Twitter Launches Promoted Trends

Twitter users get ready –  Promoted Trends are coming to Twitter. In a global test of unspecified duration Twitter announces that in addition to Promoted tweets, they will unveil Promoted Trends. The next question is obvious. So here’s Twitter official FAQ on the subject.

Q. What are "Promoted Trends"?

A. Promoted Trends are a new advertising concept we began testing this week; they are an extension of our Promoted Tweets platform. With Promoted Trends, users will see time-, context- and event-sensitive trends promoted by our advertising partners. These Promoted Trends initially appear at the bottom of the Trending Topics list on Twitter and are clearly marked "Promoted." As conversations about the topic increase, Promoted Trends may move up the list.

While the brief write-up specifies that this is in testing, we expect to see more from Twitter as far as monetizing. Twitter has become unique unto itself in that it seems to actually respect its users unlike some other Social Media platforms we all know.

Persistent Promoted Tweets as Twitter calls them will appear at the top of the Promoted Trend. Already Twitter has made reference to filters that would keep the topic or trend clean from abuse. That means Twitter is watching for those who would compromise the site with unfavorable or abusive information – yes the s*** word.

We applaud Twitter for their consistent and respectful attitude towards their users and will continue to support their platform. Blackball Online Marketing offers Social media solutions in the form of Twitter Marketing to small business in the Pittsburgh area.

Pittsburgh Social Media Marketing Campaign Strategies

We hope you have already read the Planning Your for Social Media Marketing Campaign and the Analyzing Your Social Media Marketing Campaign posts. If not take a minute or two to catch up. That was quick. Having gone through the steps in the previous posts all that’s left to do is have some fun. Research for us is fun.

Now that you know your company’s strengths and weaknesses as identified previously it’s time to research the Social Media channels that are right for you. We mentioned previously about asking your present clients “What if any social networking sites do you use?”. This information can now be put to use in a real way. Explore a little and draw your own conclusions.

The absolute first thing we did was to build a blog. While this may not be a strategy you wish to employ right now keep it in mind. There are many blogging platforms out there. Blogger, WordPress.com, WordPress.org, and Drupal are the top blogging sites according to the Alexa rankings as of this writing but there are also other alternatives.

Social Media Blogging Platforms

Blogging on your own site has a number of distinct advantages. The traffic you generate will be all yours. As you become more proficient with your blogging tools and your writing, you will generate a clear channel to your audience with no static. A one to many relationship between you and your customers / readers. Why not have the traffic you generate with your words and your thoughts benefit you? Sounds fair – right? This is not the case when you choose a platform hosted elsewhere. Yes, you can link back to your main site but it doesn’t carry the same weight. One the flipside, more technical skill is required and someone must administer the blog thus using company resources. Blackball Online Marketing designs custom blogs for small business and can help you implement your small business social media campaigns.

One last thought on blogging. This requires commitment as well as any other business initiative. Social Media, and business for that matter, is really all about commitment. Cultivate your audience and your business relationships will grow and prosper.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING MIX – IMPLEMENTATION

Into Action - Whether you chose to implement a blog or already have one it’s time to take your research and put it to use. Use Alexa to find the sites with the most popularity and the most reach. Are any of these on your lists of sites already mined from your customers? Have a look at the Social Media sites on this list and do your homework.

A short list of must have sites in our opinion.

• Twitter – This site is easy to understand and implement and it lets you get your feet wet with minimal effort. Please read all their valuable info on the site to get you started.
• YouTube – This is the second largest search engine on the Internet – don’t let it pass you by. Get creative and make some videos for publication.
• LinkedIn – A very business oriented site that let’s you develop a business profile and sharing level without the non business noise that comes with most of the other sites.
• Facebook – Yes we said Facebook. Although there are still some privacy concerns as far as simplicity, this is still the big dog of social media marketing and should not be overlooked.

So if you’ve been following along and developed a list of sites to submit to, here is where your blog or website represents you to the rest of the blogosphere and the rest of the net. Share and promote your blog/site everywhere you can. It’s the world’s view of you. So keep this in mind when blogging and commenting on other posts or pages.

As you grow your social media following you’ll likely have many logins. Write these down as you submit to them. It will save you a lot of grief later. Hope to see you on a social media site out there or get started now and join our blog and comment right away. We’d appreciate it.

Pittsburgh Social Media Marketing by Blackball Online Marketing

Twitter Monetizes - Finally

…or the Big Dog needs to eat if you want him to hunt.

…or feed the Big Dog if you want him to hunt.

Unless I just missed the memo why didn’t Twitter simply Tweet their intent to monetize and leverage the invaluable feedback they'd get from the very people who have incorporated a steady diet of  Tweeting in their daily professional and personal lives. Twitter could approach this in a number of ways while having a lot of fun with it. Twitter could Tweet surveys, ask for ideas, maybe even a contest for the best Twitter monetization idea, and simply asking what do you think - we’d love to hear from you.

Twitter would be asking input for one of their most important business decisions from the very people that make Twitter soar. The effect could prove to be very positive. Imagine the creativity from all that input.  There may not be enough bandwidth to hold the explosion of involvement. You could say this has the air of opportunity. If you want to engage and rally a community, here it is. And with such a radical and different approach to a corporate business move it just may create “pause” with those “other guys” and/or possibly raise the bar - if not change the bar’s direction.

I’m saying this because I’ve read some excerpts here and there that Twitter was fretting over their decision to monetize, to what degree only Twitter knows, but this is where Twitter turns the fretting into freedom by way of a dialog that simply says “we’re in business, we want to stay in business, and we’re pretty sure all you Tweeters want us to stay in business, so what do you think, how do you feel about this, and what are your ideas.” Twitter is a fantastic, intelligent and innovative product and with us in the SEO, Social Media and information business. We’re finding new ways everyday to use Twitter to help our clients do business better which makes the deal this - what took Twitter so long?

Twitter is a business, and this is America, so why would Twitter fret over this decision? First a little peek into their history tells us something. And what it tells us is this; Twitter began to help, to solve a problem, not so much to make money, and before you know it Twitter is a business, better yet, an “accidental empire.” With this in mind, maybe human nature is the reason for Twitter’s monetizing angst, based on the “fear of offending” which we all struggle with at times. But hell, what do I know, I’m just speculating. Only Twitter knows for sure.

I don’t think Twitter has a thing to fret about.