• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Margie ClaymanMargie Clayman

Marietta, OH

  • About Me
  • Marketing
  • Librarianship
  • Random Musings
  • Contact Me

The Social Media implications of Tikki Tikki Tembo

March 10, 2011 by Margie Clayman 9 Comments

There is a tale from China about two young brothers. The younger brother’s name was Chang. But the older brother, well, he had a very very long name, as was the custom. His full name was Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sa Rembo Chari Bari Ruchi Pip Peri Pembo. Now, even though they had been told not to, the two little boys loved playing near a well, which was very deep and therefore very dangerous. One day, an awful thing happened, and Chang fell into the well.

Are you familiar with this story? When I was a kid, my mom would read the 1968 version of the tale to my brother and me (this charming puppet show uses as a script that version of the story). The moral of the story is that having a super-long name that takes so long to say can actually be very detrimental. When Tikki Tikki Tembo falls into the well, it takes so long for everyone to say his name as they look for help that he very nearly drowns (in some versions he does drown). On the other hand, Chang gets saved very quickly because his name is so short.

What can this possibly have to do with Social Media?

You might not drown in water, but you could drown in the crowd

One thing you always hear about when you cruise the Social Media information channels is that you are competing against tons and tons of people. You’re not just competing in the business sense, either. You’re competing for people’s memory cells. You’re competing for people’s ever decreasing attention span. You are competing for the opportunity to really and truly engage with someone.

Now, let’s say that one the one hand you have someone who decides to simply use their actual name as their Twitter handle. They use their name across the board – for Facebook, for their blog, for LinkedIn, and for forums they participate in. Pretty soon, you get to know that person via their name, just like you would if you were attending a class with them in real life. If the name is easy to remember and/or reasonably short, you’ll have an even easier time remembering who that person is, right? That person is like Chang in the story. If they need help or a retweet or anything else, you have their name right on your finger tips.

Now, let’s look at the person comparable to Tikki Tikki Tembo. This person may:

• Have a super long Twitter handle

• Have a super long Twitter handle that has nothing (seemingly) to do with their name and/or business

• Have a different and confusing name for each place you encounter them

Are you going to be able to remember that person’s name every time you want to? Are you going to recognize their blog site well enough to then tie it to their Twitter name when you tweet out the post?

Just like Tikki Tikki Tembo, that person’s content may drown before you get a handle on his or her Twitter handle.

How you can be like Chang

Now let’s talk about you. How can you avoid drowning in the Social Media well? Here are some ideas.

• Try to keep your Twitter name short but easy to understand. Remember, when someone retweets you, your name is taking up some of those 140 characters. If you can keep your username short, it will be easier for people to retweet what you are saying. This is not to say that you want a name like 1c. What does that mean?

• Keep your name consistent wherever you go. One of the biggest bummers when you are trying to engage with people is when you can’t tie a blog site to a Twitter account or a Twitter account to someone who wants to friend you on Facebook. A lot of people use their real names and faces on Facebook, but on Twitter the temptation is to use a name like FluffyDog17. Well, if you’ve been talking to me as FluffyDog17 and then try to friend me on Facebook as Joe Smith, how on earth am I going to know that’s you? That makes it hard to engage.

• If you are using Social Media as part of a company or corporation’s effort, have a naming convention. If you are trying to engage people as a brand, let them know that your team is a team. Decide how you all are going to remain individuals but relate to each other on a corporate level. No one should have to struggle to make those connections.

The moral of the story

Just as Tikki Tikki Tembo’s parents realized that endowing the eldest son with a tremendously long name had its disadvantages, you can learn from Social Media naming blunders of the past. Be memorable. Be you. And be memorable and you consistently, wherever you go. It’s a key step to help you engage with other people in the huge Social Media world.

Make sense? Have something to add?

This is post number two in The Engagement Series! If you want to make sure you don’t miss any of these posts, make sure you subscribe. And remember, this series is meant to help you. If you have ideas or questions, let me have them!

