To Tweet or not to Tweet?

Or more precisely, to promote a trend or not to promote a trend, but the latter doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. The new addition to Twitters advertising platform is ‘Promoted Trends’ and it’s causing quite a stir. There are some that think it’s non-invasive and a great idea, while others argue that brands shouldn’t be able to appear on Twitters trend list unless they’ve earned their place like everyone else. What is obvious is that DisneyPixar are getting a lot of extra media coverage from being the first to take up a promoted trend as part of their advertising for Toy Story 3; but is it the right choice for everyone?

Pro’s

1.    Obviously one of the major benefits of this type of advertising is that you get immediate exposure from your position on Twitters popular trends list. And just in case a position on the list wasn’t exposure enough, you get a nice eye-catching yellow box next to your topic to draw users’ attention. The box is there to let everybody know you’re paying to be there (this is Twitters way of justifying the inclusion of promoted trends), but it does stand out, and if anything will make users more likely to notice the trends list, and your promoted trend therein.

2.    Promoted trends act like any other trend on the list; once clicked they go through to a natural search of tweets on that topic. But the advertising potential doesn’t stop there. Companies that invest in a promoted trend also get a promoted tweet as part of the deal. This tweet appears at the top of the search listings so can be used to engage with consumers that have already shown an interest in the topic (by clicking on the trend).

3.    A further advantage of promoting a trend is the ability to drive conversation about your product or chosen topic, although this is very much a ‘chicken or the egg’ scenario. The topic needs to be popular in the first place to ensure it is well received on the trending list and ‘resonates’ with users. However, placement in front of consumers, at the point of interaction, may encourage conversation on the topic that might not have occurred otherwise.

Cons

1.    Promoting a trend will be a risky strategy if companies don’t do their research. When users click on a trend it takes them to a natural search listing of tweets on the topic; this includes positive and negative tweets. So if a companies ‘trend’ is already getting or starts to get a bad response there is not much they can do to stop it snowballing. Even topics and trends that may have got a positive response naturally might face a backlash from the blatant promotion.  Many users have already expressed disdain for the new addition to Twitter and this may be transferred onto companies that opt-in in the early stages of development.

2.    One of the main disadvantages of a promoted trend, in terms of an advertising tool, is that it can’t create something from nothing. Other social media tools such as facebook profiles and blogs; you can set up, fill with content and spend time adding friends, or building links to raise awareness of your presence and gain exposure.  With a promoted trend you can’t force people to tweet about you, but if they don’t your trend will soon disappear off the list. Twitter has reinforced the point that trends will have to show ‘resonance’ with users, implying that they will need to be acquiring a substantial amount of clicks and retweets to retain their place on the list. Which brings me onto my next ‘Con’…

3.    Is it just spending a lot of money on something that could be done for free?  Taking DisneyPixar and Toy Story 3 as the example; this campaign has worked well for them because Twitter is already brimming with positive tweets about the film, and it’s widely acknowledged that the topic would probably have reached the trending list naturally anyway. If this is the case then marketing budgets might be better invested in other drivers of conversation, incentives and social media that will encourage users to tweet about the brand and drive it up the trending topics list naturally.

How to use Trend Promotion

So for companies that see value in the pro’s of promoting a trend, the next step is getting the most out of your investment. Promoting a trend can be used in a number of ways. Firstly, it can serve to boost already positive conversation on the topic. For brands that have a strong presence on Twitter already it may be that their topic is performing well, but not well enough to make the list. By promoting it, companies can encourage extra conversation surrounding the trend and raise awareness of the positive comments already being made. It has also been said that promoting a naturally popular, or expected to be popular topic, will prolong the life of it on the trending list. But for companies that don’t already have a popular trend to promote there are still ways to utilise this advertising opportunity. The package comes with a promoted tweet that will appear at the top of search listings; this can be used to entice customers engage with the brand. Offering incentives to ‘follow’ the brand, re-tweet the message or add to the trending topic can help boost awareness and maintain a brands position on the trending list.

Brands must be careful. Promoting trends certainly won’t be suitable for everyone and every situation, and in some cases may do more damage than good. For instance, promoted trends may fuel negative conversation and would not be likely to work in a crisis management situation. Furthermore, if a topic isn’t of interest to users it will quickly disappear off the trending list, wasting the time and money of the brand, and probably encouraging negative tweets on the way.

But DisneyPixar have obviously seen trend promotion as a good investment of their marketing budget and it will be interesting to see if other companies such as Virgin and Starbucks, who have taken up promoted tweets, will also expand their budget and follow the trend.