UPDATE: June 1, 2011—
- A Volvo ad had 50% engagement rate.
- A Radio Shack promotion ran for one day on Twitter. Next three days, instore exchanges and purchases, up double-digits from day before ad ran. And ad didn’t run anywhere else.
The Next Web reports that the second ever Promoted Tweet had 6% engagement on 85 million impressions.
Whoa.
That’s over 5 million people engaging from just one tweet.
Did Twitter just became the gold standard for online advertising?
Even at a more typical .02% response to online advertising, that would represent 170,000 people engaging. So, while it’s too early to say for sure, Twitter appears headed into the stratosphere of the online advertising world. I can’t decide if the response rate or the total engagement is more impressive.
The advertiser, Coke, saw these results in 24 hours, according to Yahoo Finance and the Financial Times, from this tweet:
Captured by UK Tweeter Neville Hobson/@jangles for TheNextWeb
Of course, the US and UK have huge populations on Twitter, and this tweet ran during the US vs England World Cup match. While Coke is clearly not a newcomer to recognizing good advertising opportunities, Promoted tweets seem to have a potential never seen before in online advertising.
Best of all: You can ignore them
But you know what I like best? Promoted Tweets are minimally intrusive. Easy to ignore, but still apparently great for advertisers.
What do you think?
- Do you mind Promoted Tweets?
- Would you respond to a Promoted Tweet? Did you respond to the Coke ad?
- Is this a good way for Twitter to pay its bills while keeping the user experience positive for it’s users?
UPDATE: @DaveWiner points out in fact, that this is really, really hard to believe. Good point. Wouldn’t be surprised to hear some backtracking on this later. But for now, just…wow.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Don’t mind them at all. More power to Twitter if this will pay the bills.
This is awesome. The smart ones will follow Coca Cola.
I think most twitter users won’t mind if sponsered tweets appear in their tweetstream. As long at they are identified as such, if its keeps twitter free, then its a good thing.
I wouldn’t mind them if they are geared towards my interests. I wouldn’t be interested in a Coke ad.
Personally, as long as the default setting is that no sponsored tweets flow into my feed, sure, I’m all for it. Sponsored feed can exist as long as I determine who shows up in my feed, otherwise my feed has the potential to turn into a barrage of ads (sponsored tweets).
Have to agree with @DaveWiner, 6% sounds on balance incredible. Although a combination of: (1) novelty; (2) the power of the World Cup; (3) the brand equity of Coke and (4) the competition mechanic (which is one of the most compelling social tactics) gives it some plausibility.
@Niall having slept on it (and having created some marketing miracles in my time) I think it is plausible: for the reasons you cite and some others it may have been one of the greatest advertising situations of all time.
Wow, I’m impressed! Twitter has given the power of voice to millions and in turn,those millions are returning the favor.
I believe the term “tweet” may go down as the biggest oxymoron in history.
Enjoy the rewards of your success! I don’t mind viewing promoted tweets so long as Twitter continues to value and incorporate the input of it’s users.
Congratulations!
Gems
I think this is great, the response overwhelming and we are just at the tip of the iceberg here on the possibilities
I don’t think the stats are hard to beleive, my intrest would be in learning how may of the 6% (5MIL) click throughs remained on the page for more than 30 sec, and what was their catchment rate, ie how many people signed up.
Agreed that we know so little that’s it hard to evaluate well.
Good news for me considering I’m basing a business on tweet advertising, http://www.pay4tweet.com . On another note, this is the first article I’ve found that clearly explains Coke’s success with the campaign. Great article. Great blog.
Have now added your service to Advertising’s twisted history on Twitter—and unclear future
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