If you’re like me, you connect with lots of people online in many different venues.
I connect with coworkers and professional contacts on LinkedIn.
I use Facebook to stay in touch with friends and high-school and college classmates.
And I use Twitter to follow people I respect and admire in the online-marketing and social-media arenas.
I use the same picture and the same “handle” on each network. On Facebook and LinkedIn, my profile name is “Josh Fialkoff” and on Twitter I am “nooozeguy”. (You can find out about the origin of that name here). Indeed, on social networks which require handles, my identity is nooozeguy. I use the same picture too.
I’ve done this for a number of reasons.
- I want it to be as easy as possible for people to find me. Since my business is online marketing, I want to ensure that I am marketing myself correctly online. I want to dominate searches for my name and for my nickname. No one else is using “nooozeguy” so that is easy, but it is a defensive move, just as WalMart owns http://www.wal-mart.com and http://www.walmart.com. Owning all domains for forms of its name helps ensure that no one else will try to open a fake Wal-Mart Website. When I become famous (tongue inserted firmly in cheek) this will become more important.
- I want to have a uniform brand. Just as the Nike logo always has the same look, I want my “brand” to be easily identifiable. I don’t want people, especially those who may want to hire me, to have to wonder whether I am the person they’re looking for. If I’m Nooozeguy on all social networks, that makes it clear who I am. (Also, if you check out my Twitter profile, there’s a link to my Website, so the connection is further solidified.
- I want my Twitter identity to integrate with my Website. Since my domain is www.nooozeguy.com, I feel it makes sense to have the same name on Twitter.
I started thinking more seriously about this on Sunday night when Ari Herzog questioned why I am not @JoshFialkoff on Twitter. Here is part of that exchange:
@ariherzog: @nooozeguy The fact you have your body image as your avatar tells me Nooozeguy is more than a brand but a person.
@nooozeguy: @ariherzog Nooozeguy is a creative thought. Isn’t that the essence of Twitter?
@ariherzog: @nooozeguy Nooozeguy may be a creative thought, but to me it sounds like a brand. If that’s your goal, great.
@nooozeguy: @ariherzog I guess I don’t see issue here. My name & info are easy to find. Nooozeguy is a handle/persona, of which there are many online
As far as companies are concerned, I believe that their avatars should be their logos and their handles should be related to their company name or their slogan (“Coke Is It,” for instance, would be a good strategic move if that were still the company’s slogan).
But for individuals, I am not sure.
I like branding myself as Nooozeguy. It’s unique, so I have little competition, and (I think) it shows a degree of creativity, which is one of the attributes that I offer clients.
What do you think?