Believe it or not, as per recent studies, the total number of Twitter users as of 2022 is above 390 million, out of which more than 200 million users are active daily. So, you can imagine the amount of potential it has to grow your business. Not only through paid advertising, but just having a Twitter presence can help you reach many people and, potentially, your next customers/clients. However, the way you set up your profile is very important to reach people and, most importantly, attract the RIGHT ONES. I feel choosing the right handle has got to be the best starting point, so in this post, you’ll learn exactly how to come up with a suitable Twitter name for your account.
Twitter Handle Vs. Display Name
I believe you might be a little confused at this point, differentiating between Twitter handle and display name. Let me lay this out in simple terms to clear the air once and for all. A Twitter handle, also known as the username, begins with the “@” symbol. It stays unique to your account, and no other user on Twitter can use the same one. On the other hand, a Twitter display name is just the name you choose to display on your profile. It can be kept the same as your username if you wish to, but that’s not necessary. Here’s an example from RayBan’s Twitter account that explains the difference between a Twitter handle and a display name: Keep in mind, in this post, we’re talking about coming up with the right Twitter handle and NOT the display name. Now that it’s all clear let’s jump into the guide. These great pointers will help you choose the right Twitter name.
Short Names
Similar to when choosing a domain name, while coming up with a Twitter name, it’s important to make sure you keep it short and memorable. Long names are easy to forget, and if at all there comes a situation when people want to find your account on Twitter, your long username is going to make things difficult. Also, the shorter your username, the easier it’ll be for users to mention you on their tweets because Twitter already has a tight limit of 280 characters while writing a tweet, so you don’t want them leaving out your handle name just because they ran out of character space.
Staying Original to your Business Name
It’s important that you don’t drift away from your original business/profile name when entering your Twitter handle. For example, if Nike had named their Twitter handle something like “DopeSportswear” then it’d just made them lose their company identity. Not to mention, it’s not professional. An excellent example of this tip has got to be HubSpot’s Twitter handle. Very precise and consistent. It appears on their display name and website URL as well. Even if we’re talking about a personal profile, it’d be great if you could get your name as your handle. However, if not, something close to that would be great too.
Consistency with other Social Media Profiles
If somebody follows you on another social media platform and wants to follow you on Twitter, they’d expect you to have the same username. This is why having consistency across all social media channels is important. The lesson here is to try and choose a Twitter handle that is the same as your other social media profiles.
Taglines
Taglines are also a good idea when choosing a Twitter handle, primarily if your business is known for that. For example, Nike’s “Just do it” tagline is so popular, that it has become a well-known brand identity for them. You can do something similar by naming your Twitter handle after your tagline. This can be fruitful in the future if you want the tagline to become a huge part of your business.
Avoid Witty Names
It’s always a good idea to keep things straight and simple when it comes to names, so I’d suggest staying away from “funky” or witty names unless your business revolves around the comedy niche or something that’s fun.
Don’t Overuse Underscores
This is a big tip, and I’ve seen many people using multiple underscores in their usernames across social media platforms. I’d avoid using too many of them, even possibly not using one. One big reason why using more than two or more underscores is terrible is because sometimes it can be difficult to tell whether it’s just a single underscore or there are two of them. It’s just the appearance of the symbol that can be tricky to people when used in multiples.
Try not to use Symbols or Numbers
This is an extension of the previous tip, and I feel it’s as essential. Using symbols or numbers in your handle name makes it hard for people to find you. Instead, try to keep it down to only letters and see how it positively impacts your reachability. Many profiles with symbols on their username can be deemed as a “spam” accounts, so you don’t want to get caught on that assumption. Also, the use of numbers on a professional account has become old-school, in my opinion (were they ever even in trend?), and I’d try not to use them either. However, there may be times when you do have to add a symbol or number, especially when your desired username is already taken. In those cases, you can use them. I feel like you can be a little creative if at all you decide to use a number. For example, look at Matt Brian’s Twitter handle: He has replaced the “A” in his name with a “4” because they look very similar, and the username “@m4tt” resembles his name “Matt”.
Keep it Relevant
I think this goes without saying that you need to keep your Twitter handle relevant to your brand or niche so that people know what to search for on the Twitter search bar. Very closely related to your brand + memorable are the keys to a good username.
