Tag Archive for: Twitter

Was Twitter’s 280 Character Limit Increase Enough to Turn a Profit?

/in , /by

There were many comments and concerns in the wake of Twitter’s most recent update of a doubled character limit. We here at Onimod Global gave our two cents on the update in our article, “Twitter Launches New 280 Character Limit: Good or Bad Move?”

But the real question is, was it enough to make the platform profitable? The answers can be found in the latest quarterly report from Twitter.

Bad Reactions

As to be expected, no one really liked the switch from 140 characters to 280. One article from Adweek shared the opinions of many disgruntled users like Lou Paskalis who said, “This will pretty much end Twitter if instituted. Really really bad idea!”

Opposition like Lou’s was very common around the Twitter-sphere and beyond. Selena Larson of CNN Tech expressed her disagreement in her article “More is less: The case against 280 character tweets”.

Larson highlighted the thoughts of users and how many feel that the 140 limit actually helped make them more concise and creative. Haught Tromp agreed with this logic by saying, “It can be intellectually challenging but creatively stimulating to fit words in a confined space.”

New Quarterly Report

The much anticipated Q3 report from Twitter has finally been released. Many were waiting upon this report to see if the increased character limit would be enough to give Twitter the positive results the platform was looking for in its bottom line.

Well, the results are in. An article from techcrunch.com summarized Twitter’s quarterly report. At a glance, it appears that Twitter has outdone itself.

Originally, the company projected revenues of $586.73 million but actually reported revenues of $590 million. Although this is an improvement from the previous quarter, the $590 million is still 4% lower than they were in Q3 of last year.

In addition to these quarterly statistics, Twitter also shared some bad news about their monthly active users.

They released the following statement about the MAU issue: “We discovered that since the fourth quarter of 2014 we had included users of certain third-party applications as Twitter MAUs that should not have been considered MAUs,” Twitter noted. “These third-party applications used Digits, a software development kit of our now-divested Fabric platform, that allowed third-party applications to send authentication messages via SMS through our systems, which did not relate to activity on the Twitter platform. The table below presents the impact for the periods beginning in the fourth quarter of 2016. Due to our data retention policies, we do not have data to reconcile periods prior to the fourth quarter of 2016, but our estimates suggest the prior period adjustments are smaller than those in the fourth quarter of 2016.”

Conclusion

Many Twitter staff members had hoped for the platform to see an increase in engagement from users with their new 280 character limit. Now that the data has been gathered and finalized, we can see its true results.

Although Twitter was able to temporarily increase their engagement rates and revenues, there are still huge problems on the horizon for the social media platform that we will come to see in future months.

Twitter Launches New 280 Character Limit: Good or Bad Move?

/in , , /by

Twitter has recently announced that a character limit change is official – tweets can now contain up to 280 characters, but not for every user yet. It’s an interesting and risky move, as the 140 character limit is what Twitter has always been known for and is a major way they differentiate themselves from their social media competitors. According to an article from Market Land, this would mark the “biggest change to Twitter since its founding in 2006 and the biggest risk yet by the company to increase its user base.” This post will explore the potential benefits and disadvantages that could come along with an increased character limit.

Potential Benefits:
Introducing a doubled character limit (280 compared to 140) has the potential be a beneficial move for Twitter moving forward. One possible benefit of a larger character limit is that it would allow users to “better express themselves,” according to the Marketing Land article. This is a legitimate reason as a restricted character limit has forced users to limit what they’re trying to say. A 280 limit would also decrease the “loopholes” of tweeting such as screenshots of longer text and the annoying threads that appear on timelines. Another important point to mention is the increased opportunity this presents for Twitter’s advertising platform. An expanded character limit gives advertisers an opportunity to create more appealing ads, and as a result this could lead to more ad revenue for Twitter in the long run.

The Marketing Land article also quotes Aliza Rosen (Twitter’s Product Manager) stating that “Twitter is hoping fewer tweets run into the character limit, which should make it easier for everyone to tweet.” Ultimately, Twitter’s overall goal of increasing the character limit appears to be focused on making it easier for everyone to tweet and reducing the frustrations that come along with character limits.

Potential Drawbacks:
Based on all of the potential benefits above, the expanded 280 character limit seems like a brilliant idea. However, there could be some possible drawbacks of having larger character limits. A clear negative of moving away from the 140 characters is that Twitter would now be steering away from their core idea that has differentiated themselves from other social media competition. The article states that Twitter’s original thought behind the 140 character limit was “replicating the length of a text message would make the social network more inviting to people to post thoughts on the fly from their phones.”

