When we rebranded from Marketing Tech Blog to Martech Zone, we also needed to update all of our social media handles. Our X handle was @mktgtechblog. This was an oversight from day one. Every time someone asked what the username was, I had to spell it out m-k-t-g-tech-blog, then repeat it a few more times.
I searched X for a username with the term “martech” in it. Unfortunately, most were taken, but I saw that @martech_zone was available.
Stop, Don’t Register It… Yet
This is where most people go wrong. They register a new handle and then go to their original account and tell everyone they’ve moved. The problem is that only a small fraction of their previous followers make the effort to follow the new account. In our case, we would have lost tens of thousands of users if we had done that.
How to Change Your X Handle
Unlike many sites, X allows you to change your username! I was able to change @mktgtechblog to @market_zone on my account without losing a single follower that we worked so hard to attract. Once the new username was enabled, we immediately registered our old username and put up a message that we’ve moved.
To change your X handle, navigate to your Settings (not the profile page). Your username (handle) is listed in the first field. You can start typing a new Twitter Handle to see whether or not it’s been reserved. Once you update it to what you’d like, save your settings. Now you’ve changed your Twitter handle and never lost a follower!
What if people are looking for your old Twitter handle? Well, this is the cool part—you can register your old Twitter handle again and post a message to let folks know that you’ve moved.
We posted the following message on the old account in case someone clicked a link on another site or found the account in search results. This way, they would know we moved and follow us on the updated account.
Hey, if you appreciate this tip, follow us on Twitter!
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