On Tuesday, Twitter announced the release of “Promoted Tweets” that will begin to appear at the top of Twitter.com search results. Other than it’s partnership with Google and a few other deals, this is a new way Twitter seeks to monotize the site.
Not like Google or Facebook ads
Promoted Tweets are organic content that Twitter promotes in their search engine results pages (SERPs). So according to Twitter, they are not Google Ads.
Twitter users will have a say
If users don’t reply to or reweet Promoted Tweets, they simply disappear from the ad server. This reliance on user feedback allows allows Twitter to meet the needs of advertisers (who want to display ads) and users (who seek value on Twitter). Jeremiah Owyang put together an excellent matrix on how various parties in Twitters ecosystem might react to Promoted Tweets (pay close attention to what he says about resonance in this post).
During the “first phase” of Promoted Tweets, users will see only one Promoted Tweet at the top of a SERP. Once Twitter gets a handle on how users feel about these promoted Tweets, they may include Promoted Tweets “in your timelines in a way that is useful to you.”
What does this mean for your nonprofit?
Who Owns The Web – Regardless of whether nonprofits care about Promoted Tweets or not, Twitter recognizes the users voice as a critical mix in the overall value proposition of Twitter. Advertizers can’t win if no one reads their ads.
In this same way, your nonprofit can’t win if donors don’t like you or your content. Your donors “own” Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. That’s where they live. When you visit, will they invite you to stay?
Organic and Paid Search Merge – On Facebook and Google, nonprofits can create ads without having to consider user preferences. If you have a credit card, and meet the minimum ad regulations, you’re good to go. Promoted Tweets will be different because only tweets that have resonance will be promoted. This means that nonprofits will need to focus more on creating real content on Twitter that users want to engage with.
