Twitter on display
With so many brands now on Twitter, competition for attention is heating up. One way to generate awareness and interest is by promoting your Twitter stream in your banner ads.
There are several advantages to this approach. Up-to-the-minute tweets keep banner content dynamic and current -- far better in the minds of consumers than running banners that are static and stale. Additionally, when tweets are formatted as replies to followers and their questions (for example, "@customerX We're glad you like our products, thanks for your repeat purchases!" and "@customerY You're in luck, we are opening a store in your neighborhood next month"), the dissemination of consumer-generated media can bring authenticity, reliability, and a human element to a brand. Any form of Twitter promotion also serves, of course, to drum up new followers.
Software company Intuit recently ran a Twitter banner that fulfilled all of these criteria. The ad promoted its TurboTax product during this year's tax season. As reported by NetBanker, the banner ran on VentureBeat and displayed the five most recent tweets made by the company on its TurboTax Twitter page.
Automaker Volvo took an even more unconventional approach to promote its XC60 model with a hefty 950 x 250 expandable banner ad that ran on YouTube during April's New York International Auto Show. Tweets from Volvo ad agency EuroRSCG executives as they attended the show appeared in a dialogue bubble within the banner.
There's ample opportunity for marketers to leverage their Twitter stream in their advertising creative. The exertion is already being put forth, so why not apply the work to a banner and extend your reach through advertising? Treating your tweets as RSS updates and feeding them into your ads is a way to simultaneously enhance your banners and generate industry buzz. Be particularly creative and your campaign will likely get numerous press mentions to boot.
Social media has been embraced by businesses big and small, and that's both promising and commendable. As you continue to invest in fleshing out these initiatives, though, keep the importance of promoting them in mind. Consider your cross-media marketing campaign as a whole, and look for ways each channel could potentially accommodate advertising for your social efforts. By increasing your visibility, you stand to directly increase the number of current and potential customers who choose to maintain an ongoing social dialogue with your company and brand.
Steve Glauberman is CEO and chairman of Enlighten.
On Twitter? Follow Glauberman at @sglauberman. Follow iMedia Connection at @iMediaTweet.
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