Should your brand start a "side quest" account?

The case for taking a more relaxed approach to launching new social pages.

Up until a few years ago, the argument against creating a new account was straightforward. It takes a lot of time, money, and resources to build a following on a fresh page. Brands needed followers to make sure their posts got seen and the effort of starting a new account often didn’t make sense.

Today, that logic no longer holds up.

I’ve watched as creators like Taste Buds and Kid with Crocs get over a million views on their first few posts. If there’s a FYP-market fit, the video will get seen—regardless of how many followers the account has. Some users even speculate that the platforms give a bump to new accounts, although I cannot verify that.

Meanwhile, so many brands continue to use their main account to do everything. They program their feed like a television network—product images, campaign videos, recurring series, UGC testimonials, sales announcements, and more. It doesn’t work like it used to. I’ve written at length about the benefits of focusing your feed—which many small brands have done a very good job of!—but for larger brands I understand that they can’t just turn their main account into one serialized show.

It got me thinking about what brands could unlock if they took a more relaxed approach to starting new accounts. What if instead of programming the brand page like a network, brands programmed each platform like a network—spinning off new specialized accounts. A movie studio with a fan edit account. A fashion company with a style makeover social show. In today’s newsletter, I explore what this approach might look like in practice.

Here’s what’s inside:

• The psychology of discovering a new account

• How to take an ecosystem approach to social media

• Why politicians have “team” accounts

• The five types of additional brand accounts

• How I’d apply this model to J.Crew

• Social strategist Matthew Stasoff on the benefits of “side quest” accounts