Another disadvantage that could come along with expanding the character limit is an increase in spam. There would be nothing worse then scrolling through a timeline of spam accounts or reading 280 character tweets from irrelevant sources. In the end, it will be very interesting to see what happens with Twitter’s new 280 character limit moving forward. Based on outside research and analysis, it appears to us that the potential benefits of an increased character limit would outweigh the possible disadvantages.

Contact Us:
For more information regarding digital marketing expertise, visit the Onimod Global Website. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the world of digital marketing. Enjoy!

5 Ways to Increase your Organization’s Impact on Twitter

/in , , , /by

Consistently posting on a business Twitter account may start to feel like a meaningless and repetitive task, yet it’s important to build a brand and keep audiences engaged. According to Marketing Land, there are “currently over 300 million monthly active users on Twitter, with 50% of these users being more likely to be consumers of the brands they follow.” Therefore, your company’s Twitter activity must be a priority and listed below are a few ways to maximize your impact on the social media giant.

1. Interact with your Audience:
It’s very easy to ignore or forget about replies and direct messages from followers. Keeping track and replying in a timely manner will make your audience feel important and connected to your brand. It’s also a facet that will set you apart from other company Twitter accounts. Look at Jimmy John’s for instance, they take pride in interacting with their customers and have gained a large following on Twitter as a result (476K followers). Ultimately, if you go the “extra mile” when it comes to interacting with followers you will get noticed.

2. Follow Trends and Hashtags:
This concept may seem like a simple task, yet many business accounts either ignore or forget to utilize hashtags and trends that Twitter has to offer. The major benefit of paying attention to trends is more visibility. We’re not suggesting to overuse hashtags, but implementing at least 2-3 per tweet will have a positive effect on your impressions, interactions, and overall visibility. #MondayMotivation or #FridayFeeling for example are two frequently trending hashtags that can easily be inserted in tweets to catch more eyeballs.

3. “Follow and Retweet for a Chance to Win”:
This is one of the most common Twitter strategies in the game, but don’t underestimate it’s effectiveness. If you’re a frequent Twitter user you probably encounter these tweets all the time. It’s simple, fun, and an effective way to build relationships with current and future consumers while growing followers at the same time. Although many users may unfollow your account if they don’t win anything, your tweet will still produce a ton of impressions and enhance brand awareness.

4. Allocate Time into Profile:
As simple as this idea sounds, many companies don’t put in enough time and effort to their Twitter profiles. Depending on the industry, tweeting at least 3-5 times per week will show consistency. Inactivity for long periods of time can be a turnoff for potential consumers. Even paying attention to simple aspects like your profile images, bio, and likes can have a major impact on your brand’s image. Setting up a schedule each week for when, what, and how much to tweet is one easy way to maintain a consistent Twitter presence.

5. Don’t Solely Focus on Products/Services:
It’s obvious that Twitter and social media in general is a large marketplace for product/service promotion, but followers don’t like being bombarded with product information. This could potentially make your account look like a scammer and you will lose followers as a result. One idea for producing content is to pay close attention to how competitors use their Twitter and make note of which types of posts draw the most engagement. Another idea is to interact about what’s happening within your community. Essentially, the overall concept with tweeting content is to be as relevant as possible to your audience’s interests.

Follow Us: If you enjoy reading our content be sure to give us a follow at @OnimodGlobal or visit our website at www.onimodglobal.com. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the digital marketing world!

3 Deadly Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

/in , , , , /by

Digital marketing is often much more difficult than many people think. You can’t just hand over a marketing department to any millennial with a laptop and a Facebook account. You need a trained professional. Onimod Global is here to help with a quick list of marketing mishaps to steer clear of.

1.) No Clear Marketing Strategy

This is without a doubt the most effective way to sink your company. Moving ahead with digital marketing initiatives without any type of real game plan is detrimental. Not only will it waste time and money, but some of the damage may be irreversible. It can be very hard to change a consumer’s perception of a business once they’ve already interacted with it. After all, no one gets a second first impression.

Make sure to develop a real strategy before making any major moves. Consult with real professionals outside of your business. You may also want to seriously consider hiring someone full time to run your marketing campaigns. Digital marketing is not something that can be learned overnight. It requires real experience and education to be implemented successfully.

 

2.) Limited Social Media Exposure

First of all, you need to make sure that your brand exists on social media. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram are just a few to get started. If you aren’t on these 4 basic platforms, then you are most certainly missing out on an enormous customer base.

