With over 105 million registered users and 30,000 new accounts created daily, it’s no wonder that Twitter is a prime destination for worldwide advertising. So what exactly is a “promoted tweet”?
With over 105 million registered users and 30,000 new accounts created daily, it’s no wonder that Twitter is a prime destination for worldwide advertising. The popular microblogging service allows users to send and receive posts of up to 140 characters while giving them the opportunity to immediately connect with friends, brands, industry experts, and popular celebrities from around the world. Ever since the social networking site arrived on the scene in 2006, it has proven to be successful for businesses, enabling them to broadcast their latest news and interact with customers 24/7. Five years later, organizations continue to use the information network on a daily basis to collect market insights and establish relationships with the consumer. The social network offers three main ways to advertise: Promoted Trends, Promoted Accounts, and Promoted Tweets. While Promoted Trends and Promoted Accounts focus on increasing a brand’s following in a timely manner, Promoted Tweets work to extend the reach of the specific message to a wider audience with the added value of establishing a one on one relationship with the customer.
What is a Promoted Tweet?
Promoted Tweets give businesses the ability to engage with users outside of their core following by sharing relevant content, building awareness and establishing their brand’s voice. Businesses can use Promoted Tweets to make connections with those who are currently not a part of their follower base. Most likely, a brand’s current follower base is already comprised of users who are most responsive to the brand. These followers are the brand advocates who are the first to know and spread the message, and by targeting users just like them, the most engaging tweets will be placed in front of potential followers, thus enhancing tweet exposure. This tactic, often referred to as ‘look alike modeling,’ establishes ongoing conversation in order to precisely target the most “like” consumers. Not only will Promoted Tweets begin to appear on the user’s actual Twitter stream but in third-party applications as well. Third-party applications such as Tweetdeck, Twitpic, and Co-Tweet are used to access tweets and other Twitter data, giving the user the ability to update and manage their social media accounts with ease.
Promoted Tweets offer a number of benefits to the user, as they are offered on a Cost-per-Engagement basis and share a direct correlation with Pay-Per-Click in the fact that advertisers only pay when a user takes a specific action. Payment only occurs when a user re-tweets, replies, or marks it as a “favorite”. These tweets carry a minimum CPE of $0.10 and a recommended CPE of $0.50. Rewarding followers by providing unique deals, in addition to captivating content, will highly improve the chances of being re-tweeted, both increasing the amount of daily interaction with consumers and encouraging like minded users to follow the brand as well.
How do Promoted Tweets Work?
When a user logs on to their Twitter account, the Promoted Tweet will appear near the top of the timeline based on relevance. Similar interests are determined through a combination of data such as who the user follows, typical daily interaction, and re-tweeting history. Keeping content fresh and relevant is ideal, as Promoted Tweets are only displayed for as long as they’re engaging with the consumer. As the user scrolls down the page, the Promoted Tweet will remain on the timeline as newer tweets begin to appear. It’s important to note that Promoted Tweets are not ads; rather, they are simply regular tweets that have a need to reach a wider audience. While crafting a Promoted Tweet, it’s important to remain conversational, engaging, and insightful. The goal is to capture a larger following by improving the chances of becoming re-tweeted. Is the content compelling enough to share? How will the tweet resonate with consumers? If the users don’t interact with a Promoted Tweet, it will simply disappear.
Monitoring Your Progress
Although Twitter is considered a powerful platform for businesses, many have struggled to accurately measure the amount of traffic Twitter is actually driving to their sites. Sites such as Tweetstats and Klout can provide you with valuable information by measuring your activity, however, these statistics are often more interesting than helpful. These are great tools to provide a user with the information they need to improve their Twitter influence. Earlier this month, Twitter launched Twitter Web Analytics which will be made available to website owners over the course of the next few weeks. The major benefits of this tool that differentiates itself from the rest includes allowing the user to visually view the amount of traffic driven to their site from Twitter, and developing a clear understanding of how much of their content is being distributed across the network.
Summary
One of the main challenges that Promoted Tweets face is having the ability to produce Tweets that align with the specific interests of the user. Finding the perfect balance between generating revenue and maintaining the ultimate user experience will be crucial over the next few months as the platform continues to roll out. As some users may be skeptical about having Promoted Tweets in their personal stream, it’s important to remember that these are not your average ads and that they can reach the consumer on a much more personal and valuable level. Refraining from the aggressive hard sell and designing a creative promotion would be a best practice for businesses. Although users can easily dismiss Promoted Tweets with a single click, who can resist a free cup of coffee or a chance to win free airfare? More than likely, this major move for the popular social network will multiply a brand’s follower base, and as long as the content is compelling enough, it will keep the company in front of the consumer at all times.
Recommended Reading
Twitter Unleashes Promoted Tweets: http://www.seoinc.com/seo-blog/twitter-unleashes-promoted-tweets/
Twitter Debuts Analytics Platform, Expands Promoted Tweets Distribution: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2109346/Twitter-Debuts-Analytics-Platform-Expands-Promoted-Tweets-Distribution
Twitter’s Status Update: More Promoted Tweets, More Engagement: http://mashable.com/2011/09/08/twitters-status-update-more-promoted-tweets/
Tags: Advertising, Promoted Tweets, Twitter
