Tag: twitter

Twitter To Speed Up Customer Service By Offering Brands Chatbots

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter continues to make its platform more brand-friendly as it launches a chatbot service in Direct Messages that brands can use to speed up their customer service. The new feature allows brands to partner with nearly a dozen third-party services to build automated message systems specific to each brand, such as Welcome Messages and Quick Replies, to generate timely responses to inquiries and prompts from customers. Brands such as Pizza Hut, Spotify, Tesco, and Airbnb are among the first to try out this new product.

What Brands Should Do
Twitter has been steadily adding customer service tools to its platform, and this introduction of chatbot services is a natural step for Twitter as it builds out its customer support tools to appeal to the growing needs of brands and their customers. A recent study by Twilio found that most consumers now prefer to use messaging to interact with businesses rather than calling. As Twitter continues to make its platform more brand-friendly with new messaging features, we expect to see more brands utilize the tools to provide better customer service.

To learn more about how brands can reach and engage with customers via conversational interfaces such as messaging apps, check out the first part of our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: AdWeek

Header image courtesy of Twitter Advertising

Periscope Now Allows Select Users To Broadcast From Any Device

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter is unbundling Periscope from the smartphone camera with the launch of Periscope Producer, an API that allows select users to stream high-quality, live video from external sources, including “streaming software, hardware encoders, and professional cameras.” Periscope has been testing this new product in the past few weeks, during which brands and media partners such as Louis Vuitton and NBC leveraged it to broadcast professionally made video content.

What Brands Should Do
The launch of Periscope Producer marks a major step in Periscope’s quest for more quality video content from media companies and experienced content creators, who can now take footage from professional cameras and use editing software to add multiple camera angles, on-screen graphics, and pre- or post-roll ads to their Periscope stream.

The immediacy that livestreaming brings to content makes it a good format for brands looking to engage with online audiences. Early-adopting brands such as Popeyes and McDonald’s have been organizing live events to launch new products and engage with fans. Brands looking to improve the quality of their live video content on Periscope can sign up here to try it.

 

Source: ReCode

 

Header image is a promotional image courtesy of Periscope’s Medium Blog

Ford Buys Pre-Roll Spots On CW Network’s Twitter Videos

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Ford is teaming up with the CW network to target young Millennial audiences on Twitter. The automaker is committing to pre-roll ad spots on select videos posted by CW’s official Twitter account in a first-ever Twitter Amplify upfront deal. CW is creating a variety of social video content such as weekly recaps, episode highlights, and sneak peeks, which will run with Ford ads. Twitter will also promote the videos in front of targeted users based on its data.

What Brands Should Do
This partnership deal shows that Ford is eager to reach fans of CW shows who are not necessarily watching the shows on linear TV. A media trial we recently conducted found that social videos generate better recall than standard pre-roll ads because of the feed environment. Brands looking to reach an audience on digital channels should consider social video ads and make use of the targeting capabilities they offer.

 

Source: AdWeek

 

Twitter Allows Advertisers To Target Site Visitors That Are More Likely To Convert

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter has rolled out a new targeting capability that enabling advertisers to target site visitors that are more likely to become customers based on their past behaviors. Aiming to give brand advertisers a way to run a more efficient campaign, the new targeting feature allows brands to only spend money on reaching customers who have not only visited a website but also performed a specific task, such as signing up for newsletters or making a purchase.

What Brands Should Do
It would be smart for brands and e-retailers that are running Twitter campaigns to take advantage of this behavioral-based targeting option and focus their budget on customers that are more likely to convert. As social platforms like Twitter continue to improve their targeting capability, brands should learn to effectively use the tools available to reach their target audience on social channels.

 

Source: Marketing Land

Periscope Introduces VIP Program To Give Popular Broadcasters A Boost

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter-owned live-streaming platform Periscope on Tuesday introduced a VIP program, offering popular broadcasters on its platform additional support and recognition. Any Periscope user that meets its VIP requirements for follower number, average views, and post frequency can enroll in the program for free to receive the VIP benefits. Besides special profile badges that denote their VIP status, enrolled broadcasters will also enjoy boosts in content visibility, such as being featured on a Suggested User List of sorts, as well as additional resources and support from Periscope to increase the quality of their content.

What Brands Need To Do
A recent study from Brandlive shows that 44% of companies created live video content in 2015. As Twitter opens up Periscope for monetization, brands gain new opportunities to work with popular content creators and influencers to reach an online audience in real time. If your brand is active on Periscope and has amassed enough followers to qualify for VIP status, then it is a no-brainer to enroll in the program and take advantage of the benefits that Periscope is offering. If not, this VIP program should make it easier for brands to scout key influencers for sponsored livestreams.  

