Do you own your brand name?

When Internet marketing first took off, there was a mad dash to buy up domain names. At the same time, squatters were buying URLs in the hopes of making a few bucks selling them to marketers. The same “gold rush” mindset has been in effect with Twitter handles. Several of the nation’s top brands are in the process of reclaiming branded handles. Bank of America, Volkswagon and Disney are just a few of these brands that do not have control over their namesake’s Twitter handle.

The social media landscape is always changing–especially from a technology perspective. Tomorrow there could be a new platform that renders Twitter irrelevant. Just as soon as you get your profile up and running, the platform might be outdated. When the next “it” thing comes around, will you be prepared to protect your brand?

Another evolution in the marketing name game resulted from a decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. They ruled that URL names no longer need to be restricted to Latin characters, which means Hebrew, Hindi and Korean characters can now be used in URL names.

International brands are now faced with the challenge of owning a whole new set of URL names to keep squatters off their territory. What’s the moral of this story?

It’s imperative for marketers to keep their ears to the ground to stay ahead of opportunistic squatters. If there is a chance that you might need a URL name or social media name, get it. It’s better to own your name, but not use it, than have someone outside your organization in control of it.