There are now nearly a BILLION members of the social media giant Facebook. Odds are, you count yourself as one of these billion. But are you branding yourself properly? Did you know that there’s something called a Facebook “username”? It’s free to grab one and if you’re a Facebook user, it’s a good idea. You can choose a username for both your personal page as well as any fan pages (your business) that you administer. Think of it as a Facebook vanity plate.
To get started, simply login and head over to http://www.facebook.com/username/
Once you’re here, you’ll be given an option to choose your desired username. Additionally, if you administer any fan pages, those will be listed as well. Once you’ve determined the username you’d like to use, click on CHECK AVAILABILITY to see if it’s available. If so, you’ll be given a final chance to confirm your selection. Choose wisely… once you confirm you cannot change it.
You may be asking, “Why would I want to do this?” Quite frankly, it boils down to ease of use and readability. Instead of telling people to visit your profile at https://www.facebook.com/pages/KTCDigital/215378481873689, you can just tell them to visit https://www.facebook.com/KTCDigital.
The same holds true for your personal profile page. Instead of https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1291940730, wouldn’t you prefer to point them to https://www.facebook.com/gbellan?
Interesting Notes:
- Username cannot be changed once set. (Spelling counts… don’t spell your name wrong)
- Ownership cannot be transferred people/companies.
- Trademarks are still applicable. You can’t choose “Google” if you’re not Google. (Not that it’s available, but you get the point)
- Don’t cyber squat. If it’s not you, don’t try to register it.
- Usernames CAN be reclaimed for unauthorized uses.
- Only alphanumeric characters (a-z, 0-9) or periods (“.”) are acceptable. Usernames must contain at least one letter.
Rules apply to both personal and business pages. Fan pages cannot have a custom URL until you have at least 25 fans. Note, that once you’ve claimed your username it’s yours. Even if you lose fans and fall beneath 25 fan you’ll keep your URL.
One final note. Usernames are NOT case sensitive and do NOT taken periods into account. This is a great way to make your URL more readable. For example, our page is here:
However, users can just as easily use the following and they’ll arrive at the same place:
- http://www.facebook.com/ktcdigital
- http://www.facebook.com/KTC.Digital
- http://www.facebook.com/K.T.C.D.I.G.I.T.A.L.
I wouldn’t suggest that last one, but if you go that route, rest assured that your fans will find you. Need some help getting your fan page set up? Let us know. We’d love to partner with you!