Would a Twitter Business Account Be Worth it?

Word is that Twitter will be releasing premium accounts for businesses sometime before the end of the year. These accounts would be used for marketing, advertising, customer relations, etc. They would include statistics and analytical data that Twitter users can’t currently get with Twitter itself.

SmallBusinessNewz/WebProNews reporter Abby Johnson discussed the topic with a few local businesses, and not everyone has incredibly high hopes/expectations for Twitter’s premium accounts.

"I think for small businesses it will be more of a reach," says Emily Sandford of Emage Consulting. "But for larger corporations, I don’t think there will be any hesitation at all."

"I think some larger businesses would be more than willing to pay for it," she adds. "For example, Dell, uses Twitter a lot. They have lots of employees that use Twitter, as well as actual corporate accounts. So I think the companies like that, that have a lot of revenue to gain by analyzing more complex statistics and things like that. I think that those people would be more willing to shell out a more nominal fee."

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Jackie Powell, a partner with Serif Group doesn’t think small Mom & Pop stores would have a lot to gain from a paid Twitter account. She says her business is mostly based on word of mouth and referrals, and they’ve had great success with being personal on Twitter.

Other questions are brought up, like:

- What about Twitter bing down all the time?

– Could Twitter guarantee no outages for paying businesses?

– What if people leave Twitter?

I believe that whether you decide to pay for a premium Twitter account, once the option becomes available, should be based on the goals you have for using Twitter. From a branding perspective, it may simply come off as more professional and inspire more trust if your brand owns a premium account. On the other hand, if you feel like you can do better with personal accounts, you might be able to do so.

As far as the statistical and analytical data, some (as mentioned in the video) are quite content with the stuff they are already getting from third-party apps.

Would you pay for a premium Twitter account? Tell us in the comments.