While most brands have a presence on a number of different social networks, some brands go one step further with multiple accounts on a single network. Usually, we see this with large companies that serve different business needs or have multiple locations. What’s the reason for this and is it right for your business? Let’s take a look.
Relationship Status: It’s Complicated
As a general rule, businesses should stick to a single account in order to maintain branding and consistency. Keeping communication limited to one easy to manage account where your customers can find everything they need makes things simple and efficient. However, a one-size-fits-all approach rarely works when it comes to social media. If your company is significant in size and has multiple brands with big personalities, the manpower, and time to maintain each social account, it might make sense to divide and conquer.
As a general rule, businesses should stick to a single account to maintain branding and consistency. Click To Tweet
The Pros and Cons of Multiple Social Accounts
Pros
- Segmented audiences: using multiple accounts allows you to target various audiences. That means you can worry less about creating content that’s going to reach and please everyone and concentrate on a more specific demographic.
- Location-specific news: for businesses with multiple locations, having individual pages may help you serve the unique needs of each geographical area.
- Topic-Specific Focuses: some brands have a variety of topics they cover. Buzzfeed is a perfect example – in addition to their parent account, there’s Buzzfeed Tasty, Buzzfeed Video, the list goes on and on. While a little bit of each can feed through the parent account, audience members interested in one specific topic can choose to follow that account.
Cons
- It takes more time and staff to manage multiple social accounts, so it can end up creating significant amounts of work that may not be necessary.
- Multiple accounts can lead to customer confusion, especially if the accounts aren’t clearly branded or active.
- When you start creating multiple accounts, you risk losing followers from one account to another. That not only hurts your original account, but it can also leave both accounts with a low following.
- There are search engine optimization penalties when your brand is heavily diluted.
Multiple accounts for different business purposes is a social strategy that can work well for the right type of business, but it can also be damaging for the wrong type of business. Before launching any new accounts, be sure to consider your audience needs and carefully weigh these pros and cons to make sure it’s a good idea for your brand.
Presenting a consistent brand message across all platforms has been shown to increase revenue by up to 23 percent.
If you need help telling your brand’s story, KWSM can help.
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