“Secure your brand on Facebook with a Custom (Vanity) URL“
About a year ago Facebook launched Custom URLs. People stayed in and up on a Friday night until 12:01 am to have the chance at obtaining their own Facebook Profile Custom URL. There was madness, back stabbing, name squatting (seriously, us Geeks can get mean I guess) and even bribing.
I was one of the fools that stayed up that night and was able to secure the link http://facebook.com/KimRandall instead of it possibly looking something like http://facebook.com/025485214546/user/454995ala5612/profile/732581ds
Get the point?
No way was I able to remember something that long (I never tried either).
There are many reasons why these Custom URLs are important.
- There isn’t enough room on your business card for a long URL and as of right now hyperlinking a piece of paper is un-heard of. At least to me.
- It is so much easier to say: “Yeah I’m on Facebook. You can find me at facebook.com/KimRandall
- Makes more sense when you see facebook.com/KimRandall rather than a bit.ly shortened URL. Too many people are scared for the safety of their PCs with shortened URLs.
- No one else can have that URL, it is now YOURS! No one else can have the exact http://facebook.com/KimRandall URL. I “own” it.
OK so we just pretty much went over why you need a Custom URL for your profile, but don’t stop there. Obtain a Custom URL for your Fan Pages too.
Don’t you want to protect your Brand?
You have a 50-50 chance this late in the game of obtaining exactly what you want. Good luck!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Danny in Tampa, Danny in Tampa and Kim Randall, Kim Randall. Kim Randall said: New Blog Post: Social Media Tip #21 – The Importance Of Custom URLs http://bit.ly/bkECWw [...]
Another great post! Also, if you can afford it, make sure you grab variations of your personal URL. For example, I own both http://www.DrRus.com AND http://www.DoctorRus.com – They both point to DrRus.com .
If you can obtain them, I suggest obtaining all variations of your name as well as your name on all Social Sites. I am personally considering purchasing the domain for my friends kid so he has that domain available to him if he should want it in (15 years?) LOL
[...] grow. You send more suggestions in hopes of at least breaking the 25 fan mark to get you vanity URL and still nothing. You start personally contacting people asking them to like the page, but that [...]