Twitter ads

Twitter adverts are a fairly recent introduction and are being used as a way to increase awareness for your brand. They are attractive to small businesses because it takes so long to build up any reasonable number of followers. The best responses to Twitter ads will be from clinics, doctors or nurses that have something unique to say, can tweet compelling content, a strong identity or point-of-view, and a brand to promote. These elements will make or break your Twitter ad campaign because you will just get lost.

To date, three options are offered for promoting your brand. You can choose between promoting your account, promoting a specific tweet, and the newest addition is the option of promoting a trend. Twitter targets relevant users by geographical location and other keywords, so that your message reaches the correct audience.

Promoting an account works by having it appear when Twitter users search for other users to follow. A promoted account will appear at the top of the search results and will be marked as ‘Promoted’ at the bottom. It will also appear on the left side of Twitter accounts under ‘Who to follow’ as the first suggestion. This model is intended to gain more followers by promoting your brand, rather than highlighting individual tweets, campaigns, offers, or other news.

If you want to promote a specific event, promotion, product launch or giveaway, promoting individual tweets is a more targeted option, and therefore less expensive. Promoted tweets can appear either through Twitter user searches, at the top of the search results, or through user timelines. In user timelines, Twitter allows you to select between having your tweet appear at the top of the follower’s timeline, or at users like your followers, to increase awareness for your brand. With the addition of geo-targeting options, you can create specific content for your local area to attract new fans who could become loyal customers. You can also run an ad campaign to promote your account as well as focus on Promoted Tweets simultaneously for even greater effect.

Promoted trends are included at the top of the ‘Trends’ section of the Twitter homepage, for targeted users. These trends are the most popular hashtags being tweeted at any given moment and are used to participate in conversation about a specific topic or event. For the most part, the promoted trends feature appears to be used mainly by mega brands like McDonaldÕs that have widespread appeal.

Using Twitter for an aesthetic clinic should be an integral component of your marketing strategy. It is a way to have a voice and interact with customers that makes them feel more comfortable with your staff and practice, helps grow the relationship with them, and creates positive impressions of the brand. By posting as a practice, you can gain the followers’ trust through interacting with them. Twitter users vary greatly in demographics, but they tend to skew toward younger and hipper. As a result, Twitter provides a way in which to reach this new audience. As more people head straight to their mobile devices when searching for practically everything, it is important to develop a digital presence across multiple channels. Twitter allows for practices to develop their own voices in online conversations.

Pitfalls to avoid

While searching for third party apps to help make Twitter more user-friendly, be careful to avoid the hoards of Get Fans Quick scams. You may get short-term results in an increase of follows, but this can make you lose real followers in the process. Tweets in obscure languages, spam, and pornographic content have been known to show up as tweets emanating from unsuspecting Twitter accounts where passwords have been shared to these unscrupulous entities. It is highly recommended to change your Twitter password frequently to protect your account from being hacked.

Twitter is also sorely lacking in the security department. If they suspect your account of spamming, they may shut it down. If they do, you will be faced with changing your password, and hopefully you have saved all of your details and the original email address you used to start the Twitter account. Customer service is not their strong suit either, and you may find yourself with automated email responses that direct you to the Twitter boards to find an answer to your question.

In short, there is nothing fast, cheap or easy about Twitter. Although there are some shortcuts, you cannot simply buy your way to Twitter celebrity. It takes time, strategy, creativity, and a boatload of patience, but if you are willing to put in the effort, it can prove to be a worthwhile and valuable exercise.