As part of their ongoing efforts to promote more advertising on the platform, Twitter has released a new blog post outlining some best practices for tweet copy in promoted tweets. And while the focus of their advice is on one specific Twitter ad element - 'Mobile App Install' campaigns - the notes outlined really apply to all promotional tweets, even all tweets more generally. If you want to make better use of your tweets and generate better engagement, there's some solid learnings in here, based upon research gleaned from 3,200 mobile app promotion campaigns from US-based advertisers.
Here's what they found:
1. 'Leverage the Power of Now'
The first point Twitter emphasizes is based around how people use the platform as a real-time news and information source. As such, Twitter recommends that advertisers use words that create a sense of urgency in their tweet copy, such as 'now', 'hurry' and 'quick'.
Using proactive descriptors like this, Twitter found that advertisers can drive a 36% lower cost-per-install and a 9% higher conversion rate after the click.
Now, obviously, those results are entirely based on app installs, but the lesson here is relevant to all Twitter users - using active verbs inspires more action, and likely more engagement, than using passive language. Such tactics may seem minor, but even little tweaks can cause an impact - this is especially true when operating within 140 characters, where every letter and symbol counts.
It's worth considering how you use such descriptions in your tweet content, and whether your language could be improved to compel user action.
2. 'Get Personal with Your Audience'
Twitter's analysis also showed that tweets using the word 'you' or 'your' also generated better response, putting the reader in position as the subject of the content. This is another detail that can add significant context, or change context in a big way, as it puts more emphasis on the reader and their world, as opposed to being a more distant discussion.
Similar theory applies to headlines - something like:
'How the Latest Tax Changes Will Affect Business'
Has less impact than:
'How the Latest Tax Changes Will Affect Your Business'
It seems like a minor, almost trivial, change, yet the impact is undeniably different.
Twitter's research found that by including 'you' or 'your' in tweets, advertisers saw a measurable impact on cost and conversion rate.
3. 'Show Specific Prices'
The question on whether you should display your actual prices and charges is a divisive one. Some say it's a bad idea, others say it's the only way to go. Twitter's researchers found that, for app advertisers at least, showing the actual price within their tweet copy increased the effectiveness of their ads, with 26% lower cost per install.
Now, obviously, there's more to the equation than that - there's industry-specific process, additional client requirements and details, etc. Not everyone can list their prices in their tweets, but the numbers show that it can be an effective approach, and can inspire user interaction, if done well.
4. 'Drive Conversions with Discounts'
This is probably the least surprising finding of the research, though somewhat interesting either way. Twitter found that app advertisers who included specific discounts or incentives in their tweet copy saw significantly higher engagement and lower costs for their ads.
We all know the value of discounts and incentives - you wouldn't still be getting catalogues stuffed into your mailboxes each week if this approach didn't work - but it is interesting to see such offers put into tweet context, and how they can be used to drive user action.
5. 'Avoid Excessive Capitalization'
This last point should be noted by every Twitter user, everywhere, and underlined for brands.
"...the research showed that excessive capitalization - specifically showing one or more words in caps - actually turned people off. Those ads saw a 58% higher CPI and a 36% lower conversion rate."
This is great advice, and it no doubt applies to all forms of Twitter communication, particularly for marketers and brands. All-caps on Twitter is just yelling, and yelling is generally not appreciated. It doesn't help you stand out, it doesn't make your tweets 'jump out' at the reader. These figures show that it's a major turn-off for Twitter users. As noted, while the data here only applies to app install ads, specifically, it's a good reminder that all caps isn't a good way to go - even in small measure, with one or two words, it's probably not helping you.
Data like this is great to see, and can be of huge benefit to brands and marketers looking to make best use of Twitter and tweets to generate audience reaction and response. As noted earlier, you've only got 140 characters on Twitter, and that's not a heap of room to work with, so maximizing your tweet copy and using your language to best effect is an essential part of generating the best response. Whether you use Promoted Tweets or not, these notes provide some good food for thought on how brands should go about composing their Twitter content.
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