Filed Under: Marketing Talk

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rufus Dogg says

    March 10, 2011 at 8:05 am

    I LOVE that book. We (5 kids) used to read that a lot as children (that and listen to Walt Disney records and sing Big Rock Candy Mountain, but that is a story for another day)

    Love how you tied that back to short, memorable and consistent. Another example of what not to do in branding is what Charlie Sheen did in is Sheen’s Korner broadcast. He had so many “brands” going that even his “staff” couldn’t keep it all straight., In the end, it just became a mess.

    Many people start off as a cute personal “brand” and quickly realize that after spending years on populating the search engines and building trust that it wasn’t strong or broad enough to carry the full weight of a real brand. … oops, DogWalkBlog 🙂 Never mind, don’t listen to me…

    Reply
    • GrandMaOnDeck says

      March 10, 2011 at 8:58 am

      Read this story to my daughter when she was little. What a great way to tie this to social twitter.
      I see what you mean.Short sweet and memorable on all stages.

      Reply
      • Margie Clayman says

        March 10, 2011 at 11:51 am

        Exactly it. Glad you enjoyed the post 🙂

        Reply
    • Margie Clayman says

      March 10, 2011 at 11:50 am

      @Rufus – yeah, well, DogWalkBlog IS memorable. Gotta give yourself credit for that 🙂 It’s a great book to read as a kid. Sadly all of my kid memories are now becoming blog posts. Is that sad? I don’t know.

      Reply
  2. Wayne Lamarre says

    March 10, 2011 at 9:25 am

    Great post Marjorie!

    Consistency of name and message becomes more important due to the opportunity to have a presence on multiple social media channels. Resisting the temptation to use your college nickname for example is sound decision.

    It also makes good business sense to claim your name on existing and emerging social platforms. If you believe a particular form of social media is less relevant to your business at the moment, it may not remain that way.

    The tie into the story is brilliant.

    Happy Marketing

    Reply
    • Margie Clayman says

      March 10, 2011 at 11:52 am

      Thanks so much, Wayne.

      You raise a great point in regards to reserving your name even if you think you will never use that particular platform. First of all, you just never know, and second of all, you definitely don’t want someone else using it! That’s why companies are now being advised to buy up the .net, .biz, and .us versions of their domain name!

      Reply
  3. Sarah Hans says

    March 10, 2011 at 10:41 am

    The only problem is that your name (or your usual nickname) may already be taken on twitter. That’s how I ended up with steampunkpanda.

    Reply
    • Margie Clayman says

      March 10, 2011 at 11:53 am

      This is true. If you are using Social Media for a business, I’d try to keep it close to either your name or the company name if you can’t match exactly, and then with your blog and other places you go, keep it reasonably consistent, or as consistent as possible. Good point though!

      Reply
  4. Amber Cleveland says

    March 11, 2011 at 2:21 am

    I have mentioned that same story over the years…sooo neat that you used it in your post. You made really great points about naming conventions and I couldn’t agree more.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Post: « Four lessons on engaging from William Shakespeare
Next Post: Why you need to be like ivy »

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Seeing Double: African American Literature
  • Book Review: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
  • Book Review: Land of Lincoln, by Andrew Ferguson
  • The portrayal of the infertile woman in entertainment
  • Chapter 3: A Weird Thing Happened Today

Recent Comments

  • Delores Baskerville on Are you locking out blog subscribers?
  • frank c tripoli on Book Review: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
  • Lyv on #30Thursday number 10 (we’re in the double digits?!?)
  • Fitoru on New Recipes, 2013
  • Anna Wyatt on Help me petition to deactivate driver-side airbags for Little People

Archives

  • February 2021
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • April 2017
  • October 2016
  • July 2016
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • December 2014
  • October 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • February 2014
  • December 2013
  • October 2013
  • August 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2007
  • April 2007

Categories

  • Book Reviews
  • Crafts and Charity
  • Gardening for Renters
  • Marketing Talk
  • Molly Maggie McGuire
  • Musings
  • PassionPlayers
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Footer

marjorie.clayman@gmail.com

   

Margie Clayman © 2022