Social Media Squatting: How to Protect Your Brand + Reputation!
Harrowing Social Media Squatting Story: Last year, I sent a LinkedIn invitation to a thrilled client after I completed a short project for her company. She never accepted.
After a few weeks, she called to talk about another small project. As we chatted, I asked her if she received my LinkedIn invitation.
“What’s LinkedIn?” she asked.
Although she had never heard of LinkedIn, her profile was up there, showing only her current position. I showed it to her.
“I’ll be,” she said calmly. “Yep, that’s me all right.”
How did this happen?
She surmised that her boss had posted a LinkedIn profile for her.
“Oh, he’s like that,” she explained. “It’s important for him to know who employees are connected to and what we might be saying about the company. I’ll bet it’s just his nerdy little way of spying on us.”
Get Smart. Her lack of concern freaked me out. The idea that someone might be posing as her and communicating with her connections struck me as abusive and wrong. Who knows how her boss might be hurting her reputation? Recruiters are all over LinkedIn — job inquiries might be handled crassly. Her customers and prospects are also on LinkedIn — how is he communicating with them? And vendors — me, for example! — are simply ignored.
The importance of social media squatting. Even if you have no interest in participating at LinkedIn, FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter or a hundred other popular social media sites — you will be interested in protecting your brand and reputation. If you don’t snap up your name now, some jerk may.
Who knows what they will do — as they pretend to be you!
It may not be your boss. It may be a competitor. Or just some opportunistic lowlife that wants to sell it back to you for profit. There’s a rife of name squatting going on in social media — leading many to believe that social media name squatting is the new domain name squatting.
Is your name taken? To find out, visit user name check. Enter your company name, brand names, and of course, your own name. This easy-to-use site will instantly tell you if your handle is still available at over 60 popular social media plays. If your name is still available: snap it up. You may not currently have plans for using MySpace or Twitter: but at least hold your name until you do!
This is not a “when I get around to it” kind of thing. Do it now! I talked to a company owner last month — her name was already taken. Don’t let social media squatting destroy your personal repuation — or your brand(s).
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Wow this is soooo important. Thanks for this article. I checked the user name check and was amazed at where our user names has already been taken. Great Job!