Is It Worth It... Running Twitter Ads?

Ah Twitter, what a weird and wonderful place.

It definitely has its place within many businesses marketing strategies but in many different guises.

Organically, it’s a lot of fun – but something many businesses question is whether advertising through the platform is really worth it?

There are literally millions of users on there, but should you be splashing the cash on Tweets?

Well, let’s find out in this week’s episode of GIANT Wednesday.

Hi, I’m Luke from Sleeping Giant Media and I’m here today to talk to you about Twitter advertising – what it is, how you can use it, and whether or not it’s worth your time.

If you like what I have to say in today’s video then make sure to subscribe to our channel where we release digital marketing skills-based videos every week!

When it comes to the big social media platforms, Twitter is definitely up there.

With over 300 million active monthly users and 500 million tweets sent every day, we’re talking about a whole lot of tweet traffic.

If your audience is a portion of those 300 million people, then diverting a slice of your paid advertising budget onto Twitter could be a smart decision. 

While the Twitter ads platform isn’t as developed as the likes of Facebook’s, that doesn’t mean you should count it out. 

Twitter allows for some pretty good, narrow segmentation options when it comes to who will see your ad – with options to tailor things down by keywords, your own CRM list, or one of the 350 interest categories available to choose from.

You can also tailor ads by objective, similar to Facebook. Things like website clicks, app installs, engagement leads or tweet engagements.

No matter what you want, there’s an option out there to help make it happen – and you’ll only pay if someone performs the exact outcome you were looking for.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Big audiences and nice detailed targeting options! 

And what’s more, any account can run Twitter advertising!

All you’ve got to do is head to ads.twitter.com and you’ll be able to explore and get started.

We’ll cover off Twitter ad types and objectives and all that fancy stuff in another episode of Giant Wednesday, so make sure to subscribe and turn on notifications.

From a user perspective, every ad is clearly marked with a promoted tag.

People have the opportunity to engage with paid content in the same way as if it were organic, without feeling like they’re being misled.

This does potentially tie into a con of advertising through Twitter, however. Because the promoted posts and trends are part of the feed that the user sees rather than sitting to the side.

With the pace in which Twitter moves, it can be quite easy to miss an ad in amongst the cluttered feed, meaning advertisers might see fewer results than that of advertising through Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.

But hey, at least you won’t be charged unless someone takes your desired action!

Speaking of which, another factor to consider is the pricing for advertising on Twitter.

Like other platforms, ads serve on an auction-based system where you bid on ad space for the audience you want to reach.

The amount you have to pay will depend on factors such as the size of your audience, how many advertisers are after the space, and how much you’re willing to bid in the first place.

However, there isn’t a minimum campaign spend, so you can customise your budget based on what you can afford and that’s a lot more inclusive than other platforms!

So you came here with a question, wondering whether advertising through Twitter is worth your time, effort and budget. 

Well, the answer is yes. But with a couple of caveats.

Twitter ads offer a range of unique benefits which can make it well worth your while if it’s a strong platform for your target market.

From keyword targeting, to ‘pay for performance’ based billing, Twitter gives you an awesome opportunity to get super granular with your targeting. 

But there is, of course, the fast nature of the platform and it’s evolution to contend with.

So if you’ve got the time to invest, we recommend you give them a go. And if you don’t, you can always get in touch with us.

So, that was a whistlestop tour of Twitter ads – touching on what they are, how you can use them, and whether or not you should bother. 

As I said, we’ll go into more detail on the individual elements of Twitter advertising in the future, so make sure to subscribe so you know when they go live.

If you have any more advice, or if you think we’ve missed anything – make sure you leave a comment and let us know!

Here’s today’s Giant CheatSheet on this topic – click the link in the description to download it, or just take a screenshot if you’re on mobile!

As always, make sure you subscribe to our channel for more great content every week.