Leveraging Twitter Ads for Lead Generation

In today’s digital landscape, generating a steady stream of qualified leads is critical for driving business growth. While perhaps not top of mind, Twitter Ads present an amazing opportunity for lead gen when leveraged strategically.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover proven tactics for using Twitter Ads for lead generation for your business across industries.

Why Use Twitter Ads for Lead Generation

With its massive reach and engaged user base, Twitter can be a powerful lead-generation driver if utilized effectively. Here are some key advantages Twitter Ads offer:

• Targeting capabilities – Twitter provides robust targeting options to hone in on your ideal potential customers.
• Expand reach – Promoted Tweets allow you to get your lead gen offers in front of many more relevant people.
• Awareness building – Lead gen requires consistent nurturing. Twitter expands your brand visibility to build familiarity over time.
• Conversation – Interactive ad formats like Twitter cards facilitate engaging with prospects.
• Real-time testing – The instant feedback cycle of Twitter Ads allows quickly iterating approaches.
• Cost-effective – Twitter ads can cost as low as a few cents per click, keeping costs down.
• Website traffic – Effective at driving lower-funnel visitors closer to converting.
• Performance tracking – Conversion tracking and analytics give a clear ROI picture.

Twitter Ads can become an invaluable lead-generation channel in your marketing stack when leveraged effectively.

Lead Gen Goals to Target with Twitter Ads

The first step to running an effective Twitter lead-generation campaign is identifying your goals. Here are some common lead gen objectives to focus your Twitter ads on:

• Generate newsletter sign-ups
• Collect phone leads
• Drive webinar registrations
• Increase whitepaper downloads
• Capture event signups
• Obtain contact info for sales follow-up
• Generate free trial or demo requests
• Incentivize free consultations
• Promote new client offers/discounts
• Recruit beta testers

Be clear on your campaign goal – don’t keep it vague, like “get more leads”. Then, craft messaging and offers tailored to converting on that particular goal.

Best Practices for Lead Gen Ads

Here are some key best practices to follow when running Twitter ads focused on lead generation:

• Lead with value – Summarize what they will get and why it will help them. Don’t make the mistake of leading with your brand.
• Target tightly – Leverage all of Twitter’s targeting to hone in only on people likely to convert.
• Promote gated offers – Gate your lead gen assets like webinars or whitepapers behind lead form walls to capture info.
• Nurture leads – Develop sequences to continue engaging leads post-conversion with tailored content.
• Write clear, direct copy – Be very explicit about the desired action in a conversational yet compelling style.
• Make it visual – Tweets with images/videos drive significantly higher engagement and conversion rates.
• Mobile optimization – Ensure most users’ ads and landing pages are mobile-friendly.
• Be concise – You only have a few seconds to get their attention and convince them. Get to the point quickly.
• Write scannable copy – Use bullet points, numbered lists and other formatting techniques to enhance skimmability.
• Use urgency triggers – Urgency elements like “Free for first 100 signups” help motivate quick action.

Keeping these lead gen ad best practices top of mind will boost conversions. Next, we’ll discuss the full lead gen workflow.

Full Workflow from Twitter to Lead

Here is an overview of the end-to-end workflow for driving Twitter ads to lead generation:

Promoted Tweet

Compelling promoted tweets target relevant audiences and includes CTA to download offers.

Landing Page

Add links to tailored landing pages, explaining offer value and gating content behind the lead form.

Lead Form

Visitor completes lead form providing key contact info like name, company, and email.

Lead Scoring

The new lead gets scored based on attributes to assign a level of sales-readiness.

Enters Nurture Workflow

Lead automatically enters a tailored email/content nurture workflow based on score.

Sales Follow-up

When a lead hits the target score, signalling sales readiness, they are sent to the sales team for contact.

Optimizing each step of this workflow is crucial to generating quality leads prepared for sales to close efficiently.

Twitter Ads Types for Lead Generation

Twitter provides several different ad formats that can be effective for lead-gen campaigns:

Promoted Tweets

The core ad unit – includes image/video, copy and call-to-action. Can drive traffic to landing pages.

Website Cards

Allows adding CTAs directly within the ad to drive clicks.

Lead Generation Cards

Collects contact info like name and email within the card to capture leads.

Direct Message Cards

Opens a direct message sequence to engage leads through conversational nurturing.

App Install Cards

It can promote downloading a mobile app as the desired conversion action.

Collection Ads

Showcase multiple products/assets to highlight your offerings.

Test different formats and leverage the options best aligned to your campaign goals and audience. Creative optimization is crucial.

Effective Ads Creative Tips for Lead Gen

When it comes to ad creative, here are some tips for success:

Lead With the Value Proposition

Explain what they will get from your offer and why it will help them.

Make it Visual

Tweets with images/video consistently see higher engagement and conversion rates.

Use High-Converting CTAs

Leverage call-to-action wording like “Get Access”, “Sign Up Now”, “Download”, etc.

Write Urgent Copy

urgency elements like “limited spots available” to help motivate immediate action.

List Benefits as Bullet Points

Break up scannable key benefit statements with bullet points and numbering.

Employ Contrast

Make CTAs stand out visually from other copies through colour, size, etc.

Brand Secondarily

Don’t lead with your logo or branding. Lead with the offer value.

Show Social Proof

Include reviews, ratings, or expert logos to build credibility.

