I used to work for a large firm. A very large firm. They managed a number of Twitter accounts, one for each industry they served (and honestly, maybe a few more). I always wondered why they’d made that choice as it meant curating and managing quite a lot more content. Plus, as a user, I always imagined I’d have a difficult time understanding which accounts would be the best fit for me.

Now that we’ve been managing this business for a few years, we sometimes see clients who do or want to run multiple Twitter accounts. To this day, I regularly wonder how useful this strategy is to them. Here are some situations where you might consider running multiple Twitter accounts as well as things you need to keep in mind for these situations.

Does your Business Need Multiple Twitter Accounts?

1. Do you manage multiple locations? 

If so, you may consider having multiple Twitter accounts – one for each location. This way you can promote each locations events and specials on its own account. However, you need to be sure that each account has the same strategy, response time, and customer service policies. You need to make sure that someone is responsible for checking each account with high regularity. You also need to ensure that customers can easily find each location’s account on your website and understand that there is one account per storefront. One additional caveat with this approach is the distance between locations. If they are an hour or more apart, you’re probably safe to have different accounts. But depending on your market’s size, it may not make sense to have 1 Twitter account for each location if there is a lot of customer overlap.

Managing one account for each location creates a lot more work – and confusion to your customers – without a lot of benefit.

2. Do you have multiple specialties?

Great! You may consider having one account per specialty. However, you need to be sure that each account has the same strategy, response time, and customer service policies. You need to make sure that someone is responsible for checking each account with high regularity. You also need to ensure that customers can easily find each specialty’s account on your website and understand that there is one account per specialty.

3. Do you sell a wide variety of products?

Awesome! You may consider managing on Twitter account per product type. However, you need to….wait, do you guys already know what I’m going to say?

4. Do you want a personal account in addition to your business account?

If you’re going to manage separate presences for your personal and business accounts, that definitely can make sense. You’ll need to make sure that the business account doesn’t take a back seat to your personal account, and that your business account doesn’t end up full of your personal thoughts. It’s a positive to make your presence personable but it’s important to make sure that the two accounts don’t bleed into one another, and that your followers have a clear idea of what to expect from each.

It’s understandable to be interested in managing multiple accounts. However, in practice it’s incredibly difficult to execute without having dedicated social media personnel who can implement a well-planned strategy for your multiple accounts (which the large firm I used to work for did indeed have). Be sure that you can implement your strategy well before claiming multiple accounts for your business.

Still not sure if you need multiple accounts? Contact us to talk it through a Twitter strategy.