Dynadot

strategy Matching Social Media Accounts: Added Value?

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Have you registered matching social media handles for some of your domain names?

  • This poll is still running and the standings may change.
  • Never.

    127 
    votes
    51.0%
  • Yes, a few times.

    100 
    votes
    40.2%
  • I do it regularly.

    13 
    votes
    5.2%
  • I register handles and use them actively in promoting the names.

    votes
    3.6%
  • This poll is still running and the standings may change.

By owning your own domain name, you have independence from social media giants. Nevertheless, some potential purchasers of your domain names may prefer to also control the matching term in social media accounts. This can be a defensive ploy, or simply the advantage of consistent branding across multiple platforms. Does this mean that domain name investors should give attention to obtaining, and perhaps developing, matching social media handles?

Which Social Media Platforms?

While Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok are some of the better known social media platforms, the full list is much longer. The first question a domain investor who has decided to invest effort in matching social handles needs to ask is: Which social media platforms?

Wikipedia maintain a list of social platforms with at least 100 million active users. For example, Facebook has a staggering 2.8 billion users, with about 1.84 billion active daily. YouTube has about 2.3 billion users, and Instagram about 1.3 billion users, with 500 million active daily.

But number of users alone does not necessarily indicate the social media handles that would be most valuable to a particular business. For example, having Twitter or LinkedIn is of more value than their placing (17th and 22nd respectively) on the list in terms of number of users.

Different Sectors, Different Social Media

The most desired social media accounts will depend on the industry sector of the domain name. A domain name intended for a coding business might have particular interest in GitHub or ProductHunt handles, while a business that did a lot of direct to user communication might value a matching WhatsApp, Telegram or Zoom account. Visual arts related businesses and organizations will have more interest in an Instagram, Pinterest or Vimeo account, perhaps, while a musician would benefit from YouTube, SoundCloud or Vimeo, among others.

Tools To The Rescue

While in theory it is a simple task to check whether any particular social media handle is available, with several hundred sites to search, it can use up a lot of time. Fortunately, online tools simplify the task to a few seconds. Here are two useful tools I found.
  1. NameChk With this free tool you simply enter the term, and it will show status on many dozens of social media platforms. If the box is green, it means the name is available on that social media platform, while dimmed indicates someone has it. The site also shows status of a number of domain name extensions.
  2. KnowEm This does an even more intensive search, covering 500 popular social networks. While KnowEm offer a paid service to subscribe to social media accounts across many networks, you can use the site freely to see platforms where a given name is still available. It also searches the USPTO Trademark database. Note that on the home page you just see results for the 25 most used social media, but if you use the Social Networks tab you get the full 500 platform search, all nicely divided by sector like photo, video, blogging, etc.
Another feature I really like with KnowEm is if you hover over any social media platform, it provides a brief summary of that platform.

As well as proposing names from their registry, Namify also searches the availability of the term on a handful of the most used social media platforms.

Using Social Media Data for Domain Name Acquisitions

Quite apart from whether you plan to ever acquire social media handles, the data provided by sites like KnowEm can be one metric to consider during domain name acquisition. If a domain name is already taken in most of the popular social media platforms, while that is a negative for obtaining matching handles, it can be a positive in potential end users, or at least an indication of the general popularity of the term.

Read the Terms of Service

While buying and selling of social media handles is definitely happening, see the next section, most of the social media platforms have terms of service that do not allow it. For example, Instagram terms of use specify “You can’t sell, license, or purchase any account or data obtained from us or our Service.

Similarly, Twitter states in its Help Center: “Attempts to sell, buy, or solicit other forms of payment in exchange for usernames are also violations and may result in permanent account suspension.” The same section also makes clear one cannot sit on unused Twitter handles, and Twitter periodically takes away unused accounts.

The Facebook terms of service specify that you should only have one account, and that you must “Not share your password, give access to your Facebook account to others, or transfer your account to anyone else (without our permission).” They also prohibit selling admin control of Facebook groups.

This article in Alternative Assets on Buying and Selling Social Media Accounts indicates that one of the few exceptions is YouTube, that apparently permits transfer of ownership of accounts. Check the most recent terms of service for any changes, however, if this information is important to you.

Marketplaces for Social Media Accounts Exist

Despite the restrictions noted above, numerous marketplaces actively sell social media accounts. Trade in Instagram handles seems particularly active. If you are interested in getting an idea of current prices, browse listings at FameSwap, that handles Instagram and YouTube accounts, or SocialTradia. It should be noted that accounts for sale on sites like these have value primarily because of followers, not because of inherent worth of the handle name itself. The pricing is usually based on an approximate rate per 10,000 followers.

What About Developing A Social Media Account

So what about the idea of developing a social media account that exactly matches one of your domain names? I would see two potential benefits of this. One would be if there is a way to transfer it with the domain name, consistent with terms of service, it could be a plus for the business acquiring the name. The second advantage is meaningful development might help attract eyes to the domain name.

