Should you separate your business and personal accounts on Twitter? I get asked this multiple Twitter accounts question a lot so that tells me a lot of you are wondering the answer.
In fact, just earlier in the week I got this email.
Question: “It seems most people have a business and personal account for twitter and keep them separate and twitter allows them to stay separate. Is this your recommendation? From what I can tell twitter does not distinguish between “types” of accounts.”
Here’s my response:
Many people have multiple Twitter accounts, one for biz and one for personal use so to speak but they often have trouble keeping up with both. So, it’s worth considering if you’re going to do both–really.
Do you love Twitter and you’re tweeting all the time for personal reasons? Then you may want to keep it that way. If you’re just getting started and you’re not sure what to tweet or the best way to maximize Twitter — then a hybrid account could be good for you — meaning you tweet both biz and personal. Or, you may decide to tweet biz with a personal twist.
If you’re not very Twitter savvy, you may find it demanding to manage multiple Twitter accounts and you’ll end up with few followers and even fewer tweets.
What Are Your Goals?
As a solopreneur it can be tough to manage everything on your plate so think through what you want to achieve with Twitter.
Many small businesses want to use Twitter to build awareness that they exist, build relationships and trust and eventually turn that trust into sales. If those are your goals, you’re better off tweeting either as the business or under a “hybrid” name.
One person who does this “hybrid” well is @ExpressLisaG, she’s the CMO for the clothing store Express and her Twitter bio states, “Follow LisaG across the globe as she rocks the sidewalk. Get your behind the scenes peek into sidewalk runways, top models, on-set style and daily favorites!”
This latter is the direction a lot of brands are going. There’s one “official” twitter name and then multiple people in the company may use a spin on the name.
You’re not there yet you say? You’re a 1-5 person operation? You don’t use Twitter yet? Start with what feels comfortable to you, that can be your name or your business. Get a feel for the tool. Learn how to use it. You don’t have to keep EVERY tweet business related or uber personal. Mix it up. (and skip the uber-personal!)
BTW, you can always change your Twitter username!
What works for you? I’d love to hear in the comments below.
