Keyword Targeting on Twitter: How does it Work?

Among the many recent changes occurring over at Twitter Headquarters lately are efforts to boost the company’s ad revenue. Twitter recently rolled out a new type of advertising available to marketers for an extra price. This new ad unit is called Search Keyword Ads, and it might have the potential to increase ad revenue for Twitter, while helping you target your content more effectively. 

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This new method of advertising opening up on Twitter might be primarily for the company to make a few extra dollars that it seems to really need. But it should not be brushed over as just an extra advertising tool entering an arena that’s already too packed. Search Keyword Ads on Twitter has the potential to boost your business to the most relevant and targeted audience to increase engagement and views, and you should consider using it in your next ad campaign. 

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To Summarize: 

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• Search Keywords Ads on Twitter allow advertisers to bid to have their content appear only on search results pages for a specific keyword. 
• The idea is that this method of ad targeting will help advertisers reach more relevant users and keep their content fresh and up to date
• Search Keywords Ads is currently a beta test by Twitter, so it might not last forever
• You’ll need a few tools to use this new ad unit

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Twitter’s Earlier Advertising Options 

Before Search Keyword Ads, Twitter ad campaigns would run on profile pages, the home page, Twitter Detail Pages, and search results. The introduction of Search Keyword Ads keeps this model mostly the same. However, instead of just getting your ad on the same basic pages, the campaign allows advertisers to solely focus on targeting users via their searches. 

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Targeting users directly through their searches in the app can be very helpful for marketers who want to get specific in their advertising. Search Keyword Ads allow for this specificity—and actually encourages it—to help advertisers reach the audience they should be reaching.

So How Does it Work? 

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Search Keywords Ads work in basically the same way that Twitter’s existing keyword targeting functions. 

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If a user were to search for the word “sports,” an advertiser’s content who has sports-related content would show up on the search results page—if they paid for the spot, of course. 

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Again, very similar to Twitter’s existing ad model with just a little tweak. 

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The biggest difference to keep in mind is that advertisers using Search Keywords Ads will only have their content targeted to users searching for specific terms. 

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If you want ad content to be promoted across all of Twitter, you’ll still have to pay to have your ad content featured on the home page, profiles, etc. 

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Is this a good thing? 

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Since the introduction of Search Keywords Ads is a test right now, it’s unclear if it will stick as a permanent feature of Twitter’s marketing options for advertisers. 

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But it will help specify ad targeting for users which will likely increase the number of users engaging with ad content. Effective targeting is always the key to a great ad campaign, so expect it to be around for a bit. 

How do I use Search Keywords Ads?

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Right now, advertisers can only use Search Keywords Ads via desktop which is pretty typical for many tech companies. 

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To employ this strategy in your own advertising campaigns, you will need to have Twitter Pixel or Conversion API on your website. 

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• Utilizing Twitter Pixel is essential in creating strong advertising campaigns. If you need a refresher, check out what Business Twitter has to say about it. 
• As for Conversion API, learn more about that from Business Twitter as well. The great thing about Conversion API is that it can be used with or without Twitter Pixel, so there is a bit of flexibility offered by the program. 

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While Search Keywords Ads might be a fantastic tool for your business to use, don’t forget that it is a paid service like most other advertising options on Twitter’s platform. More importantly, it’s a bid service which means that if you choose to engage with this method of ad targeting, you will likely be competing with heaps of other advertisers vying for the same spots on the search results page. 

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However, if this doesn’t phase you (and hopefully it won’t in the cutthroat world of social media marketing!), you might want to consider pursuing Search Keywords Ads. 

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What if Search Keyword Ads are not for you? 

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Because of the bid-based system that Twitter has chosen to move forward with for this new ad unit, the competition will probably be fierce. Your company might not have the resources to pour money into Search Keyword Ads targeting, and that’s okay. 

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Your business won’t fail if you don’t immediately use this new method of ad targeting. 

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But, if you want to be successful, or level up your existing success marketing your business on Twitter and beyond, you should keep in mind a few things. 

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Twitter ad targeting relies on many different metrics, but a good rule of thumb is to always engage in some type of follower targeting. 

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Follower targeting is absolutely essential to any Twitter ad targeting campaign, whether or not you decide to engage with Search Keyword Ads.  

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Why is this?

Follower targeting is so important because it helps you reach an audience that will actually want to engage with your content. Ads for your business could be appearing on the home timeline of 100,000 people, but if they’re not interested in what you’re selling, you won’t have much luck getting business from them. 

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With follow targeting, you’ll be able to reach accounts that are more likely to actively engage in your content. 

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To do this try and focus on three things: 

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1. Find influencers in your field that would be worth targeting 
2. Try to target smaller accounts. This can often have a greater scope of influence than accounts with millions of followers
3. Engage with users that follow accounts with similar interests to you 

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If you work on engaging follower targeting, you’ll be one step closer to engaging with more advanced SEO metrics like Search Keyword Targeting. 

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Something else to keep in mind when utilizing Twitter for marketing purposes is engagement. Users respond much better to accounts that are engaged with their follower base, and typically have a higher opinion of a brand that does this rather than a brand that doesn’t. 

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It’s hard to go wrong with any type of SEO work nowadays, and the worst thing for your brand is often ignoring marketing opportunities rather than doing them incorrectly. If you give Search Keyword Targeting a try, you might be pleasantly surprised by the results you get. And if not, keep plugging away with more basic types of marketing such as follower targeting to keep hitting the marketing metrics that you need to make, and keep your brand thriving. 

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