Tag Archive for: Twitter Advertising

Updates To Social Media Advertising With COVID-19

Social media platforms were quick to ban people from creating advertisements in reference to COVID-19. Several industries eager to educate the public about and promote their efforts to fight the coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease it causes were blocked by Twitter and Google. The decision to ban ads that mention the virus came after executives decided that they did not want to appear to be profiting from the crisis. Twitter has now officially revised their stance in order to allow advertisers to mention the virus in select promotions.

Twitter’s official stance:

“In response to the shifting advertising landscape, and in order to support helpful causes during this time, we’re now allowing managed clients and partners to advertise content containing implicit or explicit reference to COVID-19 in certain use cases, with restrictions.”

Those specific use cases will be:

  • Adjustments to business practices and/or models in response to COVID-19
  • Support for customers and employees related to COVID-19

This enables brands that are approved to advertise changes to their business operations and their assistance measures. However, Twitter will still be enforcing restrictions on using content with mention of the virus that goes against the public good.

For example, Twitter states specifically that it will not allow ads that include:

  • Distasteful references to COVID-19 (or variations)
  • Content that may be sensational or likely to incite panic
  • Inflated prices on products related to COVID-19

This is great news for business to be able to communicate to their customers via social media any changes as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown. Other social media platforms are joining in on enabling their platforms to be more useful for business advertising. Facebook has also recently launched a new set of Page tools to help businesses update their operating hours and service delivery options to help them stay connected, and operational, amid the global lockdowns.

One of the newest measures to assist businesses dealing with the impacts of the COVID-19 shutdowns is rolling out grants for small businesses.

Facebook official statement:

“In the US, we are committing $40 million to support 10,000 small businesses in 34 locations where our employees live and work. Those local businesses can go to facebook.com/grantsforbusiness to see the eligibility for applications, which will start in the US next week.”

In addition to grants, Facebook is adding a gift card listing tool so customers can order digital gift cards for their favorite restaurants and businesses. This is currently being rolled out in the US and will soon be available internationally.  Facebook is also adding some new Page options which will enable impacted businesses to list temporary changes to their operations as a result of COVID-19.

Final Thoughts

These are logical moves from both social media platforms, and moves which will provide benefit to many. To catch up on the latest digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here.

How to Effectively Market Your Brand to Spring Break Travelers

Each year, thousands of college students pour into the city of Chicago for spring break. Although the city is not as warm as other popular destinations, it does provide plenty of activities for spring breakers to participate in.

All of these extra people mean extra business for you. Make sure to capitalize on this huge event by optimizing your marketing efforts toward spring breakers.

Merchandising

A perfect way to attract students on spring break is to offer them free merchandise. As college students, they are very willing to accept anything that does not cost money.

This allows you an opportunity to get students interested in your brand, and to vicariously promote your brand to other spring breakers in the area. As a rule of thumb, always put your logo on every single piece of promotional material in order to maximize brand awareness. Enlarging this logo is also a good idea so you can be sure to make it stand out.

This method may seem a bit simplistic and perhaps even outdated, but we can assure you that you will see a response from travelers if you incentivise them with a cheap t-shirt or pair of sunglasses.

Facebook

During spring break, visibility is key. This does not necessarily mean to be visible physically such as with billboards and promotional merchandise. You can also generate an incredible amount of traffic to your business by utilizing online advertising strategies and platforms.

Facebook is an incredible resource for all companies that are looking to directly target a detailed group of people. The Facebook ads manager tools allow you to refine your target audience based on current and previous locations. You can also use a multitude of other keywords or phrases to put your ads in front of ideal consumers. This makes it so simple for you to precisely target college students from out of town that are now within a close proximity to your business.

The other major benefit is that Facebook ads are also highly cost effective. If you create a week-long campaign to drive people to your website, you are likely to generate conversions for mere pennies on the dollar!

Twitter

The strategy behind Twitter ads is very similar to that of Facebook ads, but Twitter is not quite as successful at generating leads. However, Twitter is absolutely ideal for achieving better brand awareness. If you do not possess a prime location that receives a lot of walk-by traffic, then you could be missing out on substantial potential profits.

With Twitter, you can make sure that students on spring break are seeing your business, even if they are not clicking on the ad. Even on a subconscious level, consumers are more likely to interact with a brand that they recognize than with one that they do not. Now go ahead and get your brand out there!

More From Onimod Global

To learn more about the digital marketing industry, please visit the Onimod blog today! Our content creation specialists regularly produce up-to-date content so that you remain current on digital marketing methods and strategies.

A few of our most recent articles include: The Importance of Google My Business for Local SEO Rankings, How to Build Customer Loyalty That Drives Search Traffic, 4 Statistics That Should Impact Your 2018 Online Marketing Strategy, and much more!

Which Social Media Platform is best for Paid Advertising?

If you’re an organization that utilizes social media channels for sponsored advertising, it’s important to determine which platform to allocate the majority of the budget to. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all have unique advertising options and contain different types of audiences. This post will evaluate each of the three platforms and give direction on which advertising medium is right for your organization.

Facebook:
The largest empire in the social media world has about 1.3 billion registered accounts and around 175 million daily users according to the Business Insider. Therefore, with these astounding numbers the biggest upside to sponsoring content on Facebook is visibility. The advanced targeting options and cost effectiveness of Facebook are also massive bonuses. Targeting options consist of location, interests, education, work, gender, and relationship status. These advanced settings allow businesses to hit their target audiences to ensure ad dollar is spent as efficiently as possible. Ultimately, from my experiences with paid advertising on social media, I would argue that Facebook is the superior platform when it comes to targeting capabilities and cost effectiveness.

Twitter:
Relative to Facebook advertising Twitter is another viable option for promoting sponsored content. Although the number of accounts and users don’t match up to Facebook’s rank, Twitter still has a substantial following that can’t be ignored. Twitter’s targeting capabilities are probably it’s best feature, as you have ability to target by interests, keywords, hashtags, and even followers. Based of previous experience, I would argue that advertising on Twitter is your best option in terms of generating impressions. Running awareness campaigns is most likely your best bet with advertising on Twitter, however it can be difficult to measure cost effectiveness. Essentially, if you’re focusing on brand awareness – Twitter advertising is your “go to” option.

LinkedIn:
In theory, sponsoring content on LinkedIn seems like a great idea if your target audiences are more “professional based.” This can be true if your targeting options are set right and have appealing ads. Reliable leads can be generated through led-gen campaigns, but the cost per lead can be very high. Some of our experiences with LinkedIn advertising have seen high CPCs, low CTRs, not a lot of clicks, and a higher cost per conversion. A major positive however is the quality of these clicks – which are typically very high compared to clicks on Facebook, Twitter, etc. In the end, LinkedIn is by far the least cost effective advertising platform, but if utilized correctly it can generate some high quality leads, viewers, and overall visibility.

Contact Us: With our cross channel expertise in social media management and advertising, our team at Onimod Global can help solve all of your digital marketing needs. Feel free to reach out to us on our Contact Us page to get a free evaluation today. We look forward to hearing from you!