Hi, Max Adagio, Brafton’s Social Media Associate here with this month’s Third Thursday Tip.Last year, 63% of top brands used multiple twitter handles. Dell has numerous official accounts, Google has over 50, Toyota, Coke, the list goes on. Click the play button to watch the video and find out why, or read the transcript below.

The number of brands using multiple profiles has increased nine-fold in the last three years. So this is a popular trend, and it is popular because it has some great benefits.

Dell uses multiple Twitter handles to reach its various audiences.

What are they?

One of the main advantages is that brands with multiple accounts have more opportunities to segment audiences strategically. With new accounts, brands can target niche audiences and provide their customers  with better service and more engaging content.

Marketers can meet their clients’ specific needs by giving them detailed social content on a consistent basis without pulling attention away from the brand’s core messages. This is useful for any brand that has chapters, multiple locations or departments.

Like Dell, most brands with multiple handles use one for customer service needs. But that isn’t the only segment this can benefit. Whole foods, for example, has hundreds of twitter accounts. There is a flagship account for promotional content, as well as an autonomous handle of tips, recipes and Whole Foods news. Many local store have their own accounts that promote local events and sales. There are even interest category accounts based on store departments—like cheese or meats!

Here is an important pointer: Your new Twitter feed must have a purpose (separate from the feed you already have). If you don’t have a plan for the new Twitter, your content will either be poor or regurgitated from your original feed. In that case, engagement and brand image will suffer, most likely on both handles.

In other words, two handles have a great possibility of diluting content if you aren’t careful and you don’t plan.

Whether or not you will be incorporating a new Twitter account into your social strategy next week, next month, or next year, reserve the twitter handle NOW.

Another Twitter account is an exciting idea, but there is a lot behind it. You need content. You need day to day maintenance – make sure you know the resourcing a second twitter deserves and if it’s worth it. If it’s a customer service handle, someone needs to mind the counter.

Hopefully this video has sparked a few ideas for possible new handles for your business. If it has, I’ll leave you with this parting tip:

Whether or not you will be incorporating a new Twitter account into your social strategy next week, next month, or next year, reserve the twitter handle NOW.

Max Adagio is a content strategist at Castleford, Brafton's APAC sister company in New Zealand. Having graduated from Boston College, he promptly charted a professional course in emerging media. A dedicated fan of James Joyce, he likes to write fiction and often tries and fails to bring a literary sensibility to social media topics and practices.