How you can merge Twitter accounts
If you've ever juggled multiple Twitter accounts, you know how difficult it can be. Not only do you need to engage your followers by creating targeted, valuable content, but you also need to keep your brand message consistent across all accounts.
Sounds a little overwhelming, doesn't it?
It may, which is why it may be worth merging your Twitter accounts instead. By unifying your Twitter presence, you can strengthen your brand story and reach a larger pool of followers through two or more separate accounts.
The problem? So far there is no official way to merge Twitter accounts. Even if you can't literally merge your existing accounts into one, you can still run them as one unit from a marketing perspective.
Below, I'll show you when it might be worth merging Twitter accounts as a marketing strategy, whenever possible, and I'll tell you about certain circumstances where managing duplicate accounts is particularly important.
Why should you merge your Twitter accounts?
There are several reasons why merging or managing Twitter accounts more precisely can benefit your business, depending on the situation. In a nutshell, here are the three main benefits of unifying your Twitter profiles.
- Consistency: It is often easier for marketers to schedule, create, and publish content for just one Twitter account. This is especially true if you also manage profiles across multiple social media platforms.
- Recognizability: Merging multiple Twitter accounts can build a stronger, more recognizable social media brand than operating multiple fragmented accounts.
- Clarity: Instead of confusing your followers with multiple accounts for every single part of your business, you can bring all aspects of your business together under one banner.
Essentially, merging Twitter accounts gives your followers a clearer picture of what your business stands for and what you offer. This makes it easier for users to reach you online, which allows you to convert followers into customers.
However, if you are still not convinced, let me put it another way. With over 192 million active users per day and around 500 million tweets entering the global feed every day, Twitter is an incredibly active platform.
Without a consistent, recognizable, and solid Twitter strategy, it's easy to get lost in all the noise. Merging your accounts can reduce the noise and set your brand apart from your competitors.
Now it is clear how unifying or merging Twitter accounts can benefit your business. Let's look at four times this strategy could help, and how to manage your accounts until merging becomes an option.
How to manage two Twitter accounts during a business consolidation
Business consolidation is an exciting time. You are about to join forces with another company to create a new, stronger company with more potential than ever before.
However, from a social media perspective, consolidations can be tricky. Since you are starting a brand new business, you need to build hype around the company while keeping your existing followers across both Twitter accounts.
Trying to bring two companies with different styles together is even more difficult.
Perhaps you have a completely different attitude towards tweeting and engaging in followers, or maybe there is a huge difference in your audience demographics. Additionally, chances are that you were actually a competitor before and you are now trying to unify your followers.
Sounds like a challenge, doesn't it? So you can handle it smoothly.
Merge Twitter accounts through your dashboard
While you cannot merge Twitter accounts, you can merge them on your desktop or on the Twitter mobile app. Log into your account, click the "More" button in the right sidebar and click the little "+" icon.
Then click "Create New Account" or "Add Existing Account" to continue:
The process is similar for the iOS and Android apps.
You can add up to five accounts this way. So this is a great tip.
Communicate with your followers
Twitter is not ideal for conveying lengthy statements. So pin posts from your website or other social media accounts to explain the situation.
Use the same messages posted on both Twitter accounts at the same time to instantly build some brand continuity and consistency.
Hire influencers
Do your followers respond well to influencers? Hire a few influencers to get the word out and build hype around your new brand.
You can find influencers through marketplaces, influencer marketing agencies, or online.
Use twitter ads
When you consolidate, you don't want to just stick to existing followers. You are also looking for new customers. Consider starting Twitter ads and serving them through both accounts.
Are Twitter Ads Really Worth It? Absolutely.
For one, we're seeing a 35 percent increase in ad engagement on Twitter, which means there's a target audience for your business ads. Additionally, the average Twitter user enjoys targeted, highly specific content, which means that promotional yet informative ads can give users what they want.
How to manage your Twitter accounts for a company acquisition
When a larger company takes on a smaller company and takes control of its assets, it is called an acquisition. While the acquiring company may adjust its branding slightly to reflect the merger, the acquired company no longer exists.
Unsurprisingly, mergers and acquisitions pose a wide variety of marketing challenges. For one, since Twitter accounts can be part of the acquired company's assets, who will determine how they will be managed over the long term? If you decide to close the acquired company's account, who will determine the trajectory?
These are just a few of the challenges digital marketing teams face when maintaining Twitter accounts during a merger. However, here are some tips for further development.
