Online presence or reputation is one of the most important aspects of a brand. There is no difference between a small or big brand – once reputation goes sideways – sales, new users, and potential clients start to decay.
One of the critical parts of online reputation is the username – a name representing a person or a whole brand. One can achieve a witty username within seconds using a username generator: https://nordpass.com/username-generator/.
Usernames can play the role of secret identities or state one’s actual persona. There is quite a difference between the two, but what are the critical aspects of a well-picked username?
1. Adjust it to the platform
A lot depends on the platform a person decides to create one’s social profile on. For example, Facebook is known to use personal names for actual people. Only trolls of the social network choose to stay incognito. Business profiles are also using brands name so that people could find them more easily.
Instagram is quite different from Facebook. Usernames are often created without any similarities to the actual person’s name. And can be a mashup of random letters or numbers. On the other hand, brands are still creating usernames based on their exact brand’s name.
Get a good sense of the social media platform before creating a profile there.
2. Check availability
Social media is present for around a decade, and new profiles appear every two seconds. One person can have many accounts with different usernames all over the internet. This means creating a unique username may be a struggle.
Checking by hand on every social media platform may take a lot of time. There are plenty of username checker tools that will solve this problem within seconds.
3. Be polite
Since a username represents a brand or person, it is crucial to pick a polite one. Being well educated about current social problems and misconceptions is merely essential.
Every day the political climate is changing quite rapidly. One can barely keep up with the news flooding from everywhere. To avoid choosing a politically incorrect username, better google it before creating. Also, if the username contains more than one word – google them separately. Try to find out as much information as possible. Also, check for associations. Be sure that the chosen username doesn’t have bad connotations.
4. Go local or worldwide
A lot can depend on the business profile. If the brand is localized and its top target country appears to be a non-English one – choose a username accordingly. Do not try to stretch and fit the trends. An English username may not always cut the deal.
Accordingly, if the brand or whole communication will be held in English, create a username in that language. This way, a business profile will become more searchable by the target audience. Also, the chances of a username becoming a staple one will grow.
5. Protect login information
Creating an account and acquiring a username doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t any threats of losing it. A few vulnerabilities in a website may invite hackers to the game. Recently Twitter got hacked, and scammers attacked famous people profiles. They posted tweets asking for people to send them money in return for doubling the numbers.
Also, there are plenty of stories, how famous influencers lose their Instagram accounts to a hack or small businesses get locked out of their websites. All comes back to cybersecurity and simple security hygiene.
There is no difference between various platforms, whether it’s YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook. Hackers target all.
Do create complex passwords for every owned account. Passwords like hello123 or 123456 won’t do the trick anymore.
The scariest part of hacking attacks is losing all the leverage tied with one username. Since a username is a person’s or brand’s face, a few wrong messages to the public can threaten account credibility for ages.
To lessen such risk, one can:
- Create complex passwords with a password generator. Change them frequently and use password checkers for identifying potential data leaks.
- Updating software and apps may seem like a useless activity, although it’s not true. Every update released by a software brand fixes bugs and vulnerabilities. This way, hackers have fewer opportunities to intervene and do harm.
- Do not share login information via unsafe apps. Sending login credentials to a colleague may seem like a harmless action. However, it is not the case. If there is no workaround and this information must be shared, use sharing tools like Privnote or see if your password manager offers a contact sharing option.