Navigating the ins and outs of social media can be a lot. One of the best practices we like to promote is that brands should have only one page per each platform on which they participate. This doesn’t mean they need a page for every social media platform. It means that if they are on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, that they should have one account for each of those, and no more. Here are a few reasons why we recommend this, a few exceptions and some tips if brands need to merge pages:
One page is best
Avoid making your customer work too hard – If your customers and followers are looking for updates, there should be one central location where they can get those. They shouldn’t have to follow multiple accounts to get all the news about your brand.
Reduce maintenance – Updating social media and maintaining a consistent posting schedule can already be challenging for one page per platform. Brands will also need to monitor each post and page for customer engagement. Having one page significantly reduces the bandwidth needed for page maintenance.
United public image – Multiple accounts may cause confusion from your customer on which is your official account. Customers might not know that all accounts are run by your brand, and be wondering which they should follow.
Strength in numbers – When you have multiple pages, you fracture your followers into different groups. This can make tracking and receiving engagement challenging. Algorithms that will be responsible for serving your promoted posts respond better if a lot of people like one page. A single combined page can also help the algorithm get a better snapshot of your customer base, allowing it to best match your brand with potential followers. Breaking up your following over several small groups can negatively affect how the algorithms view your brand. By having all your followers on one account, you get to have a collective following, likes and comments.
There are a few exceptions
In some cases there is an argument for a Locations set up. This used to be called parent-child set up, and allows brands to have a main page, while also allowing different locations or sub-brands to have their own presence. This makes sense for companies that have multiple locations or franchises. It allows for a cohesive brand look and feel as well giving a super-admin access to all pages for monitoring and posts. The Locations set up also offers the ability to post only on one location page, so if there is a promotion at one specific location, that can be advertised without posting to all locations.
Merging pages
Here are a few tips if you’ve already created multiple pages, but now want to merge them into one page.
- The pages should be of a similar topic and owned by the same company.
- Select which page will become your main page, it will likely be your brand page or the account with the biggest following.
- Make sure the page you select will make sense for consumers as they look for your brand.
- Take in the big picture and review each platform’s individual merging guidelines and confirm that the process and handle you selected will work for all your pages before starting the process on any one platform. Ideally, you’ll want the same or very similar handles across all platforms.
Focus on one
For most brands, one page per platform is the best practice for social media accounts. This will not only help your customers find your brand, but will be the easiest option as well. If your brand needs help navigating the social media landscape or determining if you should combine multiple pages, our social media experts are standing by to help!