If you’ve been watching the news, you’ve probably seen the drama over Twitter’s new Twitter Blue and Verification for Organization services.
Premium services for social media aren’t new. LinkedIn’s premium version has been around for a while. Meta is starting a paid program of its own. But Twitter Blue is a hot topic in the news, and more organizations are asking themselves the question: do we need to pay for premium social media?
Why Be On Social Media?
To decide whether Twitter Blue verification or any other premium offering is worth paying for, we need to take a step back and consider why we’re even on social media.
Marketers go where the audience is. Right now, that means social media. That doesn’t mean that other channels can’t be useful; many businesses still use outdoor, radio and TV successfully. But when you ask “where are the people that buy my products and services?” and “what’s the cheapest way to reach them?”, the answer today is usually social media. That’s how we get the best ROI on attention.
Once we have attention, we build rapport with our audience. We share relevant content using formulas like PII and create authority, trust and interest in our product or service.
With that as context, there are two obvious questions we should ask ourselves when considering whether to pay for a premium account:
- Will paying for social media features get us good ROI on our marketing budget?
- Does a premium social media account help us build a better relationship with our audience?
If the answer to either of these questions is “no,” don’t move forward.
What Premium Social Media Accounts Offer
There are a wide variety of benefits for premium social media accounts. But there are two benefits every platform touts in their offering: trustworthiness and reach. Do they actually deliver as advertised? Let’s break them down.
Trustworthiness
The idea that paying for a verified account will make you more trustworthy is built into all the offerings on the market, whether it’s stated or not. Twitter Blue is the obvious example; by adding the “blue check” badge to Twitter Blue, Elon Musk has specifically stated that he’s trying to drive out bots and scammers.
Early returns haven’t been promising. Trolls with check marks have changed their names to impersonate organizations or break fake news. An account with Twitter Blue impersonating pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly cost the company millions in shareholder value when they announced that insulin was now free. And even the “gold check” option that’s supposed to be even more trustworthy recently wound up on a parody Disney account.
People want to know that the brand they’re engaging with is the actual brand. Twitter’s current verification options only require a phone number. Meta’s premium account pilot program requires more detailed data for verification, including government-issued papers for both people and organizations; LinkedIn has multiple optional verifications, but they’re not tied to a premium subscription. Does verification build trust between your organization and your audience? Then it has value. If not, it’s not worth it.
And for some audiences, a premium account might actually backfire. Several top accounts on Twitter have announced a #BlocktheBlue campaign, saying that paying for a premium account indicates support for Elon Musk and is not a sign of legitimacy. The topic has been trending off and on, and I’ve personally seen a number of people in my circle block all Twitter Blue accounts. Meta and LinkedIn aren’t suffering from the same issues, but it’s possible we will see more user campaigns like this in the future.
It’s unlikely that paying for a premium social media account will help you build trust, at least right now.
Reach
Another stated benefit in every premium social media option is expanded reach. Twitter prioritizes Blue subscribers in the For You tab and gives them higher visibility for other Blue subscribers, as well as giving them higher placement in replies. Meta says they’re giving premium subscribers higher organic reach — though they’ve released few details on what that means. LinkedIn offers enhanced messaging options (side note: does anyone ever answer those messages? I sure don’t).
More is more; reach is always good. Premium social media may be worth it if you’re starting out and it helps you get in front of a relevant audience — always a challenge. Relevance is the big question. How many of the new people you’ll reach with the premium account will actually care what you have to say?
Reach without action isn’t that helpful, though. Views are nice, but platforms have incentives to juice those numbers; the fox is watching the henhouse. More followers, more likes, and more views can make you believe you’re having more impact than you are. Don’t get caught up in metrics that don’t move the needle for your business. If you’re not getting tangible results like email subscriptions, downloads or sales, the expanded reach is worthless.
Is Premium Worth It?
More trust and more reach are benefits every brand can use. The question is whether premium social accounts actually deliver that. There is a use case for these premium offerings, but it’s too early to tell whether the ROI is worth the potential risk.
You might get labeled as a Zuckerberg fanboy or Elon follower. That’s not great for most brands. On a case by case basis, though, some may find the label useful. Tech, crypto and Web3 are examples of segments that could be good fits for premium social media. It depends on having an audience where the association with a founder may not negatively impact the brand.
We talk about permission a lot here at Rainmaker Digital Services. That matters in social media. Premium accounts may give you more views, but the strongest indicator someone wants to hear what you have to say is action … a share, a follow or an email subscription, for example. You need to find your audience and get their permission to interact with them. Your net gets wider with a paid account, but that’s only good if the audience in the net acts.
Paying for premium social media is a qualified “not yet” for us. In a handful of verticals it may be useful. But these verification programs are undeveloped, too early, too risky and too fast-changing for us to recommend them. Audience response is still up in the air as social media switches from editorial content to “pay to post.”
Social media is constantly changing, and we’re going to be keeping a close eye on premium social media accounts. We’ll keep you posted if we revise our opinion. In the meantime, if you need a hand with marketing for your business, we’re always here to help. Just drop us a line, anytime.
Best Regards,
David Brandon
Copywriter
Rainmaker Digital Services