Being present on these various platforms is invaluable to your brand’s identity. They are also completely free, aside from the time it will take to get them up and running.

If potential customers cannot find you anywhere on the internet besides your website, they may think that your company is a scam. Social media is a perfect way to build up a solid foundation and spread the word about your business. It is also a great way to push your content.

 

3.) Not Enough Content

The more original content you generate, the better. Whether in the form of a tweet, blog, or newsletter, these all have the potential to gain more traction for your business. This is a great way to get people interested in what you have to say.

Every extra minute you spend inside of a particular platform helps you gain more knowledge and credibility. Engaging with others is a great way to prompt them into engaging with you. The more time that you spend tweeting, retweeting, hashtagging, and following major influencers, the more recognition your brand will receive.

Which Social Media Platform is best for Paid Advertising?

/in , , /by

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!

8 Fun & Noteworthy Digital Marketing Stats From This Week

/in /by

The last several days provided an array of digital marketing data points, with figures aplenty about consumers’ search habits, mobile habits, social platforms, bad ads, chat bots and more.

The following eight stats particularly got our attention.

1. Santa Claus = “totally a dog person”
SLI Systems studied more than 5.5 million consumer searches on ecommerce sites during the four weeks leading into the holiday seasons, and it found dogs are more than twice as likely to receive gifts from their owners than cats. Purr-ty surprising, huh?

2. Insta-success
On Thursday, Instagram revealed it now has 600 million users. The photo- and video-sharing app has been on a rapid growth trajectory, adding 100 million accounts in just the past six months. Check out this six-year timeline to see its quick ascent in the digital realm.

3. Publishing anarchy in the U.K.
KPMG’s recent survey of 2,000 Britons found that 49 percent of them expect to download ad blockers in the next six months. Forty. Nine. Percent.

4. Irrelevance sucks, AGAIN
Speaking of bad ads, Fiksu DSP released a study on Thursday, most notably reporting that 77 percent of consumers are likely to delete an app if they repeatedly receive an irrelevant ad. It’s the second week in a row we’ve highlighted such a stat about brands’ lack of relevance.

5. Yikes, Yahoo!
With its Verizon merger at risk, this had to be a painful admission: Yahoo said Wednesday that more than 1 billion user accounts were breached in August 2013. The hack appears to be separate from the 500 million account breach that Yahoo reported this September, and it follows a history of security problems for the digital company.

So, Yahoo has 1.5 billion accounts? While there are obviously individuals with multiple accounts, just for fun, let’s imagine every user only has one: That calculates to 20 percent of the world’s population.

6. The potential marriage, by the numbers
This year, according to new eMarketer numbers, Yahoo will get $2.98 billion in total digital ad revenue worldwide, or 1.5 percent of the global digital ad market. In 2017, Yahoo’s net worldwide digital ad revenue is expected to grow to $3 billion, per eMarketer, but its market share will drop to 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, the researcher estimated Verizon garnered $1.41 billion in digital ad revenue worldwide this year, or 0.7 percent of the global ad market.

7. Ever-expanding web of influence
Meanwhile, new research from Conductor concluded that 80 percent of marketers plan to ratchet up their investments in 2017 when it comes to online marketing, SEO and content. The study’s results suggest that digital’s years of growth will continue for at least one more.

8. Chatty folks
According to a [24]7 study, roughly 29 percent of consumers stated that chat is their preferred method to contact a retailer when shopping online, making it the most popular channel of customer service over phone and email.

Bonus stat: the smartphone era
Hey, we’re not done! A Forrester Research study commissioned by SteelHouse revealed that 3 out of 5 marketers said they would prefer a single platform for media buying.

Double-bonus stat: Hey Phelps, you rule
OK, we have one more. Adweek creative editor Tim Nudd has selected Under Armour’s “Rule Yourself” spot, starring Olympic swimming great Michael Phelps, as the Ad of the Year. It has been viewed on YouTube 11.6 million times. Check it out below.

H/T Adweek

Tweets May Soon Breeze Past 140-Character Limit

/in /by

In an effort to better monetize its platform and boost user traffic, Twitter may relax the 140-character limit on individual tweets by no longer counting photos and Web links, Bloomberg reported earlier this week.

The tweak could take place within two weeks, according to the story, which cited an unnamed source who asked for anonymity because the decision had not yet been made public.

CEO Jack Dorsey hinted at the move earlier this year when he tweeted an elaborate screenshot containing more than 1,300 characters.

The company reportedly was considering expanding the maximum tweet size to as many as 10,000 characters.

