Twitter affords its users the opportunity to stay connected to the news they crave and their favorite personalities and also allows them the chance to opine on any and everything. Its 486 million users ranked 14th among social media platforms in July, according to datareportal.com.
That market is a sizable one for advertisers to target since it can pay big dividends. Here are some tips for how to utilize Twitter ads and make them part of your marketing efforts.
THE BASICS
Twitter posts can be a maximum of 280 characters and you must account for having the link in your copy. You cannot write novels with your messaging. They need to be succinct.
Twitter recommends that advertisements are kept between 50-100 characters. You’re going to want to use a sweet and short message that gets right to the point.
Images can be 1200 by 1200 pixels or 1200 by 628 pixels with the option for 800 by 418 pixels if you use a conversation button. The max size is 5 megabytes and uses a JPEG or PNG.
Videos use the same ratios and can be up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds but Twitter recommends that users keep videos less than 50 seconds.
A sound strategy for Twitter is to use video advertisements.
COST
One of the benefits of using Twitter ads is there is no minimum spend. You can make Twitter ads work within your budget, which is helpful in this economic climate.
However, Twitter’s ads operate within an auction system. Your company sets your bid and a daily budget for the campaign. You then pay for different goals and outcomes. A higher bid is more likely to be shown to your target audience but is also more costly.
Twitter also analyzes your ad to see how engaging it is.
If your goal is expanding your reach, you will be paying per thousand impressions (CPM). For video or pre-roll view, you pay for views. App installs come via impressions or clicks, while website traffic and app re-engagements are based on clicks. Engagements goes off engagements and followers are based on how many follows you receive.
The nice part, though, is you don’t have to pay for actions that don’t fall within the specific goal.
Twitter ad objectives roughly cost in the range of $0.50 to $3.00 for each action, according to 2021 data provided by AdEspresso.com.
PROMOTED ADS
Let’s start with the different types of Twitter ads.
Promoted ads look just like regular ads except marketers pay for them to be displayed to individuals who don’t follow the account. They are marked as “promoted,” but that does not prevent those who see the ad from liking it, retweeting, or commenting on the post.
There are several different types of promoted ads.
Text ads feature only texts and appear like a normal tweet, while image and video ads incorporate a photo and video, respectively. Moment ads feature several tweets and allow for more extensive storytelling. A carousel ad features up to six photos or videos that can be scrolled through and a live ad is a promoted live stream that users can watch.
Carousel advertisements can be 800 by 800 pixels for both, while an image can be 800 by 418 pixels and a video can be 800 by 450 pixels.
FOLLOWER ADS
Twitter follower ads allow you to promote your brand’s account. This works just like promoted ads in that it targets users that don’t already follow you.
The goal of follower ads is to help gain more followers and it will appear under the “Who to follow” section on the right side of users’ accounts. It notes that it's promoted.
PRE-ROLL ADS
Twitter Amplify pre-roll is a function that allows for pre-roll ads for content from 15 different types of categories that have already been screened and approved. You don’t have to worry that your content will be placed in front of a video that is raunchy or could raise some flags.
This, like the previous two ads, will again note that it’s promoted. They are 1200 by 1200 pixels and use MP4 or MOV files and the maximum file size is 1 GB.
TAKING OVER
If your brand wants to go bigger and bolder, then a Twitter Trend Takeover may be the right option. A trend takeover places your sponsored ad in the “What’s Happening” side tab on the main page, along with the “Trending” tab on the explore section.
Those are prime real estate Twitter sections, hence their value. These advertisements include an image, video, or GIF.
A Twitter timeline takeover is when your ad appears at the top of the user’s timeline. This, again, is premium and valuable real estate for advertisers.
HASHTAGS
Using a branded hashtag is another effective marketing tool.
Hashtags are quite popular on Twitter and can be used to further enhance a message or spread awareness about your brand.
A branded hashtag provides your brand the option to have an asset added–usually an emoji–whenever anyone uses your hashtag. They can be up to 20 characters.
HOW TO START
Let’s now dive into how to get your advertisements up and running.
Access the Twitter Ads manager and select your campaign objective from the aforementioned possibilities (reach, video view, app re-engagements, etc.). You then name your campaign, choose how you will be paying for the advertisement and set your budget.
Twitter offers the possibility of using multiple ad groups that allow you to target different audiences, use different creative assets, or try different budgets. You’ll name your ad group and choose how long you would like it to run. You have the option to run the ad indefinitely.
You should use several different ad formats to provide different options that can help toward different goals, while also providing users with different formats of your ad to avoid being stale.
An important part of this process is deciding how much you will pay for every interaction. You can choose autobid and Twitter will set the bid to produce the best results at the lowest price. This is a recommended option if you’re starting out and want to get your feet wet.
Once you have a greater understanding of the process, monitor how your bids are doing via the Twitter Ads manager.
Next is choosing your demographics to target. You can target groups based on gender, age, language, technology and location. Location can be as specific as you would it to be, and technology allows you to target specific operating systems or even devices.
You can even target based on events and interests or even topics or tv shows.
Twitter allows companies to upload their own target lists or target audiences that are similar to their followers. We recommend starting with a broad targeting approach and then getting more narrow to help you truly focus on where you are getting your best results.
The final part is to choose whether you want your advertisements to show up on profiles or home timelines. Choose the option that suits your needs best.
MAKING THE AD
Now it’s time to make your advertisement.
You can use an existing tweet or create a new advertisement. You will have to fill out the fields within the screen detailing the ads. Launch the campaign and you are good to go!
One tip to follow is to include a call to action within the advertisement. Make it clear to the audience what you want them to do. This will help produce the results you want.
You also need to clearly display your logo/branding right away. This leads to a 30% higher brand recall, according to Twitter.
Avoid using hashtags or mentions within the ad copy, though. Both hashtags and mentions have their places on Twitter and are very useful, but for advertisements you want to pause.
You should also create different campaigns for mobile and desktop since users digest ads differently on the different platforms and they need to be set up differently.
PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTS
We want to close out this article with details regarding professional accounts.
The Shopping Spotlight helps make your products easily accessible for customers by providing a section at the top of your account to showcase your products. Your customers don’t have to leave Twitter to access your goods and purchase items. That’s quite a great benefit.
Twitter is also helping brands via a location spotlight that reveals your location and even provides Google maps help to find the location. It also allows for you to display your hours and contact methods, making it even easier for your potential customers to get in contact with you.
We hope you now have a better understanding of Twitter ads and how it can help take your marketing efforts to the next level! Be sure to keep checking Digicom for the latest articles, tips, strategies, and advice for all your marketing efforts.
SO, WHERE DO YOU FIND THIS PARTNER?
Well, aren’t we glad you asked! We at DigiCom are obsessive data-driven marketers pulling from multi-disciplinary strategies to unlock scale. We buy media across all platforms and placements and provide creative solutions alongside content creation, and conversion rate optimizations. We pride ourselves on your successes and will stop at nothing to help you grow.
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