Don’t Fall Victim to B2B Twitter Squatting

Jeffrey L. Cohen — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:05:49 +0000

According to this article in Ad Age, a long list of major brands including Kellogg’s, GE and General Motors do not own the Twitter ID that is their company name. Not only do they not own the most obvious Twitter name, but someone else does. There is definitely some similarity to the early wild west days of the internet and registering domain names, complete with squatters.

This is a tremendous advantage for B2B companies, as brand squatters are not yet looking to cash in on stealing your Twitter name. If your company has a common name, or something similar to a large company, you are more likely at risk to Twitter squatting. Regardless, you should go register your company name on Twitter right now. I can wait if I need to. Okay, now that you are back, here’s why you just did it. The branding of your company is important and having predictable and findable names on internet platforms is key to your success online. Maybe you are still trying to convince your boss, or the Director of Marketing, or even the CEO, of the value of social media, and even more specifically Twitter, but that should not prevent your company from setting up a corporate Twitter account today to make sure you secure your company.

Now that it is registered, follow these basic Twitter etiquette steps so people know that this is your Twitter account.

1. Put the company name (with correct spaces) in the Name field.

2. Add your company website address in the More Info URL field. Use your blog address instead if you have one.

3. Describe your company using appropriate keywords in One Line Bio.

4. Add the location of your company headquarters to the Location field.

5. Go to the Picture tab and upload a company logo as your Twitter photo.

6. Tweet one time, again so people know this is a real account. Here’s an example of a first tweet: Still developing Twitter strategy, but we are listening. You can also contact us by email info@yourcompany.com

The other benefit of signing up for Twitter is that it will force your company to start listening on Twitter. This will teach you what to listen for, how to listen, and it will give you ideas for tweeting when you get there.

If you have any experience with people squatting on your company or brand names, let us know if the comments below.

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Don’t Fall Victim to B2B Twitter Squatting