Twitter Ads
Twitter Launches Promoted Trends
I read an article recently about Twitter selling ad space, back in April Twitter introduced Promoted Tweets, a platform to allow businesses to promote themselves within the Twitter stream. Now it seems Twitter has launched Promoted Trends, a feature that will allow advertisers to insert their own trends into Twitter’s trending topics.
Twitter’s Value
Twitter’s value was released the other day at one billion dollars, impressive, but only one tenth of Facebook’s reported value. At some point Twitter will need to find a way to monetize their site, without
making it a pay service. I don’t have a problem with the paid placement of tweets and trends; I think it would be an excellent addition to any Internet or Social Media Marketing Plan.
How Twitter Needs to Handle Placed Trends
Here is what I want to see Twitter do with the paid placements. If they are allowing a company to pay to place an ad within the stream, call it out; make sure everyone understands someone paid to put that ad in their stream. As far as the Promoted Trends, I want to be able to ignore this feature, because the whole point of Twitter’s trending topics it to see in real time what is happening in the “twitterverse”. You can already choose between worldwide, by country even by city. I don’t want to see the trending topics “polluted” with a paid placement.
By creating a competition for the top trending spot, with a Google AdWords type auction, it would created a nice competition and help Twitter make money from selling the ads. As Twitter continues to grow they have got to find a non-intrusive way to bring in advertising dollars while still being able to create enough awareness of the ads.
Mobile Application
More people are logging on to Social Media; Twitter specifically, using their mobile devices. If you use an iPhone and a free Twitter app you most likely have to deal with some sort of ad placement now, so by adding ads to the main Twitter page should be too much of a problem.
| Number of Mobile Subscribers Accessing Twitter via Mobile Browser | 3 – month average ending Jan. 2010 vs. Jan. 2009 | Total U.S. Age 13+ | |
| Total Audience | |||
| Jan-09 | Jan-10 | % of Change | |
| Twitter.com | 1,051,000 | 4,700,000 | 347 |
| Source: comScore MobiLens | |||
– brian tudor
follow @briantudor on twitter
iPhone 4 Will Change Communications Forever, Forever
How will iPhone 4 change communications? Simple. Apple’s new ‘Face Time’ feature coming out with the new iPhone, set to be released on June 24, 2010, will for the first time ever provide a viable real-time mobile video chat option. With the addition of a forward facing camera, iPhone 4 users will be able to connect visually with each other no matter where in the world they are, as long as there is a Wi-Fi network to join. According to Apple, “People have been dreaming about video calling for decades. iPhone 4 makes it a reality. With the tap of a button, you can wave hello to your kids, share a smile from across the globe, or watch your best friend laugh at your stories. No other phone makes staying in touch this much fun.”
Let’s not get caught up in this one feature though, Apple is finally bringing Multitasking to the iOS 4 firmware upgrade, what does this mean? It means you no longer will have to exit out of your favorite app to make a phone call or change your music playlist. By allowing third-party apps to now continue to run in the background iOS 4 
means you can keep you Tom Tom GPS app running all the way from Michigan to Missouri and not miss a beat. Phone call? No problem. Update your Twitter status (Hey! Look at me, multitasking on my iPhone without getting lost on a road trip.)? No problem.
So the new iPhone will be out at the end of June 2010, and it is the second drastic redesign from the original iPhone, it is now more sleek and powerful than ever before. With a sleek new stainless steal frame that acts as an antenna to improve call quality and durability. Another great new feature is a new technique called Retina Display, everything you see and do on iPhone 4 looks amazing. Text in books, web pages, and email is crisp at any size. Images in movies and photos are stunning at almost any angle. That’s because the Retina display’s pixel density is so high, your eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels.
Aside from the biggies (Multitasking, Face Time and Retina Display), Apple is adding or upgrading a slew of
new features. Features like Folders, where you can stack your apps into one folder that the iPhone will name based on the types of apps in the folders. The camera was upgraded to 5 mega pixels with an LED flash, and can now shoot video in HD. With all of the new features, Apple keeps refining the iPhone into an indispensable tool, both personal and professional.
The iPhone 4 from Apple will be release in the United States on June 24, 2010, with the iOS 4 firmware upgrade coming three days earlier on June 21, 2010 for existing iPhone 3G and iPhone 3Gs owners.
- brian tudor
follow @briantudor on twitter
Bootcamp Digital Presentation – Emerging Trends in Mobile Marketing
A few weeks ago we were honored to be able to present at the 2009 Cincinnati Digital Hub Initiative Non-Conference – an event put on jointly by the Cincinnati AMA, AdClub Cincy and a number of other local organizations.
My presentation was on emerging trends in mobile marketing. I know “the year of mobile” has been predicted for the last 10 years. The reality is that mobile has continued to grow in importance, and perhaps, rather than a sudden “year of mobile” we will continue to see mobile grow in importance over time.
The presentation that I shared is below:
A few of the key points:
- Phones are getting smarter – Smart phones sales continue to be among the quickest growing and most desirable, with 47% of consumers wanting a smart phone (who wants a dumb phone after all?).
- Location is key – Knowing location is a key factor in what makes the mobile internet so interesting and powerful.
- Mobile Changes Search – Search on mobile has the potential to be much more targeted and accurate due to the proliferation of apps (which provide better more relevant results for common searches) and location (which can provide more relevant results).
- Iphones – The iphone changes the potential of mobile, but the results may not be able to be extrapolated out to the rest of the market… the Blackberry app store was a big disappointment for example. There remains significant opportunity to drive sales and actual results through apps when approached strategically.
What do you think? What are the most important trends in Mobile Marketing?
