Getting Started with Twitter Ads #SMX

Three representatives — Vernon Wharff, Nate Wright and Kate Fauth — from Twitter take the SMX West 2016 stage to talk Twitter ads! They share their insights on meeting the challenges of advertising in a mobile world, targeting your audience, setting up your Twitter campaign and measuring your success.

Meeting the Challenges of Mobile

Mobile is fundamentally different than desktop – users use it in very different ways.

• Mobile influences and is influenced by other activities – people want in-the-moment personalized content.
• People consume mobile content in short bursts. They consume and contribute constantly.
• Cross device conversion paths are the rule, not the exception.

The point? The strategies that worked on desktop aren’t always translating well to mobile. The screens are small, the users are distracted, the users are using multiple devices, the technology is different, and there are platform complexities. In order to overcome these challenges, the medium needs a new approach.

• Connect in the now.
• Inspire action with media rich ad units that drive specific actions.
• Make conversions possible any and everywhere.

Targeting and Measurement     

It’s difficult to reach your audience online. People aren’t raising their hands to say they are interested in your service. You can use Twitter to target people on their interests.

Each day your customers are sending millions of signals via Twitter. Two unique targeting types on Twitter are keywords and interests. Interest come from the content users engage with and the people they interact with.

Keyword Targeting is a precision tool that allows you to hone in at the right time in the right context.

Let’s say Ryan is tweeting about an upcoming vacation he’s considering – if you’re someone who works for a ski resort and Ryan is tweeting about skiing, it’s a prime moment for you to reach him.

Think about your existing important keywords in your SEM campaigns – how can you leverage them on Twitter?

Match Types:

• Phrase Match – words in exact order only
• Broad Match – includes synonyms

Reach your customers with tailored audiences. Build tailored audiences using your data – cookie IDs, emails, phone numbers. You can expand the reach of your campaign by using a lookalike audiences. You can also extend performance with additional targeting options – geo, age, etc.

Measurement

93 percent of marketers said they would run more cross channel campaigns if they were able to more effectively measure mobile advertising performance.

The website tag is a small snippet of code that you place on your site that allows you to track conversions and remarketing to audiences of recent website visitors.

Best Practices for Tag Installation

• Consider your sales cycle
• Tag all pages on your site
• Speed thing sup with a container
• Consider how you want to remarket

Select a key conversion tag when setting up campaigns – specify what conversion is the most important. This will gear the campaign toward that key conversion event.

Customize your attribution by post engagement or by post view – it’s up to you! Nate recommends advertisers use post view.

Understand how exposure to your promoted tweets drives conversions on your site:

• Volume of conversions
• Cost per click
• Conversion rate
• Total revenue
• Order quantity

Gain cross device conversion insights with the website tag.

Campaign Optimization and Setup

Plan your Campaign for Success – what do you need to see to consider this campaign a success:

• Define your KPIs.
• Set campaigns for auction success.
• Use those KPIs to calculate your bid.
• Create a testing framework with multiple campaigns. Cast a really wide net, figure out what works and then replicate those campaigns.
• Test mobile and desktop in separate campaigns.

Fast Tips on Bidding

• Higher performance advertisers pay less.
• Bid higher when choosing narrower objectives.
• Target bidding can often drive the best performance.

Optimize your Landing page

• Keep copy pithy
• Simple, clear CTAs
• Capture lead
• Use click to call
• Reduce typing
• Scalable vector graphics

Kristi Kellogg is a journalist, news hound, professional copywriter, and social (media) butterfly. Currently, she is a senior SEO content writer for Conde Nast. Her articles appear in newspapers, magazines, across the Internet and in books such as "Content Marketing Strategies for Professionals" and "The Media Relations Guidebook." Formerly, she was the social media editor at Bruce Clay Inc.

See Kristi's author page for links to connect on social media.