Maybe it’s time to change my name.
Reasons for why you’re not getting tagged on Twitter (or any social channel), or why people may not be engaging in an online conversation with you:
your name appears as if your profile is that of a ‘tween, or
you are possibly a stripper.
Either way or not, it could be the reason why people are not engaging with you on Twitter. It occurred to me that my business colleagues, politicians, and journalists may likely think this way before engaging in a conversation with me on Twitter because of the username @SugarCube. It can appear juvenile or even unprofessional when referencing a piece of candy or something sugary. In the business world, it could signal a lack of credibility. I once had a colleague tell me that he wouldn’t “check-in” with me online (during the Foursquare days) while at conferences because he didn’t want it to appear that he was hanging out with questionable characters (see item #2 above); and conventions were often held in hotel meetings spaces, so it looked weird. Nice. But I didn’t care at that time, even though it was an awkward conversation. Despite my developing professional career, it was about building a personal brand, so I kept the @SugarCube name because it fit the mission of the feed.
You see, when Twitter came along somewhere around 2006, I was an early adopter. My username, @SugarCube, was created by carrying it over from my days on AIM, Blogger, MySpace, Tumblr, etc. (I realize that I am showing my age with that last statement, but it is true, I didn’t put a lot of thought into the new social media platform.) I was unintentionally building a personal brand in “SugarCube” that has always been a play on the fact that I am a type 1 diabetic on an insulin pump that cannot adequately consume sugar like someone with a normal pancreas can. Different, yes, but it worked, and it made connections to make goals happen. Such as raising money for research through the JDRF Ozarks (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).
On the other hand, I can see how some of you may be thinking that the username “sugarcube” was chosen because of my sweet personality. Those who truly know me also know that there is an incongruence there. Perhaps the username @sourpatchkid would have been a better fit. Ha! Nonetheless, I digress… but the bottomline is, I care about raising money to find a cure for type 1 (juvenile diabetes). I care about informing anyone and everyone about how this chronic condition works, and I care that you know that the juveniles that are diagnosed grow into adulthood and still have it. But mostly, I care about proving that anyone living with type 1 diabetes can still live a normal life with the condition and do everything that everyone else does; it just takes a few extra steps.
So that brings me to now… 16+ years later.
I like my line of work professionally managing associations, particularly for the REALTORS®. I like to discuss the real estate industry and its impact in the legislative and regulatory arenas, and I like developing leaders. I have used my social channels and blogs to talk about real estate investments and property management long ago, and many of my conversations still go there. Association management in the real estate industry is the space I am in now and is where my career focus is. There is a lot of good to be done to effectuate the value of the REALTOR® brand. Even if it just means telling the story or developing the right leaders to keep it going in the future.
It is time for the Twitter handle of @SugarCube to go away and for me to use my own real name. I found a fascinating article that will guide me through the process, and I am sharing it in case you are singing this same song. It was helpful, especially if you desire to hold on to the original name for the sake of nostalgia. Of which I will do.
But in all seriousness, make a few considerations if you are in the same boat as me trying to reignite your Twitter feed. The following are likely a few reasons why people are not engaging in your content online, outside the aforementioned reasons in the opening of this post:
You’re not responding at all, or you are slow to respond. Engage in the conversation. That is how you obtain an authentic following.
You’re not posting content worthy of a conversation.
You have an awkward, bad, or old username, posts, pictures, and conversations that do not line up with your mission. Clean up your feed and who you are following. Don’t focus on the number of followers; focus on the conversation.
Ask yourself if your credibility appears questionable. If so, cite your sources. Admit if you are wrong and move on. And for the love of all things, don’t be aggressive all of the time.
Admittedly, so many of these reasons have been my very own problem these last few years with online engagement. It didn’t start this way back in 2006, so why have I let it slide? Maybe it’s time to change my name and start fresh, even though it feels like I am joining a gym in an effort to lose ten pounds. I am committed, so we will see where it goes.
