Pract•ad•goal is a word host Heather Holloway created. It is the sum total of the words ‘practical advancement goal.’ Her intention with this podcast is to teach entrepreneurs how to advance their careers with practical social media marketing advice.
For years, YouTube creators have been identified by channel names, but now the platform uses YouTube handles!
In this episode, we’ll cover what a YouTube handle is, how to use your YouTube handle to get noticed, handle naming guides and best practices and how to update a handle.
Practadgoal Talking Points
[1:39] What is a YouTube handle
- A unique identifier to direct people to your YouTube channel.
- Your new handle is part of your channel URL.
[2:18] Make it easy for others to find your channel
- YouTube handles are unique, so your audience can find you quickly.
- Share your YouTube handle on other social media and keep it consistent across all social media.
[2:56] Connecting with others in the community
- Tag others if you collaborate with another creator
- Handles can appear in comments or mentions, making engaging with other users on the platform easy.
[3:33] Getting noticed in shorts
- Your handle will appear when you share a YouTube Short.
- People who like the short you shared might go to your channel to interact further.
[3:51] Handle Naming Guidelines & Best Practices
- It must be between 3 – 30 characters.
- Use alphanumeric characters in lowercase or uppercase
- It can include underscores, hyphens and periods.
- Handles must adhere to YouTube’s Community Guidelines, are not already being used or doesn’t appear to be a URL or phone number.
- Don’t be too clever – handles should be easily recognizable.
[5:00] Can a handle be changed
- Navigate to YouTube.com/handle on a computer or mobile device with the YT app
- Select Choose handle or Change handle and type your new handle into the field.
- YouTube will let you know if the handle is valid.
- When it is available and valid, click “Confirm selection.”
Now you can “handle” optimizing your YouTube handle like a pro!
If you need help handling this new aspect of the digital marketing world, we would be more than happy to guide you. And if you’re interested in strengthening your YouTube or multimedia presence, check out our next episode, where we’ll discuss how to get started with video content strategy.