Choosing Your Handle
The Instagram handle that you choose needs to be clear and easy to
remember; otherwise, your audience may not be able to find you again once
they leave your account. Also, you want to make sure that the moment people
see your username, they can make some form of a clear connection between
who you are and what your company does; otherwise, they may not be
tempted to click onto your profile page. In general, most brands will use their
company names for their handles, as this makes it easy for you to be found on
Instagram. For example, Nike, Adidas, Walmart, and Nordstrom all use their
brand names for their usernames on social media platforms, as this makes it
straightforward for them to be located. If you are a personal brand, you may
need to change the way you approach your social media to ensure that you
can be located and recognized by social media users. Generally, personal
brands will continue to follow the same rule of thumb as other brands, which
is using their names as their usernames.
For example, Kendall Jenner's username is simply @kendalljenner, making it
easier for her to be discovered online. There are, however, some exceptions
to this rule of thumb when you are creating a personal brand online. For
example, if you are someone who has a long, challenging name or one that
has multiple spelling, using it for your username will likely result in not
being located online. In this case, you can use a nickname as your username
and then use the same nickname everywhere online, or you can use an easier
spelling of your name. For example, Nicki Minaj's real name is Onika Tanya
Maraj, but this would be difficult to remember and spell; therefore, she
branded herself as Nicki Minaj. This makes it easier for her fans to locate her
online or anywhere they may seek her out, which makes her brand both
memorable and simple. When you create your username, refrain from using
odd spelling, usernames that are similar to what has already been used online,
or special characters or numbers.
Unless your character or number is a part of your brand name, attempting to
make your username unique by adding these characters will instead make it
more challenging for you to be located by the users you wish to connect to.
Remember, this is how people are going to look you up, and this is the name
that people are going to remember you by. If you want people to recall you