Check your Twitter accounts
First, check both Twitter accounts to see what they have in common and what are the differences. For example, you might sell similar products, but you tweet in different styles. Or maybe the two of you are pretty active on Twitter, but the number of your followers differs significantly.
Here is an example. MoonPie has a funny and distinctive Twitter voice:
If they partnered with a company that tweeted with less humor, the marketing team would need to find a new voice that works for both brands.
Use your results to figure out how to move both accounts forward more consistently. If any legal issues arise as a result of the merger, don't forget to involve your legal teams.
Acclimate your audience
Prepare your followers for the big change by introducing them to the new company and its executives.
Start by posting regular information about the upcoming merger to make sure the news gets as many followers as possible.
Next, do a cross-post. If you are the acquired company, it could mean sharing, or even tweeting, tweets from the acquiring company's account. Get some conversations going and engage your audience.
Finally, make sure you are around to answer questions. Twitter users usually expect a response within 30 minutes. If you can't regularly monitor your DMs or Tweets, send followers to an email contact.
Pin Official Announcements
Get in the habit of pinning important announcements to the top of your Twitter profile. Announcements you might want to pin include a merger notice, logo or branding changes, and the official merger date.
Yes, mergers are challenging, but they are an opportunity to really grow your business and establish your brand online.
How to manage your Twitter accounts when you change your company name
Whether you're reinventing your brand or expanding into new product or service offerings, a name change can open a bright new future for your business.
However, if you've run your Twitter accounts effectively, you will likely have a growing number of followers who you know by a certain name or handle. You might be a little surprised if you suddenly change your Twitter handle or company name without warning!
How can you change the name and inform your followers effectively? No matter how many accounts you have, here's how to communicate a company name change with minimal fuss.
Change your username
Go to your account settings and change your username to the new company name. Before you do that, be sure to notify your followers so they know you still are.
Changing your username is a great opportunity to share your brand history and the reasons for the name change. So, run ads or other promotional materials to educate your audience.
Update your bio
Change your Twitter bio (s) to reflect the new name. Since every follower sees your bio when they open your profile, entering your new company name ensures maximum visibility.
You can also pin a tweet with the details at any time.
Contact your followers
If you've switched to a new account, chances are you've lost followers. Maybe they haven't received the message yet or they have decided not to follow you anymore.
There's only one way to find out what's going on: reach out to the followers who didn't join you through the new handle. You can identify them using marketing tools like Audiense or Sprout Social. Then either target them with ads or email them (if you have one) to remind them.
When you are sure that you have reached as many followers as possible, deactivate your old accounts.
Here's how to manage your Twitter if your company has multiple accounts for different departments
Having multiple Twitter accounts for a company can be beneficial. You can reach a wider audience and separate your marketing content from your support desk, for example.
With that in mind, segmenting your content across multiple accounts can improve your customer service and overall user experience.
For example, UPS has a dedicated support account. Given the size of the company and the services it provides, this makes sense:
However, having two or more accounts for the same business isn't easy – especially if you're a smaller business.
While you may be trying to improve customer service by setting up a dedicated support account, you can confuse your customers! Here are some tips to help you avoid common problems.
Check your metrics
Where are your followers?
Ideally, they should get stuck in your main marketing account. So, if you have had higher follower numbers spread across other accounts, then you should investigate why.
You may not be promoting your primary account adequately or it may not be delivering your followers the valuable content they'll find elsewhere.
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Make sure it's obvious which account a follower should turn to if, for example, they need help or are looking for details on the latest action.
If your followers don't know where to turn, they may stop following you or bothering with your tweets. For the sake of clarity, you should pin the relevant details at the top of each profile.
Use tools to merge Twitter accounts
Consolidate Twitter accounts across departments using social media tools.
For example, TweetDeck allows you to view multiple Twitter accounts at the same time. You can schedule tweets, reply to DMs, and switch accounts seamlessly. For the busy marketer who runs multiple accounts, TweetDeck is an incredibly useful Twitter tool.
Other tools to consider are Buffer and Hootsuite.
Conclusion
Currently, Twitter does not allow companies to merge Twitter accounts. However, you should still think about how to consolidate and build a more recognizable and consistent brand profile online.
Managing two or more Twitter accounts is challenging, but absolutely possible with forward planning and careful branding.
If you need help with your branding, whether you're managing a name change or trying to merge Twitter accounts as much as possible, check out my advisory services and see how we can help.
How do you currently manage two or more Twitter accounts? Do you feel that merging accounts could benefit your business?
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