SMB execs looking to widen their exposure have a quick and easy strategy to potentially integrate into their social media marketing plans. Twitter has launched a new initiative for SMBs by providing a boost to its existing Promoted Tweets program. The company is also expanding its intiative to syndicate Tweets.
Twitter launches ‘Quick Promote’
Last week Twitter announced it was going to be offering a way for SMBs to buy Promoted Tweets from their own analytics pages. This campaign is designed for SMBs to buy promotions on the spot as they look at their engagement statistics.
Its earlier ad promotion tool for SMBs, launched in 2013, required a visit to Twitter’s self-service platform. With “Quick Promote,” it’s as simple as a few clicks of the mouse. What do you do?
- Navigate to the analytics page
- Select a tweet to promote
- Choose a budget
- View activity results in real time
Adding a purchase option on the analytics page gives businesses a way to look at what Tweets are their best performers and then immediately boost these to try and gain even more engagement.
“Whether for a product launch, seasonal sale or blog post, driving more attention to your content can contribute to sales for your business,” Twitter says in its YouTube promotional video.
According to Twitter, viewers who see a “relevant Promoted Tweet from an SMB are also 32 percent more likely to visit that business.” In a 2013 survey, solicited by Twitter and conducted by Market Probe International, 72 percent of the 500 users surveyed indicated they are more likely to make purchases from SMBs after following or interacting with them on Twitter.
“You can get an awful lot of business value by using Twitter organically, said Russ Laraway, Twitter’s SMB Leader, in a May 2014 report published by Marketingland. The theory is once the SMB builds up traffic organically, “it can amplify with ads.”
Quick Promote is a global initiative, so it appears SMBs in any country can use this service, effective immediately.
Spreading beyond Twitter’s platform
As the company courts SMBs to allow them to boost Tweets with ease, it also has initiatives in the works to advance its own platform. In addition to augmenting its promoted Tweets product, the company is working to expand its visibility for both itself and its SMB users through external websites and mobile apps.
Twitter has introduced its program to syndicate its Tweets through new partnerships with Flipboard and Yahoo! Japan. These partnerships are designed to allow SMBs to reach wider audiences. Additionally, it has been confirmed Twitter reached a deal with Google to have tweets show up in search results. The revitalization of this partnership (the duo had a partnership from 2009-2011) benefits both companies “given Google’s desire for greater relevance on mobile and in real-time, and Twitter’s desire to extend reach and monetization,” Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Robert W Baird & Co., wrote in a note, according to a Bloomberg report.
Other news on the Twitter front
Twitter also launched Group DMs on Jan. 27. Adidas was the first brand to jump on this feature which accommodates 20 people in a direct message. It could be the company plans to also target this feature to SMBs, allowing them to initiate direct contact with customers using Twitter.
Twitter is coming off what has been described as a “tumultuous” first year as a public company. While overall profitability is not an issue, Wall Street is reportedly concerned with user growth which has negatively impacted its ability to thrive as a public company. In order to successfully grow in this respect, Twitter needs to continue to focus on monetization. Targeting SMBs appears to be one of its primary objectives at the moment.
On Feb. 5 Twitter reported its 4Q earnings:
“We closed out the year with our business advancing at a great pace. Revenue growth accelerated again for the full year, and we had record quarterly profits on an adjusted EBITDA basis,” said Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter. ” In addition, the trend thus far in Q1 leads us to believe that the absolute number of net users added in Q1 will be similar to what we saw during the first three quarters of 2014.”
Twitter Inc. Overview | FindTheBest
Photo via Flickr Creative Commons
