It can be difficult. Your full name is a little over the top, though maybe not on LinkedIn. I run into the problem of their being a lot of vangogh fans. Most of the time someone has beaten me to the name. Now I sign up for things quick even if I don’t plan on using the site for awhile.

@Forrest – I wouldn’t have thought there would be another you. especially one that’s an artist. I only rank #2 for ‘Steven Bradley’ There’s an professor who’s school page is #1 and likely will be for awhile. I have 4 of the top 5 spots and 7 of the top 16 at the moment.

@Khalid – That is funny, particularly the misspelling. You don’t think it’s going to be a big deal, but then you realize there’s no reason anyone should know that all three Khalid’s are really on and the same.

The avatar is the way I’m going to go too. It’s recognizable and the visual is more impactful than the name until your name gains mindshare. My only debate is whether to switch the image to a real one of my. It’s probably best to use my real picture, but I generally don’t like how I look in pictures.

It is sort of funny that you mention using the same user name across different platforms as a branding tool. I did not discover how helpful this can be until someone asked me the same question you were asked. I used three different user names khalid, khalidh and khalidhajsaleh in the forms and blogs I am on.

And just to make matters a little worse, I discovered that I misspelled my user name on a forum I was on for couple of months. So, I had to deal with people knowing me as kahlid, yet a forth user name. Oh, the confusion.

What is worse is that some people whom I know for sometime now insist on using khalidh (with the “h” at the end) for my first name. Go figure, that is what happens when you have a little strange name.

My solution at this point is to start using my pic as an avatar.

Of course, even once you settle on something, there are the technical challenges. What if a site has a letter limit, or doesn’t allow punctuation, or always displays in lowercase? What if you start to get popular and people beat you to the punch, using your handle to boost their own status? The scale/dollars may be different, but personal branding is just as complex as corporate branding, in many respects.

I thought about you too writing this. Your avatar kept popping into my mind while writing the section on unifying your personas. If you want to keep the personas separate it makes sense to use different names. There’s no need to brand yourself and the company you work for together unless you want to. If you wanted to have your company associated with your personal brand it makes sense, but otherwise you’re probably best to keep the two separate.

Don’t talk about yourself in the third person. Just wanted to remind you.

You know, this never occurred to me until you mentioned it. I have a couple of screennames, and I also write under my own name on the blogs. Granted this is for the company for which I work, so it might not matter as much. It certainly is something to think about for my personal stuff. Most of my online presence right now is in service of the companies for which I work.