Change your “Appear As” Snapchat Name

Below I’ll talk about why having the same “Appear As” Snapchat name as your username is important when growing your following on Snapchat.

Having the same “Appear As” name and username on Snapchat may be one of the most important strategies to execute before building your audience on Snapchat.

Your appear as name is your “Snapchat Brand.” It’s what viewers share with their friends when they think you are worth following. This is why it’s important that your “appear as” name should match your username. Snapchat only allows users to search by username  – not the name your shown as. Remember the name you appear as, is seen 100% of the time by your followers when you send Snaps and update your story.

So say for example your appear as name is “John Brown” and your username is “brownie154”. You created this awesome snapstory and people are super excited to tell their friends about it.

“Wow! You guys need to go follow ‘John Brown!’ He just put up the coolest story!”

They aren’t going to say “Go follow brownie154” because that’s not your name?—?at least that’s not the name that appears in their feed and seen all the time.

It’s very unlikely that these people will be able to find you or, even worse, they would probably end up following the username “JasonBrown” who hasn’t used Snapchat since he uninstalled it 5 minutes after downloading it. Again, you can only search and be added by your username in Snapchat, not your appear as name.

Snapchat’s current downfall is that it doesn’t validate or confirm people you follow unless they are a verified celebrity. Snapchat also dosn’t display your username along with your appear as name unless the user holds down on your name to view more info.

Think of all the exposure and opportunities you are missing because of this!

BUT, if your appear as name and username are the same, there’s no chance of anyone missing out on your awesome content because they would be able to find you.

Think about it. Stories only last 24 hours, so if your snap story is amazing and gets people excited to share with their friends before the 24 hours is up, you bet there will be screenshots, texting and leaning over the cubicle to share your appear as name with their friends who have not yet discovered you.

Remember, your appear as name is the first thing people see and the last thing they will remember.

ACTIONABLE TO-DO

If your appear as name does not match your username, fix it now! When people are recommending you to others, it’s the name they remembered seeing over and over and over again that they’ll use. That name should be your Snapchat username?—?the name they can type in to find and follow you.

Snapchat does not inform users if they are following the correct brand or person, so it’s imperative that you keep reminding people which Snapchat username to follow by keeping it top of mind and consistent throughout their experience with you.

Steps to change your “Appear As” Snapchat name

1. Tap or SWIPE DOWN on the Ghost icon on the camera screen.
2. Tap on your Name.
3. A pop up will appear with “Edit Name”
4. Edit, replace or add in your Snapchat Username

Note:
– Do not use the @ symbol and Spaces in your username. Snapchat doesn’t allow people to search with the symbol or spaces and trust me, people will type that in when trying to add you.
– Once you’ve edited your appear as name, it will only change when new people add you, Snapchat doesn’t change this for users that have already added you. Sorry.
– The character limit is 30, so use it wisely, you can add your real name and username if limit allows.

Final Thoughts

I believe this is an important key to growing your audience on Snapchat. I love that this platform at it’s core, is a word of mouth platform. Word of mouth in my opinion will always be the most powerful form of marketing on the internet. It’s what makes things go viral. So make it easy for your friends and followers to remember you, by using your name consistently in the platform.

Now, MAKE SURE YOU CHANGE THAT NAME!

Guest Star

This article was written by a guest Snapchat writer.