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360i Point of View on

Twitter’s Promoted Tweets Ad Platform

April 2010

Overview

Twitter launched its long awaited advertising platform, a CPM-based model where marketers canpromote tweets atop Twitter search results. It will soon expand into Twitter post streams and otherTwitter clients beyond twitter.com.

How It Works

Marketers using Twitter will be able to buy “promoted tweets” on a CPM basis. The ad is anexisting tweet from the marketer. Users can retweet, favorite or reply to the ad just like theywould any tweet.Ads will initially only appear atop Twitter search results on Twitter.com, but in time will alsomigrate to third-party clients such as TweetDeck and TwitterBerry, dramatically increasing thereach for the ads since most Twitter usage occurs through other mobile, desktop and Web clients.For now, only one ad will appear atop search results. The posts are denoted as promotional, andwhen a consumer rolls over the post, it turns yellow.Twitter’s key metric for measuring ad performance will be “resonance” – its own spin onrelevance. Resonance includes how often consumers engage with the promoted tweet via clicks,retweets, favorites, responses, clicks on the marketer’s avatar, how influential retweeters are,and other actions. Analytics are available in real-time. Twitter will stop promoting ads if theirresonance is too low. Marketers do not pay for retweets from the ads; additional earned mediaexposure is free.Twitter Chief Operating Officer Dick Costolo told Ad Age that “a lot of people use Twitter forsearch; the volume is huge.” Twitter handles 50 million tweets a day and comScore reports thatTwitter.com had 22.3 million unique visitors in March.Twitter’s first advertisers include Bravo, Starbucks, Virgin America, Red Bull and Sony Pictures.

Integrated Solutions. Measurable Results.

360i Point of View on

Twitter’s Promoted Tweets Ad Platform

April 2010

Marketer Challenges

Marketers won’t just need a Twitter advertising strategy to take advantage of promoted tweets –they will also need to be participating on Twitter to take part. This is a true hybrid of earned andpaid media models. While paid media is planned on a campaign basis, Twitter requires acommitment and consumers expect that marketers active on Twitter will be there indefinitely.Before running a single promoted tweet, Marketers will need to establish themselves on Twitterand understand the value it provides for their brand and consumers, such as customerrelationship management, a channel to build relationships with influential constituents(journalists, investors, bloggers, celebrities, partners, etc), offer promotions and more. Suchmarketers will then need to be able to manage earned and paid media together, as the strategiesfor creating tweets and promoting them should be tightly intertwined.Measurement may also pose hurdles, especially if the model evolves as Twitter’s COO envisionsit. Even if marketers are provided resonance metrics, it’s safe to say that marketers aren’tcurrently using that as one of their overall marketing goals. In light of that, they’ll have to tieresonance back to the metrics that matter most to them. This process of translation and adaptionshould be easier for some marketers than others, depending on what they’re measuring today.

Which Marketers Should Consider It

Marketers should establish a presence on Twitter before using Promoted Tweets and no oneshould get on Twitter solely to take advantage of the advertising options. Not all marketers needto be active with Twitter, but for those who are, Promoted Tweets is worth considering.Here are some of the ways marketers can use Promoted Tweets:

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Retailers can promote limited-time offers, store openings, new products, and other time-sensitive announcements.

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Entertainment marketers can advertise TV, film, and music premieres, plus exclusive Webcontent (e.g., trailers, interviews, webisodes) and other events.

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Consumer packaged goods brands can promote everything from new products to theirinvolvement with causes.

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Travel marketers can offer exclusive specials on Twitter or share useful information such asnew locations where they operate. Virgin America is using promoted tweets exclusively tolaunch a new market, along with a shorter-term promotion for a two-for-one ticket offer.These are just a few examples of how Twitter advertising could be used in the future to increasethe reach and power of Twitter to engage and share information with consumers.

Integrated Solutions. Measurable Results.

360i Point of View on

Twitter’s Promoted Tweets Ad Platform

April 2010

What’s Next

Promoted tweets will roll out for all users for searches on Twitter, and will soon appear amongusers’ tweet streams on Twitter.com. It will likely be some time before they appear in third-partyTwitter clients such as TweetDeck, Seesmic, TwitterBerry and even Tweetie, which Twitterrecently acquired.Location-based targeting is not available today, but Twitter’s COO noted that will be availablesoon and that location will play a large role in Twitter’s future.Pricing is still being determined and is now being established ad hoc. The demand and popularityfor keywords and hashtags used for targeting will likely influence the price. Advertising Agereported that Twitter’s COO said that Twitter “ultimately ... wants marketers to pay for ads basedon the lift in resonance over a standard tweet.” Commercial Accounts will launch later as another major part of Twitter’s revenue plan. Marketerswill get to see their published and promoted tweets in one dashboard, and it will include anumber of features for enhanced content and ad management.