Twitter’s recently-announced ad model has the social media world buzzing. How will brands use the ads to promote products and services?
With access to the ads currently limited to a select group of marketers, the debate amounts to little more than speculation. Based on what we do know, here’s a primer on what to expect from the new model. With these simple strategies you can start promoting your own event with #greatsuccess!
Promoted Tweets
Twitter’s own blog entries and FAQs offer a wealth of information, even if the details are well hidden. Promoted Tweets are regular tweets, paid to appear at the top of results for a search or #hashtag, much like the Sponsored Links on a Google search. Over 3 million searches occur over the span of an average day, any one of which could be interacting with a Promoted Tweet.
The short term model is based around a cost-per-impression system (i.e. $5 per 1,000 views) as Twitter develops the software, but its future is in the much-hyped “resonance”. Through a series of criteria, including click-through rate, popularity of search, and retweets, Twitter will determine an aggregate interest with the tweet. It will also affect which ads appear in hashtags that have multiple Promoted Tweets. In time, Promoted Tweets will also start to appear in users timelines, based around resonance and relevance.
Though the project is limited in participants at the moment, mostly among top-tier clients like Starbucks, it is expected to expand in the coming months, and then enter full availability before the end of the year. With that in mind, here are some tips and pointers so you can spring into action as soon as it becomes available.
Seven Promoted Tweet Strategies for Live Events
1. If you’re hosting a live event, you’ll be using a custom hashtag to group conversations. Plan to acquire promoted tweets around searches for a full name and the event’s hashtag. If you’d like to take it a step further, promote your tweets on topics that are relevant specifically to your event – if it’s a medical conference, use “medical”, an auto show, use a maker’s brand name.
2. Featuring sessions on new, obscure, or cutting edge topics? Use promoted tweets to market that panel or give the speaker a boost. Social media fans are highly motivated and prone to interaction – engaging their network can create interest and drive attendance.
3. Encourage speakers and presenters to use promoted tweets to link their backchannel or custom hashtag to the event website. You’ll make it easy for engaged followers to learn more about the event.
4. Co-brand! Team up with an industry partner and co-promote in a tweet together. 140 characters is more than enough for two links to share the space.
5. Be an opportunist! When you see a hashtag or topic gaining popularity during an event, have some budget on reserve to promote those topics and tweets as they continue to grow.
6. On a limited budget? Don’t try to go toe-to-toe with a competitor that is promoting heavily on a single search. More money means they’ll get more impressions. Instead, use guerilla tactics. Clever alternatives like purposeful misspellings and similarly phrased topics can be used effectively in social media marketing. When all else fails, start a new hashtag entirely!
7. If you’re feeling cheeky, order promoted tweets for a rival event’s hashtag. Piggybacking from a successful event can be a good way of boosting your own attendance, or at the very least, attendee’s interest.
Good tweets are interesting, relevant, concise, and fun, all in 140 characters. As resonance takes off, it’s all the more important that your Promoted Tweets are, too.
Have any ideas of your own? Curious to learn more about resonance? Email us at [email protected], or reply to us on Twitter at @GetSynch!