Three Tips for Claiming New Business Pages on Social Media

So, you’re starting a business? First of all, huge congrats! We know how exciting (and sometimes stressful) it can be. If you’re looking to handle social media and marketing on your own during the opening stages of your business, we have three helpful tips for you.

1. Research current social handles and hashtags before making a decision on your business “handle.”

If your business name is pretty unique, chances are you should be able to find social media handles available across all platforms. However, we have ran into instances where a business name is taken on social media. So, what do you do? Pull up all social media outlets where you’ll be creating accounts. Research different combinations of your business name in social handle format. Here are some examples to get you started:

• @BusinessName

• @BusinessNameCity

• @BusinessNameCityState

• @BusinessNameState

Sometimes by adding your location at the end of your business name or even just a state abbreviation, you can find usernames/handles more readily available.

Consistency is key! Make sure to claim the same handle (i.e. @BusinessName) across all outlets. We like to think ahead to when you’ll be creating packaging for your products, handouts, flyers and more. It makes it much easier for a customer to find you when you have one uniform social media handle across multiple social outlets.

2. Claim your own business pages!

Trust us, we know some horror stories. For instance, one of our clients had a previous employee who set up the business’ Facebook page. This employee was unfortunately let go and took the Facebook page with her. Talk about a mess…and good luck getting it back! Make sure you (the owner of the business) set up all of your business social media pages - that goes for them all: Facebook, Google Business, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

3. Use current phone numbers and emails.

When claiming your business’ social media pages, ensure that you’re using up-to-date phone numbers and email addresses. Don’t set up a business page using one of your employee’s email addresses (or even a marketing firm’s email address who you might be working with to manage your social accounts). We recommend creating an email like social@yourbusinessname.com to keep track of everything in one place. By having current phone numbers and emails in place, you can easily regain access if you misplace your password.

Now, it’s time to get started! Have questions? Shoot us an email.