Twitter advertising: Highlights from the latest Playbook for Agencies

Twitter recently released their Q2 2018 edition of the Twitter Playbook for Agencies. The team at Twitter have put together the resource to answers those questions most frequently asked by agencies and their clients about advertising on the network.

We had a read of the playbook and it’s full of Twitter advertising gold, so we wanted to share some of the highlights with you! Of course you can also read the full playbook yourself, here.

Paid and organic go hand-in-hand

Advertising is taking off on Twitter – total ad engagement has increased by 69% in the past year and cost-per-ad engagement declined by 28% over the same period. Twitter ads are receiving more and more engagement and those engagements are getting cheaper.

Added to that, Twitter’s own analysis has found that brands who are organically successful on Twitter, also have large Twitter advertising budgets and have strong strategies for mixing organic and paid. The playbook summarizes this with a rule of thumb: All organic strategies on Twitter should be supported by paid content and all paid strategies should have organic content as well. That’s not to say that every organic tweet needs to be promoted in paid, but brands should understand that organic and paid strategies amplify each other.

Timing is key on Twitter

Twitter – it’s what’s happening. As a social network, it’s all about the now. Across all the major platforms, Tweets are thought to have the shortest lifespan and brands need to take this into account. Campaigns that focus on events or current trends are therefore extremely powerful on Twitter. Advertising campaigns that build-in conversation, spontaneity, wit and creativity often perform well on Twitter.

Elements of a great Tweet

Unlike other networks, on Twitter there is really only one content format – the Tweet. So what makes a great one? First of all, Tweets with video attracted 10 times more engagements than Tweets without video. And Promoted Tweets with videos save more than 50% on cost-per-engagement. Simply put ’97 using video in your campaigns can make them cheaper. A creative way of incorporating video could be through GIFs. In fact, only 2% of Tweets include a GIF, but Tweets with a GIF receive 55% more engagement than Tweets without a GIF.

Also, put some thought into curating your Twitter feed through the accounts you follow. As Twitter puts it, You need to absorb good content to create good content. Research strong users and businesses in your space, and make use of the Retweet! If someone else has said it well, save time and simply Retweet.

Clarifying campaign types

Twitter has noticed that advertisers can tend to become fixated on growing their Twitter followings, to the detriment of other real business outcomes that can be targeted. Agencies should advise their clients to define their specific goals, and put together their Twitter advertising campaigns accordingly. Options range from Website Click or Conversion campaigns, to Follower, Tweet engagement and Video views campaigns. Video is the fastest-growing advertising tool on Twitter, with around 1.2 billion video views on Twitter each day – representing which 100% growth in 12 months.

What makes a great Twitter ad campaign?

Before jumping into creating your Twitter ads, the playbook advises advertisers to get clued up on their audience. Navigating to analytics.twitter.com and clicking on the audience tab gives brands insight into the demographics of people who follow them. From here, brands can begin to craft their messaging and incorporate some of Twitter’s quick tips like emphasising urgency, including subtitles in video and using follower targeting.

Interested in learning more about Twitter advertising on Paragone? Our state-of-the-art platform helps agencies like Havas deliver better Twitter advertising results to their clients.