Don’t Fall Behind the Curve: Engage Your Audience Through Twitter Video Marketing


Twitter video marketing

Remember when Twitter was a simple, text-based digital marketing tool that consisted of no more than 140 characters? If recent developments are any indication, the network as we know it may soon be a thing of the past. Instead, Twitter is becoming a more rich, media-based social media hub, which will have significant implications for social media and inbound marketers. Twitter video marketing will allow for increased engagement with specific targeted audiences.

The Developments

In an effort to keep up with other social media networks, Twitter is constantly changing. In recent months, that change has focused on video, which manifested itself in two announcements:

  • Promoted video: In August, Twitter announced a new type of advertising on its platform. By introducing promoted videos, the network jumped on the rich native advertising train that rival Facebook has made a crucial part of its marketing strategy. Marketers can now pay to have their videos on Twitter show up in the feed of targeted users, interrupting the otherwise strictly chronological flow.
  • An integrated video editing and sharing feature: Remember when Twitter’s 6-second video service Vine was supposed to be the the non-plus-ultra in social media marketing? While vines have enjoyed reasonable success on the network, its time restrictions limited the service from the start. So this November, Twitter announced its work on a tool that will allow users to “take, edit, and share video in real-time on the Twitter platform.” The new tool will roll out in early 2015.

The Implications

Both of these changes clearly reflect Twitter’s emphasis on video, which will take on a greater role within the network once both are implemented. And that makes sense: according to an internal study, video URLs generated a 28 percent engagement rate on Tweets, second only to pictures. Imagine how high that number could rise once the video is integrated into the network rather than just a link.

In other words, Twitter is catering to its users (and marketers) by increasing video capabilities within its service. Naturally, the most desirable tweets are the ones with the most engagement, and including video is a great way to get that engagement.

As it is, digital marketers are already familiar with the importance of video in their strategy: no less than 93 percent utilize it in their marketing campaigns, with 82 percent convinced of its positive impact. By implementing videos on Twitter,  marketers have an increased opportunity to utilize video throughout the various digital channels.

Why it Matters for Inbound Marketing

So why does it matter for you? How will Twitter’s increased emphasis on video help your inbound marketing and lead generating efforts? For the answer, look no further than Twitter’s greatest rival Facebook. This summer, the social media giant announced a new innovation in its video tool: the ability to add calls to action post-roll. By clicking on a “learn more” (or similar) button, viewers are now guided to the marketer’s website, where they can sign up for more information. So far, Twitter does not offer the same capabilities. It would be a reasonably simple tool to add, now that the biggest step – creating an internal video tool – is out of the way.

But the inbound marketing implications go further than hypotheticals about calls to action. In inbound marketing, social media should serve as a tool to guide people to your website, as well as nurture leads going through the sales funnel. Twitter’s advertising targeting allows the upload of custom audiences; in other words, you can upload a list of current leads and target a native ad specifically targeted to them. What if they could see a video that shows them your product in action to help them decide whether it’s the right choice for them? Twitter video marketing combines promoted videos with the ability to add and edit your own videos to increase engagement.