Twitter launches Tailored Audiences
by MEC
After months of testing, Twitter announced the global availability of
Tailored Audiences, their most advanced targeting option to help brands reach existing and potential customers on Twitter.
This is the introduction of ad retargeting on Twitter, allowing brands to remessage users who have recently visited the brand website.
Brands must work with one of 10 ad partners to pipe cookie IDs into the Twitter ads platform to create target groups. Once imported into Twitter, brands can create custom targeting to remessage certain types of site visitors, or exclude visitors to ensure Twitter marketing reaches new customers.
Tailored Audiences vs. FBx
This marketing product allows Twitter to compete with Facebook’s FBx, which operates in a similar manner, and is touted as a successful method for driving sales. Similar to FBx, brands can layer Geo, Device and Gender targeting on top of this data. Brands cannot layer age, interest, keyword or TV targeting on top of tailored audiences.
Where tailored audiences stand out is in its ability to use this tool to
target users through mobile. Retargeting is a challenge on mobile because mobile browsers do not support cookies. However users often login to Twitter on both desktop and mobile, allowing Twitter to retarget users on mobile through their desktop cookies.
Implications for Marketers
Strengthening ROI-centric solutions has been a focus for Twitter, first with the launch of Lead Gen cards, followed by a partnership with Datalogix. Tailored Audiences is their largest step into this arena, with Twitter likely to continue down this path to create a suite of programmatic buying solutions. Tailored Audiences brings Twitter one step closer to offering the same versatile suite of ad solutions that Facebook provides, allowing them to compete for programmatic dollars. Beta results are already showing Tailored Audiences to be promising, ranging from engagement rates 45% higher than average, to conversion rates 195% higher than average.
For brands already investing in programmatic buying, Tailored Audiences will allow you to expand on already proven methods. As 76% of Twitter users access mobile daily, the addition of Twitter allows brands to better reach mobile users who have recently visited your site.
However, Tailored Audiences can also assist brands who seek to grow their social ecosystem. Twitter’s strength has always been in the platform’s ability to host relevant wide-scale conversations. Keyword targeting and TV targeting have helped brands to spark these conversations at the most relevant moments. Brands can consider Tailored Audiences as a similar solution, using these behaviors to turn site visitors into advocates. Brands can encourage product reviews after purchases, offer supplemental content to those considering the brand, or surprise and delight users for visiting the brand site.
Key Takeaways
- Tailored Audiences allow brands to consider Twitter as a solution for direct marketing efforts, in addition to branding and advocacy campaigns.
- The ability to retarget users on mobile through desktop cookies provides the most reliable connection between desktop and mobile advertising.
- This new product can extend branding and advocacy efforts by providing follow-up messaging to known user actions (e.g. Deliver a tweet that provides an opportunity to write a review when users trigger the Purchase Confirmation Page).
For more information, please contact Ming Linsley or your social lead.