Naming your business & creating social media

Naming your business is one of the most important processes you will do when taking a hobby to making it more serious. Your name will tell people what you do and create a unique brand presence.

How to choose a name?

Choosing a name is one of the most challenging parts when starting a business and definitely not something you should rush or skim across.

Tips for choosing a name:

1. Don't make it location specific
If you have 'NI' or 'UK' or 'Ireland' in your brand name, other than if the product is specific to the location or it makes a 'statement' if it's from a certain place, keep the name generic because it will attract a wider audience and appeal to more people.
2. Make it easy to remember, understand and spell
Going with something hard to spell or hard to pronounce or confusing will make it harder for people to pick up on and remember. The name should be something which can easily roll off the tongue while describing what it is you do for people to paint a picture in their mind.
3. Consider the name having a meaning
A name with a meaning behind it may help the name stick in people's heads and helps when it comes to explaining what the brand is all about.
4. Think about the future
Are you likely to diversify in the future? If you're likely to start making other products or changing what you make then think about keeping the name generic to save having to rebrand later down the line.

Help with picking a name:

Here are a few resources you may consider using to help when picking a name.
Visual Thesaurus - helps to visualise similar words, could also use a normal thesaurus which I've used before and found useful
Shopify Business name generator - get ideas for business names while also checking the domain name
Naminum - generate a name based on a theme
Brain storming - good old pen and paper writing out words which resonate with you and finding names from it which appeal to you with help from family and friends

Checking name availability

One of the most crucial parts of a business is the online presence. Generally you will find you will get more sales online with the correct setup as the audience is greater than in person. Ensuring that your name is available on social media is a big part and keeping the name consistent.

You can use an online name checker to see if the name you've chosen is available on social media and as a website domain.

Enter the name you have chosen into namecheck.com: https://www.namecheck.com/

Make sure the following is available:

- .com domain
- Facebook
- Instagram
- Twitter
- Pinterest

You may wish to check additional social media platforms if you intend to have yourself on them. The .com domain is the most popular top-level domain and widely used across the world. You may use other domains such as .co.uk or .net or .org or what you see fit though we recommend using .com where possible.

If your name is not available on a certain platform you could add additional words to it such as 'its' or 'the' or something similar which will allow you to have the username however, it's best to have the same username across all platforms so people don't have to guess or spend time finding your business where possible.

When you have a business you want the brand awareness to be as great as possible which means having your business on every corner of the internet.

Facebook - you can create a page if you have a personal Facebook profile.
Instagram - used to post photos. Ensure you sign up with your username as your business name. If you convert your account from a 'personal profile' to a 'business account' after signing up you can get access to features which will help you grow including insights into interactions with posts.
Twitter - less common for business but it has its own user base who wouldn't commonly use Facebook or Instagram as much. This user base may appeal to your type of business.

You may wish to be on other platforms such as:
Pinterest - where you post photos and people can create 'boards' which are similar to a mood board. If someone see's something they like, they may buy it.
Tumblr - less popular among businesses but worth exploring if you have some spare time.

When you get started you will realise that managing your social media and marketing is very time consuming, if not more time consuming than making your products. One way which you can reduce this burden is by posting your posts from your Instagram account as it will allow you to link your account with other social media platforms. When making a post you can then share it to your pages/profiles on the other social media platforms which will save you time going and posting on them too.

To finish

Picking a name which you like, is attractive and appealing, and also being available on social media is not easy. Everyone has to go through it and it's a very important part of the process. Don't rush it and take your time to brainstorm. Ask friends or family for ideas and don’t settle for a name you're not happy with.

If you want further advice or help get in contact with us through social media or by emailing us.