Do You Have a Facebook Vanity URL?
As a result of yesterday’s post asking all genealogists to send in links to their favorite genealogy-related pages, groups and people on Facebook, I noticed a pattern: not everyone is taking advantage of obtaining a vanity URL from Facebook.
What Is A Vanity URL?
When you create your profile page or a fan page or a group on Facebook, the page is assigned a long number. Like this:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1019772152
But when you create a vanity URL, the same link looks like this:
http://www.facebook.com/tmacentee
Vanity URLs make it easier to remember a link but it also is a good way to market yourself or your genealogy site – using a name is much better “branding” than a long number!
How Do I Get A Facebook Vanity URL?
- Getting a vanity URL is fairly easy. Go to http://www.facebook.com/username.
- You will be prompted to select a vanity URL name and check for availability. Warning: once you select a name you cannot change it! Choose carefully!
- If you have created a Facebook page for your business or organization, click Set username for pages and you can select a vanity URL for each page. Note: a Facebook page must have at least 25 fans before it is eligible for a vanity URL.
Conclusion
You can learn more about Facebook vanity URLs here. Consider securing your vanity URLs now as part of your overall marketing and branding plan.
© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee
