Twitter will no longer remain a ‘dumb’ bulletin board where nearly 400 million micro-messages are posted daily. The social networking site has moved to a strategy of actively sifting through what each user is reading and tweeting in order to discern their interests.
Twitter launched interest-targeting Thursday for promoted tweets. The move allows those with Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts to set a list of interests that those accounts and tweets specifically target.
“By targeting people’s topical interests, you will be able to connect with a greater number of users and deliver tailored messages to people who are more likely to engage with your Tweets,” Kevin Weil, Twitter’s director of product management, wrote in a post on the company’s advertising blog.
“When people discover offers and messages about the things they care about on Twitter, it’s good for both marketers and users,” he added.
Marketers can now target more than 350 different types of interest categories ranging from Sports to Style and Fashion. Interest categories can be even more targeting than just the larger umbrella. For instance, if you want to target users under the “Movies and Television” interest you can specify that you are particularly interested in users who like Horror Movies.
If you want to target the ultimate perfect group of users, you can also create custom segments with @usernames or particular events or initiatives that are relevant to what you’re trying to promote.
In the case of targeting an @username, the custom segment will target users that have similar interests to that account’s followers, not just followers of that account.
For instance, a local bar might create a custom segment to promote its new location including people who follow some of the local breweries in the area. While the message may not go out to all of the breweries’ followers, it will likely hit a targeted group of beer lovers from the area who may be interested in grabbing a pint in the new digs.
“We have been testing interest targeting with a select group of beta advertisers. Many have seen significantly increased audience reach; others have creatively defined custom audiences to reach a very specific set of users,” writes Weil.
“Across the board, they are seeing high engagement rates because they are reaching users who are interested in their content. Given these early results, we’re excited to make interest targeting available today to all of our advertising partners,”he adds.
All of Twitter’s Promoted Products are still auction-based, with winners determined by engagement rate and bids. Twitter also lowered the minimum bid for thoe auctions to just a penny on Thursday.
What do you think about interest-targted promotional tweets? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Blog source : Mashable.
