Social network Twitter will today have its self-service advertising products available to South African small to medium enterprises, allowing them to increase their marketing activities on the platform which hosts 255 million active users worldwide.
The platform, which is used by brands to engage with existing customers and reach new audiences, will now allow SMEs to sign up for promoted tweets, promoted accounts and promoted trends, all aimed at getting users to click on a link or to follow their account. SMEs will now get the same functionality as big brands and organic activity will stay free.
South African companies, like frozen yoghurt brand @Wakaberry with more than 26,000 followers, are already using Twitter to listen to their customers and market themselves organically.
Best for business
With a tight marketing budget, small companies will be able to keep track of their advertising costs, explains Barry Collins, Twitter director of SMB EMEA (Small and Medium Business for Europe, Middle East and Africa).
According to Collins, the self-serve platform is easy to use, highly targeted and cost-effective. Businesses only pay per engagement such as a retweet, reply, favorite or click and there is no minimum spend.
Twitter also provides analytics for SMEs to track their performance on Twitter, learn more about customer behaviour and adjust campaigns to drive better results.
Research shows that 72% of people are more likely to purchase a business if they are already following or interacting with them on Twitter. 30% of people are also more likely to recommend a business that they follow on Twitter.
Building relationships with consumers
“Successful small business owners intuitively know how to build meaningful relationships with their customers,” Collins said. “They were the first to use Twitter to talk with consumers in real-time, and their creativity demonstrated Twitter’s potential as a marketing platform.
“Today, some of the most effective marketing campaigns we see come from small, local, or Internet-only businesses tapping into Twitter’s ability to have conversations in context and on the go.”
The advertising platform, which is also launching today in Israel, is already available in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland and Japan.
SMEs can learn more about Twitter self-service advertising and get helpful tips by following @TwitterZA_SME.
