Ever since I started Ten Penny Dreams, this question is something that has played on my mind.
I’ve got a few blog related social profiles now, all with the same username – Ten Penny Dreams. That is, except for Twitter.
Unusually, Twitter was the first social network I joined, as I resisted getting a Facebook account for a long time, only signing up just over a year ago. However, I’ve been on Twitter since 2010, long before this blog became a flickering light bulb at the back of my consciousness.
But now I have a blog to share and promote, should my username by default become @tenpennydreams?
My website appears in my current Twitter profile, so any of my followers can click through easily enough. But as the blog (hopefully) gets more popular, am I putting myself at a disadvantage by not using @tenpennydreams on Twitter? It will make searches more difficult and could create confusion.
But how can I solve the problem?
As I see it, I have four options:
- Keep @AmyWritesStuff. I have to admit, I’m reluctant to abandon the username that has brought me so many lovely followers and that automatically identifies me as a writer.
- Change my username to @tenpennydreams. This would be the logical thing to do, from a branding perspective. My blog would then become more prominent across my social networks.
- Keep @AmyWritesStuff but start up a second @tenpennydreams account. Is it greedy to have two Twitter accounts?! Would I have enough to say, or would I be creating unnecessary work for myself? Would HootSuite wrangling become a way of life? I would have to make the accounts distinct enough that it would be worth following both, so people don’t choose one or the other.
- Stick with @AmyWritesStuff for now, but be prepared to switch to @tenpennydreams in the future if the blog develops. The indecisive option…
I suppose it really comes down to priorities and how seriously I value the branding of this blog.
If anyone has a magical fifth option that might help, I’d love to hear your suggestions!
Lesley BT says
Hello!
I had the same dilemma …. but only for about 10 mins! My decision was purely based on the fact that I lead two social media lives, so don’t fret about being greedy. I have noticed lots of people with split personalities over the past couple of weeks! On the one hand, I am Lesley who runs Infinity Photographic @lesley_infinity and on the other hand, I wanted to set up a portal for photographer’s assistants, second photographer/shooter and pro tog to share ideas and look for work @togassist. This is the new blog that I am trying to get help with by attending Blogcademy.
I just have enough room to manage my free 5 apps on Hootsuite too!
I would register tenpennydreams anyway and then decide which path you want to take in the future….. if any! Perhaps your question could be asked at the BA when you attend?!
Good luck and fab blog btw x
Amy says
Hey Lesley, thanks for replying – it’s good to get the perspective of someone who has two Twitter profiles and runs them successfully! It might be that @tenpennydreams would be my ‘professional’ Twitter handle and @AmyWritesStuff becomes my ‘personal’ one. I’d just have to make the effort to be extra interesting!
xandra says
What about keeping @AmyWritesStuff but setting your display name from “Amy Lord” to “Ten Penny Dreams”? I guess that would make it less easy to tweet directly to you but you would still appear in searches. Managing two twitter accounts sounds like a lot of work! Good luck with the decision-making! 🙂
xandra ★
Amy says
Good idea Xandra, I hadn’t thought of that – I might look into it and see what happens! I’m not always the most decisive person so things like this end up being a bit of a dilemma, but I’ll get there in the end x