Use Video for Storytelling

Explain the value using customer stories or relatable scenarios.

Prioritizing creative will ensure your ads move people down the conversion funnel.

Twitter Ads Targeting Strategies for Lead Gen

While creativity is foundational, matching each ad to the appropriate target audience makes the difference in lead gen performance.

Here are powerful targeting strategies for Twitter lead gen campaigns:

Lookalike Audiences

Great for expanding reach. Target users with similar characteristics to customers.

Interest Targeting

Target users based on inferred interests relevant to your product/service.

Follower Look-Alikes

Find new prospects from audiences similar to your current followers.

Keyword Targeting

Target ads to users tweeting or engaging with relevant keywords.

Tailored Audiences

Target your ads directly to existing customer lists, website visitors, past webinar attendees, etc.

Lead Gen Card Engagers

Retarget users who engaged with your Lead Gen Cards specifically.

Competitor Followers

Target followers from competitor brand handle within your space.

Remarketing

Keep engaging users who already visited key pages on your website.

Leverage these tactics to ensure you reach users with the highest potential to convert based on their interests, behaviors and characteristics. Test different segments.

Also read: Targeting Options in Twitter Ads

Tracking Twitter Ads Lead Gen Performance

To optimize lead gen campaigns on Twitter, you must actively monitor key performance indicators. Here are the metrics to track:

Impressions

How many times your ads were shown? Assess reach.

Lead Gen Card Clicks

Monitor engagement with embedded lead gen cards.

Website Clicks

Evaluate how many clicked on your landing pages.

Landing Page Views

Beyond clicks, how many visited the page?

Time on Page

Gauge quality by how long they stayed on the landing page.

Bounce Rate

What % left immediately vs staying engaged?

Form Submissions

It is critical to track how many completed the lead form.

Cost per Lead

Determine the average cost to generate a conversion.

Conversions by Segment

Break down performance by audience segments in your ads.

Sales from Leads

Connect full sales cycle data back to lead sources.

Continuously assess lead quality and closely monitor campaign ROI. Refine your targeting and creativity based on insights.

Tips for High-Quality Lead Gen

Beyond sheer lead volume, ensuring you generate high-quality, sales-ready leads is crucial. Here are some tips:

• Gate offers to require relevant info like role, industry, and company size to self-identify fit.
• Ask qualification questions in forms to gather data for lead scoring.
• Use lead scoring rules to assign scores based on attributes like engagement job title.
• Develop targeted, personalized nurture streams based on lead score.
• Integrate with your CRM and map lead journeys from acquisition through sales.
• Assess conversions and the long-term value of leads from each campaign.
• Weed out low-quality leads that will waste sales team time through scoring thresholds before sending them to reps.
• Continuously refine your ad targeting and landing pages to attract more qualified prospects.

Lead quality will ensure your sales team’s time is spent only on hot prospects truly ready to have a conversation.

Putting it All Together

Here are some overarching best practices for executing high-performing Twitter lead-generation campaigns:

• Set specific campaign goals and targeting aligned to key buyer personas. Get granular.
• Make the most of Twitter’s precise audience segmentation capabilities to reach only those likely to convert.
• Craft compelling ad copy and visuals focused on communicating value and urgency.
• Develop a tailored ad for each funnel stage from awareness to conversion.
• Gate your lead gen offers and content behind forms requiring contact information.
• Build seamless workflows to score and nurture new leads over time automatically.
• Track lead volume, cost per lead, form submissions, and sales pipeline impact closely.
• Continuously refine targeting and creatives based on performance data. Respond quickly.
• Assess lead quantity and quality and optimize efforts to capture sales-ready contacts.

With this level of strategic execution, Twitter Ads can generate a predictable stream of high-value leads ready for sales to close.

Real Examples of Effective Lead Gen Campaigns

Let’s look at some real-world examples of brands effectively leveraging Twitter Ads for lead generation:

SaaS Company

Promoted access to an ROI consultant for qualified leads through targeted ads.

Digital Marketing Agency

Offered a free audit of potential clients’ Google Ads accounts, driving high-converting leads.

Business Software Vendor

Promoted sign-ups for an exclusive product demo webinar targeted to their ideal buyers.

Commercial Real Estate Firm

Advertised a market trend report for companies looking for new office space.

HR Technology Provider

Promoted downloading a guide on enhancing employee retention strategies.

Higher Ed Institution

Advertised a tuition cost calculator tool to drive student prospect leads.

There are limitless opportunities to generate quality leads if you creatively craft valuable offers and target them to the right audiences.

Key Takeaways

Let’s summarize some key learnings:

• With the right strategy tailored to your goals, Twitter Ads can become an invaluable lead generation channel due to promoted reach.
• Lead with the value proposition focused on their needs when crafting ad copy and landing pages.
• Leverage Twitter’s precise targeting capabilities and robust ad formats to reach and engage the right prospects.
• Build comprehensive workflows to capture lead information, score contacts, and automatically nurture new leads over time.
• Analyze lead volume, cost per lead, sales pipeline impact, and return on ad spend to optimize efforts for maximum ROI.
• Continuously test new offers, audiences and creativity to refine your lead gen strategy over time.

If executed strategically, the opportunities to generate more quality leads at efficient costs through Twitter Ads are immense. Use this guide as a playbook for lead gen success.

Frequently Asked Questions