users can identify a common name with.
There may be 1000 John Smith display names but there can only be one @John.Smith handle.
When it comes to brands, the best digital marketing move on social media is to secure their desired handles and have them match.