Yesterday I had to search for some of my friends and for some I had the hardest time to find them and add them to a list I developed. What was the issue?
1) Your Names
If your name is Roger Brown, you may be Roger Brown on one network R Brown on another, RBrown jun and so forth. And thousands of Roger Browns have that exact same issue. But the issue is not so much about your user name but your real name. Since we all learned that the user name maybe different on each network, people search for you by your real name.
What Can You Do?
Bite the bullet and start all over. Give yourself a new name – and share it across all networks. Call yourself “Roger Brown (Roggy)” or “Roger Brown (sailer)” or something else creative and unique. Make it part of your name in your business and personal life. Tell your friends what you did and why you did it. Names were created several thousand years ago to call people with a unique word. We simply have to advance to stay unique even if our parents didn’t think about social media back then.
2) Your Photo
I had the hardest time with some people as they have a different photo wherever I looked. You may remember my other post where I described in great detail the importance using the same photo all over “Our brain recognizes an image in 1 millisecond” but we need a full second to read and associate it.
What can you do?
Take one photo you like most and just go through your entire list of social sites and update them
3) Name versus business
Some of my friends just started a new business and “donated” their twitter account by changing it to their new business. That is a huge mistake in my opinion. Not only because people want to do business with people not logos, but the confusion is so big that both suffer. Pointing to a new business is so much smarter as you keep your identity and don’t mix it up.
What can you do?
Make sure your personal account is your personal account as long as you live – never turn it into something else.
Create a business account for the business you are currently promoting. Promote it from your personal account.
4) Profile Name
Twitter became the master record for many tools. It is extremely important to differentiate between twitter name and real name. Twitter offers both and you need to take advantage if it. If I search for Viola Myers I hope to find her on Twitter, especially because she is such an engaged networker. But if she would use a different name on Twitter, I have no chance what so ever to find her. The same is on LinkedIn or XeeMe. If you use your LinkedIn network number you will need to update it frequently which just takes away from the name and its search results.
What can you do?
Make a tour through all your networks and update your name ‘First name’ ‘Last name’ nothing else. Keep it that way. If you have additional business accounts you most likely already have that. I guess if your company is called “Consulting Services Inc.” you probably won’t call the account “Little Butterfly” 😉
5) Username / handle
We all would like to have the same user name all over the web. But that is often no longer possible. Even the most advanced users who always find the latest networks may just find their name is already taken. Live with it. We live in a world of clicks. Just make sure your profile or XeeMe is clickable wherever you are. If you have a rather prominent short name you may use that on XeeMe as well. Most power user use their twitter handle on XeeMe which makes a lot of sense.
What cam you do?
Make sure your XeeMe name is short – very short. Typically use your Twitter handle or just your first and lastname in one word.
6) Bio
Most social networks have a field to add your bio. The more consistent you are the better it is and it is much easier to just copy one from the other. Add your XeeMe URL here to make sure that people can find you on ALL OTHER networks. This is actually critical when it comes to identity management. Make sure people know who YOU are on other networks too.
What can you do?
Again, go through all your networks and update your bio, Take the Twitter version which is 160 character max. and it will work everywhere. Most will turn your XeeMe link automatically into a clickable link if you start with http://
All the above should help you have a clearly unique, identifiable and attractive presence in the social web. You stand out if you get found quickly, and be clearly identified as YOU. Otherwise somebody may drop the results like a hot potato. In some cases I actually couldn’t find some of my friends even after trying hard.
Axel
