Digital Branding: Best Ways to Build Online Business Identity

If you want to build a brand in the online world that stands out in the crowd then digital branding is mandatory for your business and I have covered all the non-negligible digital branding strategies for businesses regardless of their types.

Therefore, I highly recommend you read this entire blog article if you’re serious about digital branding and don’t want to regret in the future missing out on these super important business branding opportunities that no one is talking about yet.

Come Up with a Unique Username for Your Brand

The very first step for digital branding is to come up with a unique username for your business that can be used for all social media accounts as well as web properties.

Also, it’s very crucial you keep finding a unique name that is available across the web so that you can build your unique brand without any hassle and consequences.

Let me give you a few tips to find the right username for your brand:

• The username should be unique yet easy to remember.
• It should be the name of your business (if available).
• If the exact business name is not available, and you’re just starting, then consider changing your business name.
• If you have an existing business and the name has already been established then you should consider a username that at least contains your business name.
• The username should be available everywhere, including social media, web properties, Gmail, and domain registrars.

It seems overwhelming as there are so many social media platforms out there and if you are going to check the availability of your decided username on those platforms then you have to go through them one by one manually on each platform.

But don’t worry I am going to make this task a little easier for you by sharing with you a few tools that are absolutely free, and it will help you check if the username you have chosen is available on various social platforms or not.

Although it is not going to give you the details about every social and web platform in the world, it will still cover the most popular ones out there.

Explore the tools here:

• https://www.namecheck.com/
• https://www.namecheckr.com/
• https://namechk.com/

Now just open the tools and put in the desired name, and you can find the availability status of your username across the platforms on the same screen.

However, as I said earlier, you cannot find all the social media usernames available on these tools alone plus sometimes they don’t work as expected, so in that case you need to do some manual work as well to find the username availabilities on social media platforms.

Claim the Decided Username Across the Social Web

Once you have already found a unique username that is available across the web, then the next step should be to claim the username immediately on all of those platforms that you think are necessary and don’t want others to claim your name on any of the platforms.

I know you might be thinking if you had a list containing all the social media and web platform names in your hand that would be a great thing, but unfortunately, there is no such list available, so you just need to use your brain and shortlist the platforms yourself.

So now it’s time to create an account on all the social media and web platforms, therefore, let me give you a few important tips and suggestions to accomplish everything smoothly.

Here are my very important tips and suggestions:

• Open a spreadsheet or a notepad to keep everything noted.
• First, create a Gmail account that should be using the same username.
• Keep a contact number dedicated to your business to use it if required.
• Try to get all the usernames on the same sitting on the same day.
• Now open the social media websites one by one and start creating accounts.
• Must create accounts manually using the email or contact number option on each platform and avoid using any social signups like Google or Facebook.
• Look carefully while creating accounts and claim the username immediately at the time of signing up if the option is given.
• If at the time of signing up, you couldn’t find an option to claim the username then after creating the account you must claim it from the internal profile setting immediately.
• Create your brand pages instead of profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn by using your existing profiles on those platforms.
• Create a business account on Instagram or if you already have one then convert that into a business account.
• Must create a Slideshare account manually using the email option and don’t use the LinkedIn shortcut signup option though it’s a LinkedIn product.

Reason to Use the Same & Unique Username Across the Web

You might be thinking why I am emphasizing you so much to use the same unique username across the web and social platforms.

So let me tell you that there are very crucial and non-negligible reasons behind this, and you would never want someone else to use your brand name as it can be harmful to your brand reputation, so I am sharing with you one possible example of a consequence.

Just assume that you have different usernames on various social and web platforms, for example, your Instagram username is “thebobsbusiness” and on the other hand your Twitter username is “businessofthebob”.

Now suppose someone who could be your potential customer has discovered you on your Twitter account, and he finds your content engaging and helpful, but unfortunately he doesn’t use Twitter that much, but he uses Instagram on a regular basis.

Therefore, he opens the Instagram app and decided to follow you over there, so he starts searching for your account on Instagram using your username “businessofthebob” that he noted from your Twitter account, but he couldn’t find you there with that username because you have a different username on Instagram which is “thebobsbusiness”.

So just think about it. I have given you just one example of only one person and two social media platforms. Still, in reality, there are so many people who would be potentially facing these kinds of issues across the web on various platforms which is frustrating.

As a result, you will lose out on a lot of free business opportunities and the worst part about it is that you won’t even know this is happening with your business in the world of the web.

I hope this one example will be enough for you to understand the importance of the same and unique username across web platforms.

Grab the Domain Name for Your Brand

Now it’s time to claim the most important asset on the web which you can own and control without any third-party interference, unlike social media platforms.

And the best part about it is that a domain name will help you build your own unique identity on the internet that people can use to find your business online from all over the world.

Again I want to give a few important tips while getting your domain.

• The domain name should be the same as your business name and the chosen username.
• If your business name and username differ, consider purchasing both domain names separately.
• Showcase the domain name everywhere on the web which is the same as your social media username and redirect it to the other domain which is the same as your business name.
• Must create your domain registrar account using the same Gmail address that you are using to set up your social media account.
• You must get domain privacy protection to hide your information from the public if you don’t want to get bombarded with spam emails and texts.

Build your Own Branded Business Website

As soon as you purchase your domain name, immediately plan to build your business website because having a website for your brand is necessary if you want to stand out in the crowd.

If you’re not sure why you should get a website in the first place, then I highly recommend you read the article I wrote that discusses all the benefits that you will get by having a business website.

But if you already know the upsides of having a website and are curious to know the must-have features for your business website, then read my other article about the necessary website features checklist.

Also, if you want to know the essentials that you would require to build your website, read yet another article about the essentials for creating a website.

I have shared all the crucial information and links to some useful resources in order to help you build a website for your business. However, if you’re not a DIY person then I would recommend you hire a professional who could help you build your business website.

Conclusion

In this blog article, I have covered some very crucial digital branding strategies for businesses that want to establish an online brand identity, and the best part is that you may not be able to find all this information anywhere else as probably no one is talking about them yet.

Therefore, if you have noted all the suggestions I shared, I would highly recommend you implement them for your business as soon as possible if you don’t want to miss out on these digital branding opportunities.

If you found this article helpful, then I would like to ask you to share it with your colleagues and friends who might also find this useful for their online branding needs.

Also, if you have any questions or if something is going on in your mind after reading this blog post then feel free to drop that in the comment section below.

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