That said, it is a lot of regular work to maintain meaningful activity on a social media account, and I would think in most cases the possible benefits do not justify the effort. Please share what you think in the comments section.

Discussions on NamePros about Social Media Handles

Aspects of social media accounts have been discussed a number of times on NamePros, although often with limited contributions. Here are some of the discussion threads I found.
What Do You Think?

With social media accounts ultimately outside your complete control, James Iles reminded us of the importance of operating on your own domain name: Why You Can’t Let Social Media Control Your Brand.
  1. What are your thoughts on obtaining matching social media accounts?
  2. Have prospective buyers asked you about accompanying social media handles?
  3. Have you tried maintaining social media handles to match any of your domain names?
  4. In general, which social media handles are most important?
Looking forward to hearing your comments on this topic in the discussion below.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I recently registered my own business and got the .com and .co. I tried registering the IG and Twitter handles to discover that one or the other is taken for my company name, so I registered the tagline, which was available!
 
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let us not forget gmail and ymail...
 
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For me it's about creating a brand for a potential client. At least a starter one. I set up a Facebook and Instagram for all my domains. These are included with each purchase as well as some form of logo.
 
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I’ve been wanting a dormant Twitter handle for my business for quite some time & seems it’s still dormant and unavailable even after 1.5yrs! Obtaining the matching social media handles is extremely hard. Would I pay money for a ‘social’ name that never will be fully mine? Nope.. that’s why we have domain names!..
 
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Another well thought article...thanks Bob!

What are your thoughts on obtaining matching social media accounts?

I have never (and will likely never) worried about social media when it comes to domain investing. Those platforms will continue to come and go and the larger ones will likely face government 'reorganization' and restriction at some point in the future. An accurate and memorable domain is all a company (or adult individual) needs.
 
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I don't necessarily disagree about regulatory risks. I personally wouldn't bet on most social media media long term. However Facebook has such a stranglehold hard to see that changing in next 10 years.

Another well thought article...thanks Bob!



I have never (and will likely never) worried about social media when it comes to domain investing. Those platforms will continue to come and go and the larger ones will likely face government 'reorganization' and restriction at some point in the future. An accurate and memorable domain is all a company (or adult individual) needs.
 
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Great article. Thank you Bob
 
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We need to ask ourselves if not owning these social media handles, will make potential customers not buy our names? I think, personally, that if we have their chosen domain name, there are very few potential customers, that will not buy our domain names. What premium is a potential customer going to pay for each of the top six handles? Are you going to not sell them the handles, if they bulk at the price. What use are the handles without the domain names. What I decided was that there was too much extremely hard work, uncertainty and expense involved in trading in domain handles, for an unquantifiable level of price. What percentages of customers want these handles? What I decided was I am not in the social media exact match handles business. Too hard and too much uncertainty. It hard enough already to sell domains. We don't need to add to this complexity.
 
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Actually I agree I only do the Facebook and Instagram because it doesn't take much extra effort to set those up. A basic logo can be created for free especially if you have some design skills. Would I go as far to exhaustively make 50 different social profiles of course not. Maybe I see an added sales benefit to offering a basic brand starter package with the domain but everyone has a different strategy so fully respect if that isn't part of yours.

We need to ask ourselves if not owning these social media handles, will make potential customers not buy our names? I think, personally, that if we have their chosen domain name, there are very few potential customers, that will not buy our domain names. What premium is a potential customer going to pay for each of the top six handles? Are you going to not sell them the handles, if they bulk at the price. What use are the handles without the domain names. What I decided was that there was too much extremely hard work, uncertainty and expense involved in trading in domain handles, for an unquantifiable level of price. What percentages of customers want these handles? What I decided was I am not in the social media exact match handles business. Too hard and too much uncertainty.
 
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If you look at the poll it's approx 10:1 against the regular setting up exact match handles. The reason for that is we are not in the social media exact match handles business. I wonder how much the 10% reporting they do it, actually make it a plank in there strategies when selling domains. How is your business going?
 
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Three sales in second half I'm in the green, one of those was a bit of luck. A domain I was planning to let expire because of trademark concerns. I used as an affiliate site but wasn't sure I wanted to risk a renewal. Brand protection company for ESPN bought it. My starter brand aspect was only asked about once. Truthfully I could save myself some trouble and move portions of my portfolio to Brandbucket and Brandpa let them handle the brand starter part as well.
 
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Just like am not buying anyones subdomain as it will never be actually mine let alone be working on theres for free as if it all isn't put into action you only giving away your keywords to stronger pulling power. If your keywords show your social media before your domain you work for them if you aren't up and running as functioning site. You must be active on it all to benefit. Domainers haven't been required to run hundreds of social media accounts as well.
 
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I hate registering domains names if I cant get the matching Social handle.
 
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Social media handles sometimes help with negotiation, but buyers rarely take the handle.
 
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I believe it works as an "appealing package" ...so in some respects yes, added value

However, if someone had "top tables dot com", owning "ttofficial" is a fair replacement, with regards to social media handles
 
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