If you’re using social media as an individual or a small organization, you probably have just one account on each of your key social networks. But when your organization is larger or more complex, it can be hard to know how many accounts to have. For example, IBM has lots of Twitter accounts depending on the brand, business unit or country. In working with local government, the same question arises. Do we offer one Facebook page for the town? One for the town and one for the Board of Education?
If you offer one account when you really need several, you run the risk of giving people too much information they’re not interested in. They may disconnect. If you go too granular, users may get frustrated that they have to Like 6 different Facebook pages or follow 3 different Twitter accounts to get all the news from your organization.
As usual, there’s no magic number. But here’s 5 questions you can ask to get the answer that’s right for your organization.
1. How do your users see you?
Step outside of your organization. How do your customers or constituents see you? Would multiple accounts fit the way customers see your company or do they simply mirror your org chart? In my civic example, do people make the connection between the Board of Education and town government? Understanding how your potential audience sees you is the first step in deciding what accounts make sense.
2. Who is the audience for each possible account?
Why are you creating these accounts? Who is your audience? Start with who you’re serving and why. Be as specific about this as possible. Don’t just say “potential customers”. Who are they? Are they in a certain geographical area? How will they find out about you? How old are they? Are they very tech savvy? How often do they use social tools? You want a clear picture of who you’re trying to reach.
Consider the size of your audience as well. If you have a lot of potential users, you may have more of a case for creating multiple accounts than if your total universe of users is say, 50 people.
3. What information do your users want?
When you know who you want to connect with, you can think about what they want. Do they want all the information your organization offers? Just some of it? Are people who purchase one product typically interested in others, or are your offerings mutually exclusive? Developing an idea of the specific kinds of content you will share on social networks now will not only help you determine how many accounts you need on each network, it will help you prepare for being active and meeting users expectations.
4. How much overlap will there be in your audiences?
If you are considering multiple accounts, you have an idea of what sub-groups in your organization might need their own account. How much overlap is there between the audiences of these subgroups? Would a person who is interested in corporate updates also be interested in updates from one of your product lines? Would a person who wants to follow what’s happening with the town Parks and Recreation Department also be interested in news from the Board of Education? If there is a lot of overlap, combine accounts. Don’t make users sign up for multiple accounts unnecessarily.
5. How will you manage the information you’ll be providing?
Who will manage these accounts? Where will they get their updates and the content to share? While your accounts on social networks should be organized based on what makes sense to your user, you do need to consider how you will maintain them before you start. Don’t create multiple accounts and then hand them off to other parts of your organization unless there’s a resource ready to do the job.
If you’ve answered these questions, you know who you’re targeting, what they want and how they view your organization. Now you’re ready to decide how many Facebook pages or Twitter accounts to create. Whether you decide to create one or several, be clear about what the account represents. Your users should know if news they receive via that account represents all activity for your organization or just one part of it.
What have I missed? Is there anything else to consider when deciding how many accounts an organization should create?
[Image credit: Ivan Prole]
I'm an internet marketing consultant and a 16 year veteran of the internet marketing industry. My roles have spanned digital strategy, website management, search engine optimization, social media marketing and business process management. I'm fascinated by the way internet technologies change how we learn, vote, shop and give. 
