Since its inception, Twitter has been a valuable venue in which businesses can advertise their products to a large audience. With a user pool of over 500 million 'Tweeps,' big companies with global brands and small companies with local ties can reach out to consumers on all ends of the Earth with a single 140-character long phrase. Even though Twitter is still fairly new, it is a no-brainer for every social media and digital marketing campaign.
In addition to regular tweeting and follower engagement, Twitter offers a series of advertising options called Promoted Products. These services allow businesses to better engage users. Similar to advertising on Google, Twitter operates the Promoted Product functions on a CPE (cost-per-engagement) basis. The subscriber only pays when the tweet is favorited, replied to, retweeted, or clicked on. The results can prove to be very cost-effective. Coupled with regular tweets and engagements, businesses have found this advertising service to be very valuable. Here, we'll discuss some of the benefits and advantages of Twitter's Promoted Products.
1. Catch your followers' attention '- With Promoted Tweets, you can ensure that your tweets are displayed prominently at the top of your followers' feed. In doing so, you can position yourself above your competitors and capture the attention of your followers by providing engaging content.
2. Attract new followers with the click of the mouse '- When you issue a Promoted Tweet, not only will it be displayed on your followers' feeds, but Twitter will also find other users that behave and interact like your followers. Once these users are found, Twitter will display your Promoted Tweet on some of their feeds as well. Let Twitter do the work of building your follower pool.
3. Tweet at users in a specific geographic area '- Promote a special offer for Boston area followers without bothering your followers in Bangladesh! Targeted Tweets, a new service from Twitter, allows you to define the geographic locations in which your tweets are displayed. 
4. Promote your company's mobile application by tweeting at specific Smartphone users '- Not only can you target followers geographically, but now you can target followers based on the devices and platforms they use. Promote your Droid App by tweeting at users who utilize a Droid Smartphone, not a desktop computer.
5. Host a viral conversation by sponsoring a trending phrase '- Users are always checking out what topics are trending in the Twittersphere. With Promoted Trends, you can develop a trend or a hash tag and stir some buzz with engaging conversation, all while encouraging traffic to your company's Twitter page. TweetCharts lets you discover all the trending about a certain word or phrase, and lets you discover hidden trending articles. Another way to predict a trend would be to monitor Google News for any breaking stories as well.
Naturally, Twitter users may have objections to seeing sponsored content. Check out the graph to see some of the reactions from Twitter users. A majority of respondents felt the sponsored content was not spam, but an admirable campaign.
Comment and let us know what you think about Twitter's advertising products. Of course, feel free to contact the CommonPlaces team for more information about digital and social media marketing strategies.