Social media gives people and companies powerful tools to extend their reach, project their messages and engage with people far and wide. Through images and content, people use their social media platforms to promote and establish their personal or company brands. Many people focus on their posts, their profile image and their cover photo to accomplish their branding goals. But there is one oft-neglected piece of the social media branding puzzle: custom social network URLs.
Sometimes, social network URLs are left simply as whatever was generated at the account set up because you didn’t know if could be changed. Or, if you’ve been in the social media game long enough, when you created your first channel you were completely unaware that in the future, you might need a cross-channel branding strategy and consistent social media URL structure.
Whatever the reason your social network URLs are long, ugly, inconsistent or difficult to remember, we have compiled information to help you change your username and URLs to something more memorable and in line with your brand.
When you create a Facebook personal account or a business page, Facebook automatically assigns a page URL randomly for personal profiles such as profile.php?id=100010986196599 or based on the page name such as https://www.facebook.com/Some-long-company-name-1806772992980137/.
As you can see, these can be long and difficult for people to remember. However, you can change the username which appears in the URL once your account is created. Note: business pages may not immediately be able to create a username.
Personal account
Go to your settings by clicking the downward facing arrow at the upper right corner of the page
Click the “Edit” link for the Username settings
Type a user name in the text field to check availability. If the name is available, click the blue “Save Changes” button
Business page
Go to your Facebook business page
Click the “Edit Page Info” from the left column
Type in your desired user name in the Username field to check availability (remember, shorter is easier for people to remember and type).
When you create a Twitter account, whether for yourself or your company, you select a username during setup.
You can change your username later if you decide that your initial choice may not have been best for your personal or business brand.
To change your username after your account has been created, go to “Settings and Privacy” and select the “Account Information” screen. At the top of this screen is a text box where you can change your username.
NOTE: There is a 15-character limit for usernames and given that there 328 monthly active users, claiming the name you want might be difficult.
Linked In
Personal profile
For your personal profile, the auto-generated social media URL is often your name plus a randomly selected set of numbers. As mentioned before, these URLs can be difficult for users to remember (and are often long and ugly to use on business cards or other marketing materials).
To add or edit a username in LinkedIn, start by viewing your profile. You can do this be selecting your face in the top bar and clicking “View Profile”
On this page are some links which allow you to add sections to your profile and edit information. There is also a button that gives you even more editing options. Click the button “Edit your public profile”
A new tab will open which shows you how your profile appears to viewers who haven’t signed in and allows you to change section visible and to update your URL. Find and click the pencil icon at the top of the right column under “Edit public profile & URL.”
Click the pencil icon and then add your desired custom URL in the text box. Click save. Be aware that your URL must be between 3 and 300 characters and can include only numbers and letters.
Company Pages
Claiming your LinkedIn company page URL isn’t quite as easy as your personal profile URL. Company page URLs look something like https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/564411/
Of course, it would be nicer if it could be https://www.linkedin.com/company/savoirfairemc/
Go to your company page and click Edit Page.
Click Page info from the left column of the popup modal and enter your text in the LinkedIn public URL field.
Note that a Page URL can’t be changed more than once within a 30-day period. Learn more
When you create your Instagram account, whether for yourself or your business, you create your username. If you already have a social network URLs strategy in place, you may have created your account with exactly what you wanted to appear in your Instagram URL. But if you didn’t, you can still change your username at a later date
Log into your Instagram account on either your computer or mobile device and view your profile.
Click “Edit Your Profile”
Change your username and click submit
Note: While other social media networks will dynamically check availability when you add your new username, Instagram won’t let you know until you click submit.
Remember, social network URLs are part of your brand, so customizing a social media URL is a best practice.
