Back in the 1800’s in the US, folks headed out West in hopes of finding a vein of gold, mining it and striking it rich. One of the keys to striking it rich was staking a claim. A claim was a parcel of land that you could call your own and mine it until that gold was found. If you didn’t get to stake a claim before the best ones were snatched up by someone else, you were stuck working someone else’s claim and panning someone else’s gold hoping to be paid for your labor.
Zoom forward to 2010. Have you staked your social media claim?
For those just getting their hands around the purpose and use of social networking for their business and professional brand, you need to understand there are “claims” to be staked. Each social media tool (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc…) typically enables you to create a unique display name by which you are found in the social networking world. This display name can be something cutesy or something meaningful…it’s up to you.
It’s important to you stake your claim before someone else does.
Over the years, I have tried to reserve “MikeAbrams” as the display name on each social media tool. Unfortunately, there are quite a few “Mike” or “Michael” Abrams in the world who have the same idea. My goal was to consistently create the same display name in each social media tool to ensure I’m easily found and referred to by other people online. This becomes a challenge when I am one Michael amongst many.
In addition, I have no control over what activities the other Michaels are involved in…and not all of it is good. The Michael Abrams clan activities range from photographer, psychologist, to felon…well you get the picture. I saw one this week that claimed I…err..rather the other Michael Abrams…stabbed George Harrison. Nice, real nice.
Don’t let your claim go to waste in someone else’s hands. You have a social networking future to protect.
The next time you see one of those lists of the top 10 social media tools, go in and check whether you have staked your claim already.
It only take a few minutes per each one and you’ll be glad you did.
