Twitter has become an essential platform for brands looking to increase awareness and engage with audiences. One of the most effective tools on Twitter for achieving these goals is promoted tweets. Promoted tweets allow brands to amplify their organic content by putting their best tweets in front of more of their target audience.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore what exactly promoted tweets are, their unique benefits, tips for success, and examples of effective promoted tweet campaigns.
Table of Contents
What are Promoted Tweets?
Promoted tweets are normal, organic tweets that brands can choose to “promote” using Twitter Ads. This gives brands the ability to get their tweets seen by users beyond just their current followers.
Brands can decide which of their tweets to promote based on performance and strategic value. They can also target promoted tweets to ensure they reach specific audiences most likely to engage.
Promoted tweets appear directly in the primary Twitter timeline just like regular tweets. However, they are labeled as “Promoted” and appear at the top of timelines based on relevancy using Twitter’s algorithm.
Unique Benefits of Promoted Tweets
Promoted tweets provide several advantages and opportunities for brands versus standard organic tweeting alone:
Expanded Reach
The most obvious benefit is increased reach. Promoted tweets enable brands to put their content and messages before many more target users.
Targeted Visibility
Tweets can be strategically targeted to specific demographics, interests, behaviors, and more. This amplifies content among the most relevant audiences.
Awareness at Scale
For launching products, promoting events, driving conversions, and more, promoted tweets allow brands to rapidly generate awareness when it matters most.
Increased Engagement
Promoted tweets drive higher engagement in the form of likes, retweets, clicks, video views, and more.
Lower Cost than Other Ads
Promoted tweets provide wide reach at a lower cost per impression compared to other ad formats.
Brand Safety
Unlike display ads, promoted tweets exist within the brand-safe Twitter environment. Brands retain full control over the content.
Flexible Campaigns
Promoted tweets can be tactical one-off promotions or evergreen campaigns boosted over time.
Performance Tracking
Robust analytics provide impression and engagement metrics to optimize tweet content and targeting.
Audience Building
Promoted follows and call-to-action buttons help brands convert audiences into new followers.
Complementary to SEO
Tweets with keywords, links, and engagement can improve search visibility and send traffic to websites.
Best Practices for Promoted Tweets
Here are some top tips to ensure promoted tweets maximize results:
Target a Specific Audience
Use Twitter’s detailed targeting tools to put each tweet in front of the users most likely to care about it.
Personalize the Tweet Copy
Include wording in the tweet that speaks directly to the target audience’s interests and needs.
Use Visuals and Video
Tweets with images, GIFs or short video clips tend to achieve much higher engagement.
Post at Optimal Times
Study when your followers are most active on Twitter and what day/times get the best engagement.
Retweet Popular Content
Give already high-performing organic tweets additional reach through promotion.
Promote Conversations
Don’t just broadcast. Engage users by promoting relevant conversations.
Make it Actionable
Include a strong call-to-action to drive clicks, conversions, events sign-ups, etc.
Monitor Performance
Analyze metrics to continuously refine targeting, copy, visuals, timing and more.
Retarget Engaged Users
Remarket to those who already engaged with promoted tweets using custom audiences.
Promote Content Hubs
Drive traffic to owned media content like blog posts and videos.
Partner with Influencers
Have influencers promote or retweet your tweets to their own audiences.
Who Benefits Most from Promoted Tweets?
Some of the brand categories who see the most success with promoted tweets include:
- Consumer Brands – Can precisely target demographics and interests of buyers.
- Ecommerce Retailers – Drive awareness of sales, deals and new products.
- B2B Companies – Engage decision makers by job title, industry, etc.
- Restaurants & CPG Brands – Promote new menu items, locations and seasonal products.
- Events & Conferences – Build hype and attendance leading up to and during events.
- Publishers & Media – Amplify articles, videos, podcasts and other owned content.
- Mobile Apps – Target competitive keywords and relevant interests to drive installs.
- SaaS Companies – Reach highly technical and niche audiences.
- Agencies & Consultancies – Establish thought leadership and authority around key services.
- Local Businesses – Drive foot traffic by targeting nearby geography and audiences.
How to Measure the Success of Promoted Tweets
Brands should monitor a few key performance indicators to determine the effectiveness of promoted tweets:
Impressions
The number of times the tweet was seen. This indicates reach.
Engagement Rate
Likes, retweets, replies, clicks etc. divided by impressions shows resonance.
Link Clicks
Important if driving traffic to a website or app installs.
Video Views
Metrics for video tweets. View rates indicate interest.
Follower Growth
Great for promoted account tweets aimed at follower growth.
Conversions
Signups, purchases or other desired actions from clicks.
Brand Lift Surveys
Measure impact on brand awareness and associations.
Continuously monitoring these KPIs allows brands to optimize targeting, content and strategy to improve future performance.
Real Brand Examples of Effective Promoted Tweets
Here are some real-world examples of brands running successful promoted tweet campaigns:
Netflix
Netflix frequently promotes tweets that preview upcoming shows and movies. This builds buzz among engaged viewers.
Uber
Uber used promoted tweets targeted locally to drive awareness of Uber Eats delivery in new cities.
Disney
Around big movie premieres, Disney promotes tweets that capitalize on related trending hashtags and conversation.
Adobe
Adobe amplifies tweets with tips, tricks, and tutorials for using their Creative Cloud apps to attract new subscribers.
Microsoft
Microsoft targets IT decision-makers with promoted tweets that provide educational content and thought leadership.
Wendy’s
The fast food chain frequently promotes funny, sarcastic tweets to reinforce its brand personality.
Spotify
Spotify promotes tweets that highlight trending artists, playlists, and new releases to engage music fans.
Esurance
The insurance company promotes sweepstakes and giveaways to build brand awareness and grow followers.
Amazon
Amazon regularly runs promoted tweets that highlight daily deals and recommendations based on purchase history.
Grammarly
The writing app promotes tweets with grammar tips and tricks targeted at students and professionals.
The Future of Promoted Tweets
As promoted tweets continue evolving, we can expect ongoing innovation that will increase their value for brands:
- More ad formats like carousels and collections
- Expanded targeting options
- Tools to simplify management at scale
- Integration with CRM platforms
- Flexibility around placement, timing, and creative
- Leveraging AI for optimization
- AR capabilities and immersive experiences
- Reporting tied closer to business results
Twitter will likely continue enhancing promoted tweets to provide brands with the most effective, efficient tool possible to achieve their visibility, engagement, and conversion goals.
Conclusion
Thanks to wide reach at low cost plus robust targeting, promoted tweets represent a powerful opportunity for brands of all sizes to be more visible, drive meaningful engagement, and ultimately convert with relevant audiences.
By taking the time to create strategic campaigns, continuously optimizing based on performance, and utilizing the full suite of targeting and creative options, brands can leverage promoted tweets to accomplish nearly any awareness, lead generation, or sales goal.
Promoted tweets will only increase in capabilities and importance as a visibility driver for brands on Twitter.
