Jasmine SandlerWith the clamp on Facebook advertising returns for small business marketers, is #Twitter advertising the alternative?
Since Facebook decided to favor big brand advertisers and leave the rest of its billion member base fending for themselves, many small businesses and individual online entreprenuers find themselves at a real (financial) loss. It seems Facebook has really gone Google Paid Advertising model. It really is pay big to play. In my world of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) we know that for newer online brands , local brands and those who compete at the highest levels, Paid Advertising (PPC) is rapidly again (since 2005) becoming madatory for our advertisers. It looks like Facebook is playing the same game. Unless you have big social advertising bucks like Facebook advertisers as Nike, Sprint, etc if you are trying to drive lead generation, site traffic or direct online sales with social advertising, you may want to step off of Facebook Ads for a moment and try something new like Twitter Advertising. Not that Twitter Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts is necessarily a new thing; but it certainly has evolved into a serious player over the last year, whereas before, for many online brands, Facebook was the spot to advertise.
Twitter Ads Targeting Options
If you have spent on Facebook ads and are just getting up to speed with Twitter, you may find that,the targeting opportunities may seem similar at first – target by demographic, location, interest and behavior is available in both channels. However the targeting on Twitter can get more granular, more personal, if you will. In Twitter sponsored content advertising, you can target by Profile name/Follower Name, Keywords (any you choose), website visitors and TV audience. With Twitter targeting, you have the opportunity for more precise advertising to reach Twitter users along the path of the journey to find the product or service you are selling.
Twitter Lead Generation Card
If you have run a Facebook Page Like Ad, you will understand the concept of Leads on Twitter in Twitter Advertising. With a Twitter Lead Generation Card, as you see a sample here of one I ran during a recent giveaway of my 2nd full Amazon Online Branding Book, How to Brand Yourself Online Like A CEO, you can choose to pay for lead generation on Twitter. The lead information is provided directly to the advertiser post campaign end. Lead Generation cards automatically capture the user’s name, username, and email address and let them send this to you with one click. In general, you will want to offer some type of incentive and promise for delivery. B2B companies looking to generate Leads on Twitter can give away items such as Free EBooks, Free Whitepapers, Access to private videos, discount on services and so on.
Tweet Engagement Advertising
Like Sponsored Posts in Facebook, so too in Twitter can you run a Tweet Engagement Ad. As with any social media post, posts accompanied by strong imagery have a higher percentage of engagement. This is why with Tweet engagement advertising, Twitter allows the advertising to embed a compelling image and as well rotate at least 3 Tweets with images to keep the targeted audience interested in the tweet. The purpose is to drive up retweets and favorites of the tweet. Retweeting, Replies and Favoriting of posts are signals to Twitter that the Twitter account from which the posts originate may be of significant value to the Twitter audience in that specific category, or interest.
Follower Based Twitter Advertising
For many B2B companies that are new to Twitter, a Promoted Account or Follower based Twitter Ad campaign makes total sense. Twitter success comes in many flavors, which I will discuss in a later Blog post here on the Jasmine Sandler Digital Marketing Blog; but one of the key metrics is the volume and quality of your followers. By targeting a follower-based Twitter campaign , your B2B company can target specific Twitter users to follow your profile. This can be used for both a personal Twitter profile as well as a company Twitter profile. Best practices is to give users a reason to follow you on Twitter. The reasons should relate to the type of information and advice, perhaps, you will share on Twitter. Perhaps it may be product giveaways you plan to advertise on the same.
Budgeting for advertising on Twitter
The big question on Twitter advertising, of course, is how much do you have to spend on campaigns to drive results. A general rule of thumb is to set at least the minimum Cost per click or cost per lead bid and run rotated ads with frequency, especially if you are launching any kind of new Twitter profile, new online brand, product or service. I have had scores of clients who were traditional heavy Facebook advertisers slow their Facebook spend to a hault recently because of Facebook changes. The great thing is that with Twitter Advertising you can continually test and react to what is working with tools like Tweet engagement, follower based targeting and so on. If you would like to discuss your specific company social media marketing struggles or general questions, feel free to schedule a free 15 minute phone consultation with me on my Contact Form and Online Calendar.andler.
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