Securing Your Brand Online
One of the first things we do when working with clients to develop an online marketing strategy is secure their brand name in the online realm. The vast majority of social networking sites allow anyone to claim any user name they want. A great example of why this is a risk for businesses is the case of Oprah Winfrey on Twitter.
Oprah joined Twitter on April 17, 2009 with the user name “Oprah.” By that time, there were already a number of Oprah’s on Twitter, none of which were the real deal. They included OprahWinfry, OprahWinfrey, Oprah_W, and Oprah_World, amonst others. All of these Twitter accounts use either Oprah’s photo or her show’s logo as their avatar, so you can imagine the following they built simply by appearing to represent the “real” Oprah Winfrey!
Not all of us are Oprah, but we still run the risk of having our identity hijacked online. One great way to prevent this is to claim your user name on the major social network sites – whether you plan to actively use the site or not. Even if you simply “park” your account and let it sit idle, at least no one else will be representing themself as you or your business.
One great and very quick way to find out where your business, brand or user name is available is by using the Namechk tool. Check out this short video for a quick overview of the Namechk tool and how it works…