Promoted Tweets: a First Look

After months of conjecture, the powers-that-be of Twitter this week announced their first effort to monetize the social networking platform: Promoted Tweets. Similar to how organizations can pay to have their search engine listing appear ahead of other results for specific keywords, companies can pay to have promotional tweets appear at the top of the search results for specific keywords on Twitter. 

The Promoted Tweets platform is still in beta, with Best Buy, Red Bull, and Starbucks among the first companies testing it. For a closer look at the ad program and its possible ramifications, we quizzed Chris Baggott, cofounder of social media software provider Compendium. 

Direct: What sort of businesses will be the most and the least likely to be able to make sponsored tweets work for them?

Chris Baggott: We think that large, consumer-focused businesses will be the first to find ways to incorporate sponsored tweets into their social media mix. SMBs with limited resources will probably have to combat sponsored tweets by posting more-frequent, relevant organic content to make sure they are found in Twitter searches... Posting relevant, frequent, keyword-rich content is always crucial to getting found in search results, both in traditional search engines and on social media platforms.

Direct: How can companies make their Promoted Tweets most effective? 

Chris Baggott: They should have links to a direct call to action pointing potential customers to their website, blogs, or a specific product.

Direct: What advice would you give companies—both those considering Promoted Tweets and those that aren't?

Chris Baggott: I would advise all companies, large and small, not to discount the value of relevant and frequent content across blogs and other social media platforms such as Twitter. Consumers are very savvy these days, especially those heavily involved in social media. They know when they are looking at an ad, and as we've seen with major search engines, consumers are more likely to pay attention to organic results than to paid results.

Direct: Do you think this development will discourage companies that aren’t yet on Twitter from launching "organic" feeds for fears that their efforts will get lost?

Chris Baggott: The fact that Twitter now allows companies to have sponsored tweets means that businesses are going to have to be more strategic and more consistent in the way that they use the Twitter platform. Social media is evolving in its ties to business. It's no longer about putting up a Twitter feed just to have one. To be successful you need to really use the medium consistently and frequently to communicate with followers as well as with potential customers and prospects.

Direct: What's your prediction for a year from now?

Chris Baggott: Brands who have their customers and users talking about them on social media platforms are the ones that are going to have the most success on Twitter.

Direct: Anything else you’d like to add?

Chris Baggott: The most-successful social media initiatives we've seen start with a corporate blog and pull content from that blog to their Twitter feeds and Facebook pages. From an SEO standpoint, blogs rank very highly, so companies posting frequent, relevant, keyword-rich content to a company blog have better chances of connecting with potential customers. Twitter and Facebook feeds that are similarly focused on keyword-rich, frequent, relevant content also have the best chances of getting picked up when searches are conducted on social media platforms.