How Many Twitter Personas Do You Need?

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Jessica Polley — 8 Comments

When to combine business with pleasure with social media is a standing question. The answer: “It depends.” I’ve been on the Twitter bandwagon for a little over a year now and I’m admittedly a little all over the place with the kind of content I choose to share. With only one user name, I’ve taken the combo route. My tweets cover everything from social media tidbits to what I did on the weekend. Bottom line: At this point, I just don’t ever post anything that I wouldn’t want everyone to see.

Several colleagues have admitted to having two accounts – one for more conservative work-centric content and another for more personal sharing. And I agree that this approach could make a lot of sense.

Having multiple accounts allows you to network with like-minded individuals. This lets you branch out to other potential followers without ostracizing your current follower base who might only care about media-related tweets and not about the new recipe you’re trying. Twitter is full of cliques and many don’t overlap. Twitter lists are a great solution for filtering other tweeps by demographic, but have you thought about how you yourself are being categorized? What lists do you find yourself on?
If you are building a brand, you should register the name on Twitter. Point taken: I just secured the name of my personal blog, Living Portland. I’ll pocket this until I’m ready for it.

What are some of the challenges?

Time management. Having time to tweet from one account can be hard enough for some. Schedule your tweets ahead of time to make it easier. It’s important to keep content fresh but don’t let this become a burden. I recommend TweetDeck or HootSuite, which are both free options to help you stay organized.
Personal branding. If you’re on Twitter because you want people to get to know you and all your different interests, having two accounts might not make sense.

There are many champions of this strategy, including Mark Drapeau, Microsoft’s director of Innovative Social Engagement. Interestingly, his second account doesn’t seem to be around anymore, which seems to lend more credibility to the one-account approach.

How many Twitter accounts do you actively use?

Tags: branding, strategy, twitter

8 Comments

Sara on August 31, 2010

Nice post Jessica and always a topic of debate amongst people I interact with. I personally have one account. I do think this helps in “building your personal brand” and being able to tie your personal and professional interests in one.

Micheal Foley on August 31, 2010

Why splinter yourself into different online personalities? Why not just be a media person who shares recipes? Own it! Building your personal brand should be about claiming your space, not just cramming yourself into an established category.

Be yourself. It’s OK if you don’t get 10,000 followers. It’s not a popularity contest; it’s about creating a space where you can be yourself. If you try to please everybody, it probably means that you’re not passionate about anything.

If that’s the case, I suggest you find your passion before building your brand. Your passion should be the foundation of all your effort and imagination.

Cari Lyle on August 31, 2010

Great topic, Jessica! I have two accounts, although I’m in the process of transitioning to one for some of the reasons you listed — it’s not plausible for me to update on two accounts, and I’d prefer to brand myself as ME in all aspects of life.

However, I do think multiple accounts are reasonable for some people, particularly for those of a younger generation. A lot of high school and college grads created their online personas without a second thought as to how it could affect their future employment (or lack there of). And while we’re really lucky to work for a company that supports and encourages personal branding, not a lot of old-school companies have that corporate mentality. I think that’s definitely changing, but as we’re still in the early, transitional years of social media, not all businesses are appreciative of their employees’ online brands — especially if they’re branding themselves as employees of that particular business.

Ron Schott on August 31, 2010

I’m with Foley on this one. What’s the point in fracturing not only your persona, but your time?

I don’t call myself any kind of guru or anything, but I had this realization last night when a friend was like “whoah, you have almost 900 follower on Twitter.” — It’s not how many people follow you on Twitter that matters, but how many of those people would admit to it.

In that vein, it’s not about making a ton of connections or fractured, specialized connections, but making meaningful ones where you’re bringing value to those who follow and engage.

Right?

Andy Gerlt on August 31, 2010

I have been giving a lot of thought to this topic of late, and I was so glad to stumble upon it today.

I couldn’t agree more with Ron and Michael. I’m often torn between using Twitter as a professional resource vs. a personal expression. I’ve recently come to the conclusion that while I have clients, journalists, friends and family as followers, I want all of them to see the whole picture of what makes me a unique individual. Whether it’s a Tweet about my favorite music of the moment, a Bing update or a conversation with new/old friends – Twitter feels much more freeing than Facebook or other social sites. Although I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times I wish I didn’t have to censor my stream of consciousness. I guess if anyone is truly interested, I’m happy to give them a piece of my mind in the real world.

Jessica Polley on September 1, 2010

Thank you all for the great discussion! And I couldn’t agree more. Tweeting 100% of the time about one topic can also seem robotic and, in turn, be alienating. Because I choose to use my Twitter feed to leverage my personal brand, and as a connector to my blog and Facebook page, I know that I need to show people all facets of my personality. Like Ron and Michael say, it’s not always about having thousands of followers – it’s about building deeper and more valued connections.

Lois Geller on September 6, 2010

Having a split personality on Twitter would be hard for me to maintain. Social media already takes up a lot of my time. I’m also the voice of several clients…and don’t want to “slip” by saying the wrong thing to the wrong group.

This is an interesting point too for Facebook. There I have my own name account and Lois Geller Marketing Group…as another. I can’t appear on my company account as myself (not sure why), and having a challenge even getting people to go there. Any ideas?

Help!

Jessica Polley on September 8, 2010

Lois, thanks for the comment. You bring up a common challenge of not being able to post as yourself on your company Facebook page. I recommend that you create a separate alias account to use as admin for company pages, so you still have the ability to post as you. There’s a recent article around this issue on Social Fresh that’s worth a read. http://bit.ly/atcjHq

On the note around page traffic, I would recommend a couple things to drive, and retain, interest to your company’s Facebook page. Keep content refreshed with new and exclusive content and start to really engage by asking your fans questions to spark conversations. In other words, why would a fan go to the FB page when they can get the same content through your Twitter feed? I also noticed you haven’t responded to anyone who has posted questions or comments directly to the wall. This would be a good first step towards driving engagement. You might also consider a small Facebook ad campaign aimed at your target audience.

Considering you’ve already built a great fan base through your Twitter account, I definitely recommend leveraging that reach and point followers to your Facebook content offerings too.

Hope this helps!

Thinkers and Doers