Get the Twitter handle Instantly
There’s no better feeling than typing your desired username and it turning out to be available for use. Even though it’s somewhat unlikely because there are millions of users on the platform, if this happens, make sure you pounce on it right away and take it rather than waiting. You don’t want to miss out on a suitable name just because you were having second thoughts. Keep in mind, some so many people create an account on Twitter daily, so it won’t take long for someone to take away that name before you if you don’t reserve it.
Maintain Uniqueness
This is another great way of coming up with the right Twitter handle for your account. Being unique and different from others can help people remember your username and find your profile much faster. As long as you have an original brand name, you should try to get that name first and see if it’s available. If not, you can try other ways to stand out while still keeping it simple and professional.
Use your Niche to come up with Ideas
Your niche is a big giveaway for Twitter name ideas. There are several ways to go about it. One of them is you search for your niche on Twitter search, look at the top results, and observe their usernames. This way, you can gather ideas and inspiration. The other way is to incorporate niche-related words in your Twitter handle. For example, if your business is about technology, you can add the word “Tech” to it. Just like how Ashwin Ganesh did with his Twitter username: That’s a clever move, I must say.
Make it Easy to Remember
People would be able to find your Twitter account easily if your username is easy to remember. The way to achieve this is by choosing a name that is not very long or has complicated combinations, like too many symbols. Another perk of having an easy-to-remember username is that people would be able to mention it in their tweets without having to go through the search bar and find it. Look at The Wall Street Journal’s Twitter username: It’s three letters, making it short, sweet, and easy to remember.
Try to Include Keywords
You should do that if you can include your niche’s main keywords in your Twitter handle. This will help you by making it easy for the algorithm to show your profile to the right people and also push it upwards in the results when people are searching for something related to the niche.
Don’t include Sensitive or Inappropriate Terms
Including any sensitive information, such as your area code or date of birth, in your Twitter handle is the worst idea. It looks unprofessional and spammy and makes your account vulnerable to hackers eager to gather personal details about you. Moreover, you must avoid using inappropriate terms and offensive words to ensure your profile is suitable for everybody. It’ll also maintain a good image of you and your brand.
Use Twitter username Generator Tools
While all the above tips are very useful, it can still be difficult to brainstorm the right Twitter handle. If you’re in that boat, you can use a Twitter username generator tool to get loads of ideas instantly. In this example, I’ve used NordPass’s username generator, and as you can see, upon typing any word, it generates a bunch of usernames for you. You can also click on each of the generated usernames to check if they’re available on different social platforms. You can also select username length and include random characters, symbols, and focus keywords. This tool does a great job, but if you want alternatives, you can also check out other ones like LastPass username generator and Masterpiece generator.
Examples of Good Twitter Handles
It’s always a good idea to take inspiration from sources already doing well, so here are some good Twitter usernames that you can look at and draw some idea of their approach.
Netflix – @netflix
A perfect example of keeping things simple and straightforward. Netflix, the streaming giant, has kept @netflix as its Twitter handle. No symbols, numbers, or anything out of the box.
Notion – @notionhq
As a project management and note-taking solution, Notion has opted to add “HQ” to their username, and I assume it’s because another company already took the handle “@notion”.
Bright Data – @bright_data
This popular web data platform, Bright Data, has an underscore in its username, making it @bright_data. As you’ve noticed, they’ve used only a single underscore and not gone overboard.
Monday.com – @mondaydotcom
A very creative example, Monday.com has its username as @mondaydotcom instead of using “.com”. The takeaway from this is that you can choose to do things a bit differently while maintaining the brand’s authenticity.
Sortly – @sortlyapp
The simplest inventory platform, Sortly has chosen to add “app” after their company names as their Twitter handle. Again, this is another case of when your desired username isn’t available but what they’ve also done is that they’ve specified exactly what it is, which is an “app”. This takes us back to one of our tips in this post about keeping things relevant to your brand and what it does.
What to do if your desired username is already taken?
Apart from the idea of adding a certain symbol, such as an underscore, you can also add something extra to your username if the one you want is already taken by somebody else. For example, you can add words like “the”, “help”, “ask,” and “HQ” to your Twitter handle. If your company operates in multiple countries, you can also add the location name, just like how Spotify did: By doing this, people could identify and choose the proper account based on their location.
Conclusion
We’re often very impatient when choosing our Twitter handle name because we want to finish setting up our account. However, spending some time to ponder over and ultimately brainstorming a good username can help your business in the long run. Next, you’d want to find the best times to post on different social media platforms.
