Tweexchange.com. Namechk.com is something of a one-stop shopping site for available
names on numerous sites.
When you consider your branding, give careful thought to your profile information
and your background image. For example, Paul McCartney uses a simple black back-
ground with his signature in white. He can do that because ... well ... he’s Paul McCart-
ney, after all. Many artists use a performance image, while others use their logo. The
point is to be creative and reinforce your brand.
From a design production standpoint, Twitter backgrounds are aligned to the left.
That’s where your important information should go. These are things like your act’s
name/logo, contact information, Website address, etc. For 99 percent of your visitors, a
left side width of 66 pixels is safe. The overall size of my Twitter background (left to
right) is 1600 pixels at a height of 1200 pixels. It seems to work well for my followers
and visitors, since most have larger screens. The key is to nail your core design and then
test it in various sizes on different resolution monitors. Something that looks great on a
24-inch monitor may be covered up by tweet content on a 15-inch monitor.
Some fans favor Facebook. Others like Twitter. Yet others are into various other so-
cial media outlets. That means duplicating your communications. Actually, “duplicating,”
probably isn’t the best word. “Similar,” is likely better. Communications should provide
the necessary information, but also be targeted to the particular audience. Twitter gives
you 140 characters to get your message in front of fans. You can say much more on Face-
book. Play to the strengths of each medium and be sure to cross promote. Teet about
what’s happening on your Facebook Page and vice versa.