In popular opinion Twitter is dying as a relevant social media platform with competitors such as Instagram and
Facebook charging ahead as the leaders of popular digital interaction, engagement and most importantly, advertisement. Twitter’s relevance is limited in popular thought as a way to receive news regarding prominent figures or gain insight into celebrity perspective not filtered through traditional media channels. This perception has caused advertisers to overlook
Twitter as a platform with popular reach.
However, despite this misconception Twitter remains an incredible
paid media opportunity. With ad engagements up 33% in the fourth quarter of 2018, coupled with cost-per-engagement down 7% in the same period Twitter offers unharvested and fertile advertising grounds to reach a wide audience for a relatively low cost.
So why are advertisers hesitant to utilize Twitter to promote their products or services? Plagued by spam and abusive content advertisers were rightly concerned to distribute their content on Twitter for fear of corruption, distortion or encryption. However, much like
Facebook’s purge of user’s newsfeeds,
Twitter made significant changes to the format and content distribution on the site in 2018. Purging a colossal amount of
content, fake accounts and automized post systems Twitter has cleaned up the platform and collated information specific to user interest. Not only has this improved user experience but intensifies the impact, accessibility and integrity of advertisements on the site.
Although it is true
Twitter has reported contracting monthly active users (MAU) from its previous quarters and has announced it will not disclose MAU figures after 2019’s first quarter, an issue for advertisers wanting to calculate the effectiveness of their advertising or CPM (cost per thousand impressions),
Twitter ad revenue was still up 23% to $791 million in the 4th quarter of 2018.
With a high potential
return on spending, the cultivation of a brand safe digital environment and access to a global audience unique to Twitter there is an incredible cost opportunity for advertisers. The delayed response to this opportunity will not be permanent, and for advertisers wanting to capitalize on cost efficiency and capture the attention of an untapped market, quick and confident action is required to take advantage of a neglected
social platform.