At the end of last month, Fortune reported that Twitter is developing a subscription plan that automatically promotes tweets. The service is targeted at smaller brands who may lack the resources or bandwidth to run their own campaigns.
Although it has less monthly active users than Facebook (with 2.01 billion) and Instagram (700 million), Twitter is one of the world’s most popular social networks, with 319 million users logging into the platform every month – according to Mediakix. Last year, ad engagements grew by 151% compared to the previous 12 months.
With this in mind, it would be foolish to not get the most out of this conversational, multi-media platform. In the latest of our social media series, we look at how iGaming and financial trading brands can use Twitter to acquire more customers and better engage their existing customer base, along with raising brand awareness. We also discuss the importance of the medium for brands’ affiliate marketing strategies, as well as for affiliates themselves.The Benefits of Twitter Undeniably, Twitter is already a competitive space. 135,000 new accounts are created every day, according to Simply Business. However, this is outweighed by the fact that users resonate more with businesses who use the platform proficiently.
People spend money with brands they trust, and brands significantly increase their exposure and reputation by building a bigger followership. According to @TwitterSmallBiz, 47% of people who follow brands are more likely to visit the company’s website.
@TwitterSmallBiz also found that around three-quarters (74%) of users who follow SMBs (small and medium-sized business) do so to get updates on future products and services. Meanwhile, 85% feel more connected after pressing the “follow” button.Organic Marketing For small and mid-tier iGaming and financial brands with limited marketing budgets, organic Twitter growth can be achieved in many ways. We spoke in our recent Instagram blog about Paddy Power’s use of satire, and with over 600,000 followers, they’re even bigger on Twitter. Paddy Power and other iGaming brands, such as Bet365, have achieved sizeable followership by encouraging conversation through posting humorous or factual content.
Live broadcasting via Periscope is also possible on Twitter, meaning that brands can also choose to stream sporting events and live poker tournaments as well as, for forex brokers, central bank rate announcements. Live videos can also be watched by non-followers, making this an effective way to gain followers – and also acquire new customers.Paid Marketing Twitter already allows brands to target potential customers with manually-created promoted ads and trends. The system is auction-based and this, though less cost-effective, ensures that you directly reach your target audience beyond your existing customers and gain additional brand exposure. Non-generic versions of these ads tend to receive better conversion rates, because they reach a wide pool of the target audience.
Themed promotional posts and trends, based around upcoming or current events, would be one way of creating a successful ads campaign. A recent example of this approach is Betfair’s ‘Back Yourself’ campaign for the 2016 London Marathon. During this campaign, the sportsbook gave contenders the opportunity to bet on themselves risk-free. All of the non-winning proceedings were donated to charity, making it a successful campaign in terms of both PR and player acquisition.Affiliate Marketing Twitter is also vitally important to today’s affiliates, and there are more and more affiliates without websites who promote brands solely using Twitter handles. Like operators, affiliates can build their follower base and drive traffic by starting conversations about current affairs – instead of explicitly talking about their services. The likes of OddsChecker and Footy Accumulators have achieved great success and large follower bases through this method. Whatever their focus, Twitter provides affiliates with an important additional way of maximising their conversions and overall revenue.
Savvy operators understand the importance of Twitter in affiliate marketing, and run separate accounts exclusively for affiliate content. Breakout Gaming, for example, use their main account for player-facing and general company-related posts, and also run one for affiliate-facing content. This ensures their affiliate promos and content are highly targeted, and also supports affiliate recruitment and overall programme growth.
As well as their own strategies, affiliates can also use Twitter to support and endorse their partners. Some examples of leveraging these brands include shout-outs and retweets, which automatically showcase a brand to broader audience. This especially benefits small to mid-tier brands, who might struggle to achieve exposure on their own.Looking Ahead… Twitter is already an established medium for iGaming and financial trading brands as well as affiliates. However, the introduction of automatic ad scheduling will give smaller brands a promotional advantage in this increasingly competitive space.
Your brand’s reputation will remain an important sales factor, and Twitter users will continue to resonate with accounts they feel most connected to.Reach out to organise a demo on our marketing tracking and analytics platform and suite of digital marketing services.