 

Source: VentureBeat

 

Twitter Helps Advertisers Convert App Install Ads Into Native Ads

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter has rolled out a useful tool for advertisers to convert their app-install ads into native Twitter ads. By simply checking a box labeled “native,” app install campaigns will appear as native ads across the apps using the Twitter Audience Platform.

What Brands Should Do
Twitter says its testing found that native app install ads received 56% higher click-to-install rates than ones that appeared as traditional banner ads and interstitials. For brands seeking to leverage social ads to drive downloads for their apps, this new feature offers a simple way to improve their campaign performance.

 

Source: Marketing Land

Twitter Partners With Bloomberg To Livestream Presidential Debates

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter continues to ramp up its live content as the company announced a partnership with Bloomberg on Wednesday to simulcast the three upcoming presidential debates and the vice presidential debate on its platform. The livestream will be presented in a similar format as the one it designed for the NFL game broadcast last Thursday. The two companies will share revenue from ads aired during the pre- and post-debate coverage, similar to the deal they reached in July for Twitter to stream three daily news programs from Bloomberg TV.

What Brands Should Do
As Twitter continues to build out its live-streaming capabilities, it is also actively courting media owners to cover high-profile media events to attract an audience and monetize through ads. And its ad-friendly approach toward live streaming presents a viable channel to connect with an online audience that can be hard to reach via traditional media buys.

Moreover, some early-adopting brands have found some success in capitalizing on Twitter’s push into livestreaming by hosting their own live events. Earlier this month, Wendy’s scored 300,000 views on Twitter’s Periscope with a live event where social influencer Cody Johns made its “baconator” burgers. As more and more mobile users become familiarized with livestreaming, brands should consider partnering with influencers to effectively leverage live video to connect with consumers in real time.

 

Source: Re/Code

How To Use Twitter’s New Character Limit Rule For Promoted Tweets

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
On Monday, Twitter rolled out new rules for its infamous 140-character limit. Now, photos, videos, polls, and quoted tweets no longer count toward the limit, although usernames in replies, links, and hashtags still do. However, the relaxed character limit does not seem to apply to Promoted Tweets created using Twitter’s ad dashboard. Brands can get around this inconvenience by creating a regular tweet first before running it as a Promoted Tweet ad.

What Brands Should Do
Twitter has been making its platform more brand-friendly, adding new customer service tools and delivering a smooth, ad-supported NFL livestream last week. Relaxing its character limit enables brands to include more photos, videos, and polls in their tweets without sacrificing space for text, allowing them to pack more rich media content into their tweets to engage with users.

 

Source: Marketing Land

Twitter’s First NFL Livestream Posts Decent Viewership And Leaves Room For Improvement

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Last Thursday, Twitter live streamed the first of the ten NFL games it scored in April, attracting over 2.3 million viewers in total. While a decent viewership for a digital livestream, it is but a small fraction of the 48 million viewers that watched the game on live TV. The stream averaged 243,000 viewers per minute, with each viewer watching an average of 22 minutes. For comparison, the game averaged 15.4 million viewers on CBS and NFL Network.

The livestream received some positive feedback for image quality and smooth playback, but also left some room for improvement. Specifically, some viewers complained about the delay of Twitter’s livestream compared to the live TV feed, which caused problems for the Twitter viewers who saw tweets from TV viewers in the curated Twitter feed beside the livestream video player.

Why Brands Should Care
All things considered, Twitter made a solid debut with its first NFL livestream, delivering a pleasant digital viewing experience for free. Granted, Twitter’s viewership numbers pale in comparison to those of live TV, but this is still early days for live streaming sports events. Unlike most OTT streaming services, Twitter did carry a number of ads during the broadcast, allowing brands to reach online sports fans. As it continues to build out its video products and fix the delay issue, Twitter should be able to further optimize the viewing experience and attract more viewers, especially cord-cutters and cord-nevers, to its ad-supported livestreams.

 

Source: Re/Code & New York Times

Twitter Adds New Features For Better Customer Support

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter has rolled out some new features to help brands provide better customer service. Now brands can indicate when their customer service account will be available and when customers can expect a response. Twitter also revamped the profile pages of those brand accounts to add an enlarged “Message” button, encouraging users to send their inquiries and complaints via Direct Message rather than tweeting them publicly. Several brands, including Delta, T-Mobile, and United, have activated the features on their accounts

What Brands Need To Do
According to a recent study published by Twilio, most consumers now prefer to use messaging to interact with businesses rather than calling. So it makes sense that Twitter is improving its customer support tools to appeal to the growing needs of brands and their customers. Last week, Twitter revamped Direct Messages to add some convenient features and make it more chat app-like, signaling its intention to expand its messaging service. As Twitter continues to make its platform more brand-friendly, we expect to see more brands utilize the tools to provide customer service.

To learn more about how brands can reach and engage with customers via conversational interfaces such as messaging apps, check out the first part of our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: TechCrunch