From businesses, to nonprofits, to governmental entities, all organizations should be on Twitter. Because Desmond & Louis manages Twitter accounts for many types of organizations, we have noticed that some of them struggle with concepts that are vital to building a successful Twitter account; one of those concepts is continuity.
Continuity matters in branding because it eliminates any confusion the audience may have about what your brand is. Successful branding is contingent upon the brand appearing unified across all its web properties: its website, social media pages and any web-based resources the company creates. On Twitter, that continuity all starts with the handle.
The handle is the @name of your Twitter account. It is different from the username, which is the name that appears before your handle in a tweet. Making sure your Twitter handle and username are both consistent with the name of your organization is an important branding practice. In some cases, this is easier to do with the username than the handle. If a Twitter handle is already taken, you may be forced to get creative – and it must be done with brand continuity in mind.
A Twitter Continuity Case Study
Here is a quick case study example of a client we helped guide toward brand continuity on Twitter. The client is an economic development agency designed to draw business to its location in rural Oregon.
- Client: Klamath County Economic Development Association (KCEDA)
- Website URL: www.ChooseKlamath.com
- Twitter username: KCEDA
- Twitter handle: @ChooseKlamath
Notice the brand continuity? Here’s the process by which these were established: Because the organization goes by KCEDA locally, that is regarded as the brand name. And because the client’s full name is too long for a Twitter username, we used its already well known acronym (KCEDA) instead. As for the handle, it is the same as the URL of the website. Here it is at a glance:
- Twitter username = same as brand name
- Twitter handle = same as website URL
The “Next Best Thing” Approach
This a good example of doing what needs to be done to establish brand continuity on Twitter, even when it calls for a “next best thing” approach. In an ideal world, everything would be exactly the same – but when that isn’t possible, the next best thing is to achieve brand continuity is to implement a solution like the case study above.
Organizations that need assistance with brand continuity on any of their web properties can contact Desmond & Louis to discuss their branding needs. We will be glad to help!