Raising the character limit would make a stronger case for increasing user engagement on Twitter, Dorsey said.

“We’ve spent a lot of time observing what people are doing on Twitter, and we see them taking screenshots of text and tweeting it,” he said. “Instead, what if that text was actually text? Text that could be searched. Text that could be highlighted. That’s more utility and power.”

Twitter did not begin with a 140-character limit, Dorsey noted. It instituted the limit in order to fit into a single SMS message, which has a 160-character limit.

Link Letters

Links chew up about 23 characters per tweet. Eliminating links and images from the mix would encourage members to post more images and allow them to write in something that approximates whole sentences.

“The move by Twitter is a nice refinement, but not a breakthrough move,” said Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research. “It will make it easier for users to share more content, but doesn’t change Twitter’s fundamental problem attracting new users.”

The company is still having difficulty attracting new users and increasing the utility for existing members.

By not counting photos and links, Twitter will make it less cumbersome for users to post photos with their tweets, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. The tools used to shorten links often break anyway, creating more difficulty in generating traffic.

“Removing annoyances should get people to use the service more and for tweets to be more informative and more interesting,” he said.

Traffic Booster

While the move should help increase traffic and help Twitter compete against services such as Instagram, there is a downside risk that it will put a strain on devices used to read longer tweets, said Mike Jude, program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.

“A principal virtue of Twitter is its small footprint and easy consumption… This will erode that to some extent, but people like photos, and I think this will be popular.”

Twitter reported an average of 310 million active monthly users during the first quarter, an increase of 3 percent from the year-ago quarter.

twitter-tweet-140-character-limit

H/T: E-Commerce Times

Here Are 9 Eye-Opening Digital Marketing Stats From the Past Week

/in /by

Instagram and Snapchat continue to heat up in the digital marketing world. Check out the gaudy numbers those social players are pulling as well as six other stats from the space in the last week that we found particularly interesting:

1. New York researcher eMarketer said today that 32 percent of U.S. companies with 100 employees or more will use Instagram for marketing this year. That number will increase to 49 percent next year before jumping to 71 percent in 2017. What’s more, eMarketer said, Instagram may be more popular with marketers than Twitter in two years.

2.  CEO Evan Spiegel and his team forecast that Sponsored Selfie Filters—a new ad unit from Snapchat—will reach up to 16 million viewers a day, BuzzFeed reported. The ad purchase will cost a maximum of $700,000 per day.

3. According to Fast Company, Snapchat earlier this year discovered that between 60 percent and 70 percent of users stopped watching its video ads after just three seconds. Coca-Cola, however, has evidently cracked the code by simply making content tailored for the app. Working in concert with Snapchat, the magazine reported that the soda giant is getting a Snapchat video completion rate of 54 percent for 10-second clips.

4. Twitter has started offering Conversion Lift, which helps brands measure the effectiveness of Promoted Tweets, enabling them to better target ads. Referencing Conversion Lift data, the San Francisco tech company claimed that people who see Promoted Tweets are 1.4 times more likely to interact with a brand than those who don’t see an ad.

5. Millward Brown polled more than 13,500 multiscreen viewers—i.e., people who own a TV and either a smartphone or tablet—in 42 countries on what they think about video advertising. The researcher found that the average consumer between the ages of 16 and 45 watches 204 minutes of video a day, split equally between TV and online. Indeed, the tube and digital video are now on equal footing for both Gen Y and Gen X consumers. What’s more, 45 minutes of the average online viewing time is done on a smartphone, while desktop accounts for 37 minutes and tablet for 20 minutes.

6. The aforementioned eMarketer study also found that 88 percent of U.S. companies will utilize at least one social-media network for marketing this year.

7. P.F. Chang’s is running a user-generated content effort around National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October called #PFChangsPink. The brand saw a 1,300 percent bump in UGC from the goodwill initiative in its first eight days.

8. During last week’s Democratic presidential debate, Hillary Clinton’s Twitter handle got 293,696 mentions on the microblogging platform, besting challenger Bernie Sanders’ 278,405.

9. Mode Media, formerly Glam Media, said it has streamed more than 1 billion video views in the past six months. Mode.com’s channels include Glam (women’s lifestyle), Brash (men’s lifestyle), Bliss (health and wellness), Tend (parenting), Foodie (recipes and restaurants), among others.

Bonus stat: So far in 2015, only 14 percent of initial public offerings have been done by tech companies, per a Wall Street Journal article citing stats from Dealogic.

H/T: AdWeek.