Twitter Ads has been an effective way for many smaller businesses to get noticed in their markets. But which Twitter format should you use? There are three you can select: Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts, and Twitter Cards. Each one can be used to reach different social media marketing and advertising goals.
Promoted Tweets Target Your Best Content
Promoted Tweets can come from organic tweets that have had a particularly good impression. Sometimes Twitter will send an alert about a tweet it thinks is a good candidate for retweeting (Facebook uses a similar practice); studying Twitter’s Analytics dashboard can also help identify successful messages to tweak to work as an advertisement.
A Promoted Tweet gets wider distribution than organic ones, which only go to your followers. They can be based on geography—very important for businesses seeking local clients—and other factors like gender, interests, language, and keywords. You can arrange for the tweet to be promoted at certain times as well. The default setting for Promoted Tweets sends them to all devices, but buyers can select certain ones (such as iOS only). If you want, you can exclude followers from receiving Promoted Tweets.
For example, a pediatrician could promote a tweet using these parameters:
- ZIP codes in areas where daycare centers and elementary schools are located.
- To people who follow family-oriented services.
- To people used the word “baby” or “kindergarten” in their tweets.
- To people whose interests indicate they are parents.
- After 8 pm when young children are in bed.
Promoted Tweets appear in timelines, at the top of relevant searches (just like Google’s) and search trends, and on official Twitter mobile apps. They can also be syndicated to Twitter partners like HootSuite. They will not appear to your followers.
Best of all, you only pay for Promoted Tweets which have actually been clicked—you don’t pay for displays.
Promoted Accounts Help Establish A Brand
If you’re branding your business, a Promoted Account can help you attract followers who are good customer candidates. It works very similar to a Promoted Tweet.
Suppose you’re opening a restaurant. Like the Promoted Tweet, you can target your promoted account to people you specify by their location, devices, interests, and keywords. Choose an account name to reflect your business name and what you do—such as @BradsWineBarDenver—and Twitter can even identify groups of people whose interests match Denver and wine.
Twitter Cards Add Graphics To Twitter Ads
Twitter Cards appear like Promoted Tweets but have shortened hyperlinks to images or video, or can be expanded to show an image. There are several types of Twitter Cards.
- The Summary Card is the standard format and includes a thumbnail along with title, 140 character Tweet, and account information. Summary cards are also available to display larger images.
- Photo Cards emphasize the image and have short description.
- A Gallery Card is used to represent a collection of up to four photos.
- An App Card is used to advertise apps and encourage users to install them.
- A Player Card is used to play video clips and audio streams.
- Lead Generation Cards let marketers use Tweets to collect leads. Users click on a submit button and their information is forwarded to the site.
- Website cards display specific site pages to drive customers to them with a single click.
All cards hyperlink to a website except App Cards, which link to application downloads. Cards can also be developed for specific mobile devices.
