It’s 3:36am in New York, so this will be short and sweet. I had to post something; my blog wouldn’t be worthy of it’s name if I didn’t post immediately on what I think will be one of the most disrupting (in a great way) stories of the year: Twitter finally unveils it’s advertiser model (version 1.0).
I’m personally excited by this launch (even more so than the launch of the iPad), as I’ve been evangelizing the benefits of advertising on social networks here and here, and also here. Basically, pricing tends to be very advantageous compared to traditional search engine marketing on Google, Yahoo and Bing due to a combination of less competition and huge amounts of inventory.
But more importantly to how agencies operate (and how clients choose agencies) going forward, I believe Twitter’s advertising platform launch will mark a new era in collaboration between SEM/SEO professionals and Social Media strategists.
It’s a fun time to be working in the Search and Social Media space, and it’s only going to get more fun.
So later today, ads will start appearing on search.twitter.com for only a small fraction (2% – 10%) of total Twitter users. Thankfully, Twitter has released a mock-up of an example Starbucks ad:
Here’s what we know so far (from TechCrunch):
”
- The new system serves up ads based on keywords in Twitter search queries.
- Promoted Tweets will appear at the top of the search results page, with small text indicating they were sponsored. The Times piece notes that companies could use this to combat negative tweets (they can place a positive tweet at the top of the page)
- A Promoted Tweet isn’t guaranteed to stay afloat for a long time — if the tweet isn’t tracking well in terms of replies, clicks, and a number of other metrics Twitter is calling “resonance”, it will be pulled, and the advertiser won’t pay for it.
- One ad will be shown at a time
- Initial ad partners include Best Buy, Virgin America, Starbucks, and Bravo
- Advertisers will be paying on a CPM basis initially, with plans to adjust the model once Twitter can better gauge how people are engaging with Promoted Tweets”
What do you think? Is this big?
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