Introduction
In the last few weeks I have ramped up my efforts to promote my blog posts on Twitter.
As I have stated before I think it makes sense for us to promote using other platforms that are already well established.
I thought it would be useful to share some of the insights I have gleaned so far.
I will endeavour to keep it brief.
The Good
As per the conventions of constructive criticism I will start with the good points:
The ads are easy to set up. The interface is generally straight forward for someone who is not familiar with this sort of thing (although see my thoughts on the analytics in the following section).
You can choose between different conversion options such as website clicks, followers, awareness (you pay just by impressions) and engagements (tweet likes etc.) - I use website clicks since I want people to see my blog.
There are multiple targeting methods - the obvious ones like geographic targeting, but also keywords, platforms, devices etc.
You can also easily exclude users using each targeting parameter.
Follower targeting is available. One of the most useful targeting methods is to enter a twitter account and target their followers - it is an extra tool for focussing down on a particular subject matter.
Conversion rate is generally between 0.5-1.0% for me so far. From talking with other people who use online ads it seems this is actually pretty good. Occasionally it is a lot higher and I think that is due to a combination of correct targeting and a subject which captures the interest of the audience.
The Bad
Unfortunately there are some problems that I have noticed.
Conversion rates for clicks do not always seem to agree with Steemit views. I have sometimes seen as much as a fourfold difference. Minor differences make sense but such huge discrepancies don't. I haven't found any reason for why this happens with some ads.
The time taken for ad approval is a lot longer than for Facebook (in most cases). Sometimes it can take so long that your post (if it is a topical issue) may no longer be as relevant. I have one ad that took longer than a week. There seems to be no obvious pattern to it.
The amount you pay can vary a lot. Click rates and how much you pay use an auction system. You can either let Twitter decide automatically or set a maximum bid. Either way the amount you pay per click in the end is hugely variable and can vary by 10 or even a hundred times. It isn't always obvious what would be more or less expensive.
Lack of support when there are problems. If your ad gets disapproved or there is a problem it is not always easy to figure out what the problem is. It is also not particularly easy to get support.
The analysis and breakdown of how effective your ad targeting has been is well presented. I certainly think it could be displayed in a more easy to understand and clearer way. Facebook actually seems to do this better.
Easy to overspend! It is in some ways too easy to extend your budget with a single click - so be careful you don't get too excited that an ad is doing well and become click happy! You might not be so happy when you get your credit card bill.
A Few Suggestions If You Want To Experiment
I am still quite new to this and by no means an expert, however you might find a few of the following tips useful:
Firstly I would suggest to set yourself some basic parameters for experimentation, including limits on how much you will spend.
It can be very easy and tempting to keep adding to your spend without getting great results.
I would also suggest using Google and Twitter search to optimise the key-words and targeting you use - it can make a big difference and there are both free and paid tools online that can help with this.
It might also be helpful to run a few campaigns for the same post - i.e. with different keywords etc.
For example if you have a budget of £50 then you could do 3 trial runs with different keywords for £10 each, then use the results to do a more focussed ad for the remaining £20.
As I said earlier it is easy to overspend because it is so easy to extend your campaign with a single click.
It is also easy to lose track of how much you have already spent if you make multiple ads because of the confusing way in which the overall ad dashboard is diplayed - it may help to make written notes so you don't lose track.
Be careful not to overspend because of this!
Conclusion
These are my preliminary insights and I am still learning how to make use of Twitter ads.
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If you have any of your own insights or thoughts please add them in the comments.
I would also be interested in how you think Twitter Ads compare with Google/Facebook Ads.
Personally I think they all have their various advantages but neither is superior overall - although it is quite some time since I have used Google Ads so I my knowledge may be out of date.
Thank you for reading
This post received a 50% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @thecryptofiend! For more information, click here!
Thanks!
Not really sure I'd use any kind of twitter ads at the moment but thanks for the good info here it may come in handy in the not too distant future.
You're welcome:)
Should I make a twitter.....or wait for Zappl? ;)
I would make one anyway to spread the word about both Zapply and Steemit.
Yeah that is probably a good idea, I just feel dirty using old censoring socials lol
I understand:)
Great Info Thanks! I think ive seen your ads on facebook, what is the name of your page?
On Facebook - I have a few pages:
My Medical Posts are here. Cryptocurrency posts are here. Photography related content is here.
Ah yeah Ive been following your crypto page for a while, and I think I have commented under the name james halladay. Keep up the good work!
