Welcome to The Spark Show! In this episode, I’ll be talking about what to consider with multiple Instagram accounts, if you should have multiple accounts, and help you make this decision. A ton of my students in The Spark Society have been asking about this so I wanted to record an episode to address this. The thing is, so many people get stuck on making decisions and they end up getting overwhelmed and not doing anything, which is exactly what I don’t want you to do. 

So, let’s start with things to consider:

1. Who is your audience? 

This is why I have my students start with the AUDIENCE module in The Spark Society because you need to really know who your audience is. Some influencers start multiple Instagram accounts and they’re talking to the same audience. Instead of focusing on one account, they’re putting a lot of time and effort into two accounts that could have had a larger following. 

So, if your accounts have the same audience, you want to just focus on one account. Also, one account is already challenging to grow: you need time to plan, shoot, edit, schedule and post, plus engage with your current followers and target audience for at least 1-2 hours a day. 

Now, if you’re talking to two different audiences, it may mean that you’ll eventually want to have multiple accounts, but, this also depends on how much time you have.

2. How much time do you have to allocate on your Instagram accounts? 

If you’re already pressed for time, you may not want to have two accounts. If you have more than 4-6 hours per day to spend on growing Instagram accounts, then you can possibly grow and monetize two accounts. I didn’t have two accounts until a few years after I started my business and I hired a team, because growing more than one account does take more time and effort. 

If you have the capacity to hire someone to help you, then it’s definitely possible to grow and monetize two accounts. Most influencers are doing this themselves and are solo-preneurs, so, in my experience, most only have time to do one account. 

I wanna go back to the plant analogy, because I’m really into plants right now. I’ve declared myself a plant lady. As humans, we only have a finite amount of time and energy. We only have one watering can per day. So, if you’re growing one plant, that plant will receive all that time and energy and it will grow faster than if you’re splitting those resources up with two or three or more plants. 

I say this with other channels as well, not just Instagram. You get to choose what to add to your plate. If you can’t even post and engage consistently on one platform, then it’s probably not a good idea to start another one and dividing your efforts instead of focusing on one. 

3. Personal vs Brand Account

I wanted to talk about this because I get this question a lot - should you have a personal brand account under your own name or under a brand name? First of all, both are brand accounts. You are a brand, it just depends if the brand is under your name (ex. Gwen Lane vs The LA Girl).

It can be both, but you need to be clear on if you’re going to be the face of your brand or if there is no face. In this case, you need to decide what your goal is. If your goal is to get brand deals, most brands utilize influencer marketing because they want to work with a person, the influencer who will create content and endorse their product or service. They do work with brands that are not a personal brand (think Refinery29 and other media sites) and it’s more of an advertising capacity. 

In my experience, you can charge more as a personal brand because you’re putting your name, your endorsement behind it as a content creator. 

There is no right or wrong answer here. The awesome thing about having your own influencer business and being your own boss is that you get to decide what you want to do. And, it’s not up to me or up to anyone else. The idea here is to trust yourself and to go with your gut. 

Most influencers are scared that they’ll make the wrong decision, but really, there is no wrong decision. We make the best decision at the time and we adjust later. You can always change your mind and things are going to change. 

If you listen to episode 94, I talk a lot about this. I talk about how you as a person and a brand will evolve over time and you can change your name, your username, your location and your lifestyle. You can decide that you don’t want to talk about certain things anymore or maybe you are now super passionate about something else. 

That’s really the lesson at the end of the day - to trust yourself and know that you will make the right decision for you, and you can always change your mind, change your goals and everything will be okay. 

Instead of trying to get these answers from someone else, I want you to realize that only you can answer this question and make the decision for yourself. The answers are within you - because no one else truly knows your life, your audience, your schedule, your desires and what you really want. 

So, if you’ve been stuck in this indecision, today I want you to get out of it. You’re gonna go over these questions and you’ll know which one feels right - to focus on one account or to have two. You’ll stick to this decision until a certain time (ex. until one hits X amount of followers or you hit an income goal or hire someone to help you). 

And, until things change, which they will, then you’ll keep moving forward because clarity only comes from action. It doesn’t happen when you’re stuck in indecision or when you’re overwhelmed. I want to empower you to make decisions quickly and be willing to see and test, and take the results as they come. 

 Listen to the full episode here: 

Watch the Masterclass

thespark.show/class

Listen to Previous Episodes: 

What To Do When Your Brand Evolves

How to Master Your Mindset featuring Satya Purna

The Truth About Follow / Unfollow

Building a Body Positive Community featuring Danni Adams

How to Create a Morning Routine for Success

Connect with Gwen Lane

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