At any given point in my life, I manage at least two twitter profiles; one for this blog (@manelandmedia) and my personal one (@mythicvoice). At my peak, I was running five of them. Why is any of this relevant? Well, if you’ve been around twitter long enough, then you’ve probably met people like me who unabashedly run multiple twitter pages simultaneously. And especially if you’re thinking about starting your own blog or upgrading the publicity of your blog, then I bet the thought has crossed your mind
Should I create a twitter page for my blog?
As with any thing, there are some pros and cons. Here are a few that I’ve discovered:
Pros | Cons |
It can help to build more publicity for your blog | It’s just one more profile to manage |
It can help you engage with other bloggers in similar niches | It can be cumbersome and time consuming |
It’s a great source of ideas for future blog posts | It can be confusing for your followers and your blog community |
Especially for professional blogs, it can help separate personal and professional identities | If you already have a successful personal page, then building a successful blog page can be difficult |
It can be a source for finding writers and contributors | It may not fit with the primary objectives of your blog and online brand |
Admittedly, there isn’t much that’s different about the things I post to my personal page and my blog page, except that I try not to be politically charged on my blog’s twitter profile. For me, that’s the main reason for both. Given the pros and cons I’ve listed (and those that I haven’t thought of yet), I’d say only set up a blog profile if you have some way to maintain it. By “maintain it,” I don’t necessarily mean that you compulsorily have to post as much as you do on a personal page. You could just as easily do the same thing that Seth Godin did on his twitter profile (@sethgodin) and setup a blog profile as a placeholder, but if you do this, make sure you leave a information regarding how people can find you online. Conversely, you could also just use your blog’s twitter profile as a multipurpose page and save yourself the hassle. As for me, I’m not that smart.
If you want an idea of how to run multiple twitter profiles, check out this great post Social Media Examiner http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-wells-fargo-tracks-twitter-interactions/
Related articles
- 10 Steps to Kick Start Your Twitter Network (edte.ch)
- SEO value: commenting on blog posts vs. sharing on social networks (fletcher-prince.com)
- “Twitter for Professionals” – LexBlog Client Webinar on July 28 (kevin.lexblog.com)