Twitter has shown some promise as a venue for promotions, and advertising, in the name of “sponsored tweets,” has begun to rear its head.
How realistic is advertising on Twitter? I offered a back-of-the-envelope response to that question in a LinkedIn Group, so here are some of the main points:
How Feasible Is Advertising on Twitter?
- Advertising on Twitter is risky in general because most social networks’ members are adverse to advertising unless it is done in a fundamentally different (non-invasive) way than legacy advertising.
- The key to all advertising is relevance; if my Twitter stream starts spitting irrelevant offers at me, I’m booting those people, and fast.
- Most advertising concepts and processes were born in the mass market era, and they still haven’t adapted to the long tail era. TV is a mass market medium, and Twitter is not. Twitter is a long tail market, and mass approaches will fail.
- Another problem is that the revenue per ad is so small that the (sponsored tweet) “advertisers” will try to do volume to make money, which is inversely proportional to relevance.
- I’m sure there will be exceptions, but in general, when a firm starts trying to monetize word of mouth, the latter breaks.
- WOM is so powerful precisely because people are doing it because they believe in it or in helping someone. The minute they’re paid, it breaks.
- That said, companies increasingly find success with coupons and selling on Twitter; but the key is people control it, they opt in and out.
Additional Reading (new)
- Excellent post on sponsorships in general, light on tweets, though great for context
- Back-of-the-envelope analysis of sponsored tweet ROI, clear explanation and some research
- Discussion from individual point of view: comments from tweeters, good discussion
- Short thread on whether or not to become a sponsored twitterer
- Even more thoughts on sponsored tweets
What Do You Think?
Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment.
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[…] Twitter’s Fake Followers lays out in gory detail the extent of vendors’, marketers’, “celebrities’ and politicians’ desperation, and its links take you to real data. It also links to the Fake Follower Check, which reveals the degree of fake followers of any Twitter handle/username. For example, since I have chosen to build a tight Twitter network, I have 2% of fakes, 8% inactive and 90% good. Unsurprisingly, political candidates have some of the biggest percentage of fakes in their followings. I first covered sponsored tweets in 2009 in Advertising on Twitter? […]