Having been in social media and online communities since the 90s, one thing I’ve learned along the way was locking down my username. While it is impossible for an individual, or even a small team, to maintain a healthy social presence on all social media platforms, there are valid reasons to sign up for them anyway.
Brand Yourself
As mentioned earlier, you want to lock down your username. Being known across multiple platforms with the same username, by default, helps with brand recognition. Plus it’s very easy to say, “You can find me everywhere as ___.”
Do not get into a position where someone else squats on the name and brand you’ve been developing. That’s the worst!
You might be thinking that’s a waste of time and energy, especially with startup platforms that try to compete with the mainstream social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, to name a few. Many smaller platforms come and go. Hell, I’ve probably forgotten about more sites than I remember!
So, why then would I recommend signing up for all the social media platforms you hear about? What is the purpose of such a time-consuming exercise when your audience is established on, for example, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram?
In a word: BACKLINKS
The amount of backlinks that are directed back to your site from high authority domains helps increase your authority and trusthworthiness on the web. Legitimate sites where you can create a profile with a backlink increases your chance of being discovered, and you’ll find your content rising higher in web searches.
Mind you, I never said anything about developing all of these social media sites – simply signing up and locking down your username and updating your profile to drive traffic to your website or online store.
