Domain names and user names are the real estate of the digital world.
Though the mad-dash for domain names has long passed, the social media explosion has once again rekindled thoughts of the land rush of 1889.
Replacing homestead parcels are user names across the seemingly endless supply of social outposts.
No matter what stage you may occupy in the process of utilizing social media tools, you need to claim your real estate. User names related to your company and your brands might not have an immediate use now, but it very well could down the road.
More importantly, you wouldn’t want misrepresentation of you or your business just because you didn’t take the time to secure your real estate.
Don’t Be Conceited
Not long ago, I had a conversation with an online marketing representative for one of the most widely-known names/brands in the gourmet food world. I had reached out to make them aware of some unclaimed real estate that was being utilized by fans.
To my dismay, I was given a bit of attitude and told, “We don’t have time to go around and claim all of those”. Instead of claiming real estate and protecting a brand name, they would instead send their legal team out to handle any cases that popped up.
Does that seem like a good plan to you?
Mark your territory.
The process can appear daunting. There is no shortage of social sites, where you can lay claim to user names, in fact it is quite staggering. Example: this Mashable article lists 350 social networking sites, and it was written in October of 2007!
There are a number of ways to find available user names, or to find where yours is already taken. One example is namechk, another usernamz.
A service that we use with almost every project will also allow you to register user names for a fee. Knowem (affiliate URL) will check against 120 different social sites, and for a fee, will register them, allowing you to cover a great deal of ground in very little time.
Go…Now
Claiming user names is part of strategy. It’s smart. It allows you to hold real estate, which you can use when your strategy dictates. Claim now, before it’s too late.