What Do Twitter Ads Mean for Your Businesses?

Twitter is a powerful marketing tool, and with 500 million users just a tweet away, many entrepreneurs are already using the medium to raise brand awareness and form relationships with consumers directly.

However, Twitter’s new paid advertising options give small business owners access to more users than ever. The response has been overwhelming: Twitter is expected to post ad revenues of $259.9 million this year, according to researcher eMarketer.

Twitters ads differentiate from other social media advertising because the ads are integrated into content and the user experience, giving them a more personal, informal feel. These ads also engage users on multiple levels, encouraging consumers to click on links, @reply to the ad messages, retweet to share with followers, or favorite it in their public list.

To help you get the most out of your Twitter ads, here are some key features you can start utilizing to spread the word about your business:

• Promoted Account: Want more followers? Check out Twitter’s Promoted Account. This feature will ensure your account shows up in Twitter search results and within the “Who To Follow” section. Who To Follow is Twitter’s account recommendation engine and identifies similar accounts and followers to help users discover new businesses, content, and people on Twitter. Promoted Account campaigns can even be geo-targeted based on the country.

• Promoted Tweets: If you want to promote a time sensitive event, or increase your brand exposure, you can use this function to get the visibility you need. Promoted Tweets appear directly in the timeline among non-paid tweets, or can be targeted to search results. Promoted Tweets are priced on a Cost-per-Engagement (CPE) basis, so you only pay when someone retweets, replies to, clicks, or favorites your Promoted Tweet. Twitter regularly analyzes the engagement rate of advertiser tweets to identify five of the most engaging. From that data, Twitter automatically creates an ad to serve to users. While a specific tweet can’t be selected, it’s possible to remove the tweets that you don’t want to promote. Twitter advises, “Just like organic Tweets, relevant and interesting messages are rewarded. Promoted Tweets that engage and resonate with users are more likely to appear.”

• Promoted Trends: These viral conversations reflect some of the most buzz-worthy topics of the moment. Featured prominently next to a user’s timeline, Promoted Trends get massive exposure and are perfect for entrepreneurs who want to kickstart a campaign or amplify their message. Successful Promoted Trends give users something new to discover and share and are served to users based on location and interest.

Don’t forget—Twitter also improved its profile pages, making it easier than ever to create a profile that engages consumers with your brand story and company personality. Customize your profile header, background, and pin the tweets that best exemplify who you are as a company to the top of your timeline.

 What do you think of Twitter’s new advertising options?