Product

Bridging the gap between the consumer and the advertiser

By
Wednesday, 14 February 2018

As we look ahead to 2018, I could not be more excited with what we have carved out. More than ever, we will be focused on developing new products and features that truly help advertisers leverage the unique strengths of Twitter - helping brands be what’s happening.  

Getting back to basics: connecting the consumer with the advertiser.

To ensure a clearer focus as a team, we needed to strip ourselves from thinking product-first, and go deep in understanding our customers’ (and clients’) emotional and functional needs.

We did this by first understanding at the core, why do people come to Twitter? We know that they come to see and talk about what’s happening - that’s what makes Twitter special. By developing stronger synergies and really understanding where consumers are spending their time and how they are spending their time, we will be able to build the best advertising solutions that truly leverage what makes Twitter unique and different.

Understanding how to scale our platform.

From finding the intersection between the consumer and advertiser, we then took a step back to understand what our role is specifically for brands. We found that brands come to Twitter for three main reasons:

  1. To launch something new to the marketplace, such as a product or new campaign.
  2. To connect with what’s happening, and what people are talking about.
  3. To promote their brand story, and ongoing branding campaigns.

Each of these pillars help grow a brand’s business by achieving specific goals, whether it’s raising awareness around a new product, engaging with existing and new customers, or simply having a cohesive brand voice. By honing in on these three categories, and understanding how the consumer falls under each, we can focus on that sweet spot that sits between the consumer and the advertiser.

Over the course of 2017, we launched key product enhancements that have helped us better fulfill these advertiser needs, such as:

Promoting your brand’s story with more effective formats. With the recently introduced Video Website Card, we have made it easy for people to learn more about a brand by allowing them to tap right into deeper content directly through a brand’s video. And since the video continues to play while the site is loading, we’ve seen significant increases in time spent on the site.

Connecting with what’s happening via live event sponsorships. To further connect with what’s happening, Twitter offers a unique opportunity for brands to sponsor events, whether it’s in the lead-up, during, or after. This is a great way to connect in real-time with what’s happening, and brands such as HP are finding success with this innovative type of sponsorship.

 

 

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What’s next?

As we look ahead to 2018, we want to continue to drive the consumer-advertiser intersection and make it easier than ever for brands to reach their objectives. We will do so by focusing on the following:

  • Investing in innovative formats that empower brands to express themselves. We will continue to create advertising solutions that are unique while still embracing formats that we know work.
  • Improving advertiser's ability to target audiences through increased machine learning and new planning tools. We will enable advertisers to reach new audiences by launching new targeting products built on our unique Twitter data. We will also improve planning and forecasting tools to help advertisers accurately predict what their campaigns will achieve before they launch.
  • Making it easier to advertise on Twitter by developing a more seamless way to buy. We are going to continue to make it easier to buy on Twitter to ensure a seamless experience from the very beginning. We are also testing new ways to buy ads, including third-party demand, and are currently learning from these tests.

We are going back to basics, while using our machine learning capabilities to help connect our advertisers to the best and most relevant content and customers. We are excited for what’s to come, and will be providing regular updates along the way. Here’s to a great 2018!

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