Thank you:)
I've never used Twitter ads thank you for the tips!
I only tweet my posts there or retweet posts I happen to notice that I can relate much or like a lot.
Hahahah, "Advertorial"
look like the content but it is AD.
Not sure what you mean? Twitter ads are not advertorials.
Maybe just about what we are doing, like posting on steemit
I'm still not sure what you mean. Do you mean like advertorials on different sites? I think that would be much more expensive - also I think a lot of people ignore them.
Thanks your reply first, I need to apologize my English...hahah
That's OK .
Thanks :)
You're welcome!
Thank you for sharing your findings with us @thecryptofiend! When I look at the bad, point one, I have an idea as to why this might be. A lot of these internet businesses skim a little of the top when looking at the amount of views you get for your add. In this case both sites are monitoring the amount of views. There is only one benefiting from an ad campaign that is fulfilled quicker...
Yes it is possible but I suspect it is more due to some kind of error or imprecision.
Excellent post thanks @cryptofiend. I wil defnielty try this 👍🏻
Cool let me know how it goes:)
👍🏻
That ad delay is an absolute killer when your post is only monetized for 7 days, especially with potential generally more front- than back-loaded. Thanks for posting.
Yes for payouts it makes a difference - but I suspect most people who see it will not be on Steemit anyway. I wouldn't really think of it as a way of getting a larger payout. It is more a way of spreading the awareness of Steemit and the number of readers.
Good point, there probably aren't many users here with enough time to split between several platforms.
This is a really interesting post, I've shared to twitter but never thought of an advert, I'm intrigued now. Thanks for posting and sharing.
No problem - If you do it please share your experience.
Thanks for sharing your insights. The approval period is definitely problematic with this platform, unless using evergreen content.
Yes - not sure why it takes so long. Seems to be quite random.
I've definitely been curious about stuff like this, but unfortunately I never used Twitter in any prominent fashion, so I hardly have any followers. Resteemed, nonetheless. I know many others to do/might.
Thanks. I was the same until the last few months. I had never really taken it's reach seriously.
nice post..
Thank you!
this will help me too..thanks for the post
You're welcome!
thanks for sharing this info. so helpful
gracias
You're welcome!
Great insights here, I think spreading Steemit content to as wide an audience as possible will prove essential in encouraging mass adoption. I'll be curious to see your impressions and conclusions as time goes on, and I'll check on the comments of this post soon to see if anyone has a preference between Twitter, Google, or Facebook Ads.
Thanks I agree. Nice to hear from you:)
Likewise. :) I've finally got a post up and now that it's summer vacation I should be more active on Steemit again, so I'm excited to catch up here. Looking forward to your next article!
Cool I will check it out!
I have never done twitter ads. Yet, I have noticed that what gets viral or popular on twitter doesn't actually convert into clicks to your actual link, article or video. I am new to twitter but I have had a some semi-viral posts on there. I tweeted out a few YT videos. I got lots of likes, retweets, and new followers considering my account was very new. But the YT videos itself didn't get any real views/clicks. There was no conversion which was my main objective to start with. I feel like each social media site is like it's own bubble. YT, Twitter, Steemit. Even though they can be connected in some way or fashion, doesn't mean that you can easily turn one of your Twitter followers into a YT subscriber. Just an observation from a few instances from my twitter account.
Very true. The conversion rate is less than 1% normally but same with any kind of ad.
Thanks :)
You're welcome:)
just go over @ https://minds.com setup an account, go like everybody for 1-2 hours and you have more mind points than you can use to promote all free and nice and spammy on people's feeds :) just like facebook, but free and better :)
I fail to see how that relates to Twitter ads or what the point would be.
you would get more likeminded individuals checking out the adds, people that are more likely to read, the system doesn't cost a dime and there is a good community there too, the site is well made and fun to be in, the groups are interesting, with god insights in their fields. No filthers, cleaner and better in my mind even if the feed is spammy from all the reminds :D
there is no relation to twitter, because I don't use it, it used to auto feed when I was streaming, but that's all it did for me :D it's a good tool, but it's full of bullshit, last time I was online there there was the Aleppo "crysis" well it turns out it was crysis actors on top of all the bullshit, the Russians are doing it :| damn americans warring for 20 years then say the russians are doing it. Well they did it first so what :D it's not an excuse stupid politics and social-justice mentality.
That's why I don't talk about twitter :D
How many people are using Minds though? The whole point is to bring more people into Steemit so it kind of misses the purpose.