Twitter has recently started selling ads in the form of Promoted Tweets & Promoted Trends (both still in beta). While there are only a handful of advertisers (for example, Starbucks and Disney) currently using these ads, marketers are pondering the value of them. Twitter obviously has value as a tool to have conversations with a broad audience. Is it valuable as an advertising channel?
ClickZ, a website providing news and advice for digital marketers, recently put together some thoughts from marketers (including myself), in their story, Marketers Ponder the Worth of Twitter’s Ads:
“I hope Twitter is doing research because I am definitely curious,” said Ian Shafer, CEO of social media agency Deep Focus. “I am sure right now there is a big early adapter discount going on with that program because no one knows [exactly] what it does.”
Results from the beta testing advertisers will be of interest not only to them and Twitter but to digital marketers in general. Do these ads drive results? Are they reaching the intended audience?
“My personal opinion is that these ads will work in the short term because some marketers will buy them,” the India-based Evans [Dave Evans from 2020Social] wrote in an e-mail to ClickZ. “The idea of ‘appearing in Twitter…’ will be appealing, just as ‘appearing in the Super Bowl…’ is appealing. At the same time, other brands will recognize that consumers are increasingly ignoring these ads, so the actual utility is questionable.”
Consumers are increasingly ignoring ads across many mediums — at least ads that don’t go the extra mile to make some sort of personal connection. Recent Old Spice commercials are an example of ads which have managed to gain attention and response.
What’s my take?
Sarah Worsham, CEO of Sazbean Consulting, suggested that Disney’s direct marketing-style approach was probably a smart way to optimize ad spend on Twitter. “Verticals where a consumer can purchase or give you a direct response online would be best for these types of ads – meaning a consumer can buy directly from your website or can download a coupon or [allow marketers] some other way to collect leads and measure conversion.”
I see the Promoted Tweets in search results as being more valuable in terms of actual conversions because a person has shown some sort of intent — in the form of performing a search. Marketers are excited about Promoted Trends because trends are very popular with users, but that doesn’t mean that ads there will be. Either way, ads need to not only connect to viewers but also lead to a specific landing page with a specific call to action to get conversions. Whether that’s possible or not remains to be seen.
What do you think?