Twitter Launches First Step In Advertising Plan: Promotional Tweets

What is Twitter?
Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as “tweets.”  Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to its followers.  Users can send & receive tweets through Twitter.com, SMS or other third party desktop and mobile services.  Along with text, users can also add pictures, videos and links to other sites.

Businesses use Twitter to communicate with clients.  Whether its to promote new products or services, answer questions or thank customers for their support.

Twitter users currently send about 50 million tweets a day and Twitter reported 22.3 million unique visitors in March.

Promoted Tweets Overview
After about four years, Twitter has finally launched an advertising platform.   Called Promotional Tweets,   the ad platform lets advertisers bid on keywords on a CPM basis on the top of Twitter Search results. 
First adversiters currently running on a test basis include Starbucks, Virgin America, Bravo, Red Bull & Sony Pictures

How It Works
Promotional tweets will be purchased on a CPM basis.  They will appear at the top of search results and act as a regular tweet, meaning users can retweet, reply or favorite just like any other tweet.  Marketers will not be charged for any mentions or retweets of the ad.

Currently, ads will only be placed on the top of searches on the Twitter website Twitter.com but will soon be used on other services such as TweetDeck, Tweetie & TwitterBerry where many of Twitters users go to write and read tweets.

In order to prevent them from ailenating their users, Twitter has promised to remove ads that do not ‘resonate’ with the audience.  This will be measured by how often ads are clicked but also how often ads are retweeted, shared and mentioned as well as how often the links on the tweet are clicked.

In the future, Twitter’s plan is to later roll out platform so that Promoted Tweets are seen in standard timelines, even when the user isnt searching for information or following the brand in question.  They also plan to add location-based targeting

Cost
We are not sure what the initial tests are going to cost.  Twitter has mandated that none of the partner brands disclose those details just yet.

Challenges
The biggest question is will users click Promoted Tweets.  While it is hard to predict, Twitter believes that a combination of relevancy and resonance scores will be enough to address the problem.

Requirements for Success
Promoted Tweets will only be successful if they are used as a part of a company’s entire Twitter strategy.   In order to take advantage of Promoted Tweets, marketers must be participating on Twitter and be interacting with clients on a regular basis.

Just like regular tweets, Twitter ads must maintain a level of sincerity that has been the cornerstone of using all  Social Media.  There is not much of a difference between Promoted Tweets and regular ones, and in order for them to be successful they must seem that way.  Marketers must create enough tweets to resonate with Twitter users but not too many that they will alienate them.

Next Steps for Advertisers
Promoted Tweets has not been rolled out to all users, only a handful of companies have been selected to beta test the service.  In the meantime, interested marketers should discuss how to approach this tactic once it becomes available to the public.