Ever since Twitter announced their “Promoted Tweets” users have been skeptical and not necessarily the most receptive to the new practice. A promoted Tweet is a tweet that Twitter will push to the network, and will receive payment every time an action is taken on the original tweet (retweet, click-thru, etc). Users have had problems with these tweets in the past because they have tended to come off spam-like and inorganic.
The Top 10 Promoted Tweets were just released and their numbers are impressive. The top ten tweets had engagement rates ranging from 52%-25% (meaning that 52% of all users that saw the promoted tweet interacted with it). These values were very high, especially for a medium which users know is paid. These top 10 tweets can be used as a learning tool for the average Tweeter. The top 10 all incorporated certain strategies which anyone can adopt in their communications (online and off).
- Integration – VW used their promoted Tweet to piggy-back off of their Super Bowl commercial, Old Spice used it to bring their dynamic personality to Twitter and then to a new commercial on Youtube. They followed one of my previous posts: Social Media is Not a Strategy, and effectively combined their promoted tweet with all the other mediums being utilized in a campaign. Increasing reach by posting complementary information on multiple mediums helps ensure the success of a campaign. Many of the top 10 tweets did this successfully.
- Innovation – Ford and Hollywood records did a good job of using their tweets to announce exciting new launches. Ford used it to show off their newly released model and Hollywood Records used it to announce the release of Salena Gomez’s album on iTunes. They both did a great job using the channel to announce something worth while and giving something new to users.
- Informality – All of these tweets were “social”. They sounded organic and conversational enough to have people trust them. Many times brands come off as machine like and don’t put much personality into their online presences. It was apparent that these tweets were created by a person, and they did a good job at encouraging both click-thu but also sharing with other people.
- Information – Lastly, all these promoted tweets gave something of value to the user. Whether it was a new product, information, outside content, or even a laugh, all these tweets had purpose and we’re shared for a reason. This is an important factor to remember when creating content as the “I’m sitting on the couch” tweet, is no longer appreciated.
So take a look at the top ten promoted tweets and see how you can integrate their strategies into your daily tweets. What other factors do you think were important to their tweets being so successful?
