Twitter has long been a popular platform for digital advertising as the go-to social media to connect with customers. With over 330 million active users, Twitter offers a unique opportunity for brands to connect with their target audience, build brand awareness, and engage with customers. Its real-time nature also allows for timely and relevant messaging, making it an ideal platform for news and event-based marketing. However, Elon Musk's recent acquisition of the company has left many brands wondering how recent changes to the platform will impact them and their marketing strategy. We at Diagram wanted to break down some of the changes at Twitter and what this could mean for your brand.
Twitter Blue
One of the biggest changes to Twitter is the launch of Twitter Blue, a subscription service that offers exclusive features to paying subscribers, including the highly coveted blue checkmark that verifies a user's account. For brands, the blue checkmark alone is worth the investment in Twitter Blue, as it provides customers with the assurance that they are interacting with a credible account. With recent news of Twitter revoking legacy checkmarks from users, that $96 yearly fee is the only way to ensure a Twitter profile is from a verified source. So, for brands who want to keep the trust of their audience, Twitter Blue is a worthy investment.
Rebranded Advertising Product Suite
Another change to the platform is an update to its ad suite, providing new advertising tools for businesses. Twitter aims to improve user engagement, enhance ad performance, and simplify the overall advertising experience for brands. The revamped ad suite introduces several noteworthy features designed to assist businesses in maximizing their impact on the platform. Here are the key highlights:
- Promoted Ads: These formats can feature images, videos, and various ad features. They can be used in multiple ways across each stage of the marketing funnel.
- Follower Ads: This format can be used to promote an account to a targeted audience to build awareness and attract new followers.
- Twitter Amplify: With Twitter Amplify advertisers can align their ads with premium video content from the most relevant publishers.
- Twitter Takeover: This category includes the most premium, mass-reach placements that drive results across the funnel by taking over the Timeline and Explore tab.
- Twitter Live: With Twitter Live, advertisers can broadcast their biggest moments to the world, and allow an audience to join in real-time.
By updating its ad suite, Twitter aims to solidify its position as a leading advertising platform for businesses. The new features provide brands with improved targeting capabilities, increased visibility, and valuable measurement tools, empowering them to connect with their target audience more effectively and achieve their advertising goals. To explore the full range of features and opportunities offered by Twitter's updated ad suite, visit the official Twitter Business Blog. https://business.twitter.com/en/blog/announcing-rebranded-ad-suite.html
Stay or Leave? Concerns Over Hate Speech
The changes made to Twitter have not been without consequence, with many top advertisers leaving the platform the site since Musk's takeover. The reasons for this exodus are numerous, but regardless, brands must be extra cautious to ensure that their messaging does not get tangled up in the chaos. One of the main reasons these big spenders are leaving Twitter is due to the proliferation of hate speech and racism in posts. Brands must be extra cautious to ensure their messaging doesn’t get mixed with nefarious content. Having ads appear alongside hate speech content may be misconstrued by users as an endorsement of the message. Also, as hate speech continues to flourish on this platform, the reputation of Twitter may become one that is highly associated with this type of speech and may damage brands who advertise on it. Because of this, marketers need to be hyper-vigilant on Twitter to make sure the content of their ads and the accounts they interact with align with the brand’s values. However, there are some benefits to continuing advertising on Twitter amongst the chaos. With big spenders leaving the platform there is an opportunity for smaller brands to increase their exposure on Twitter with less competition for attention.
Final Thoughts
Twitter remains a powerful tool for marketers to connect to their customers. However, the Musk acquisition has called into question just how reliable Twitter is for marketers. A savvy digital marketer may see which way the winds are blowing regarding Twitter and join the growing number of brands abandoning the site. However, if Twitter is still a necessary tool for your brand, there is still opportunity to be had. Investing in Twitter Blue or the other marketing tools and being cautious in a more chaotic environment will ensure stability to brands, but staying true to your company mission and brand voice is still the key to success on Twitter.
