Twitter Advertising Releases Powerful Targeting Tools For Small Businesses

Our self-service advertisers can now target interests in two specific ways. First, they can target users with the same interests as followers of @usernames. For example, if a golf pro shop were promoting itself, it might target users who are similar to those who follow @GolfDigestMag, @GolfChannel or even a former professional golfer like Annika Sorenstam (@ANNIKA59).

They can also choose from a wide-ranging list of over 350 interest categories—from auto racing to birdwatching (or in this case, golf). By targeting people’s interests, advertisers can tailor their messages to reach those most likely to engage with them.

In addition to these interest targeting options, self-service advertisers can now specify the exact devices and platforms to have Promoted Tweets display. This means a game developer can choose to target Android devices with campaigns to download Android-specific apps with their campaign, and Apple devices to drive them to the App Store. We’ve also added the ability to target by gender (which we extrapolate using public user signals) for situations where marketers want to reach specifically men or women.

What’s really exciting about this is the advanced reporting which not only lets you drill down in all sorts of ways, but helps you see how your content is being shared, and who is engaging with it after you pay for the first engagement, which helps you surface new opportunities.

I hope to experiment promoting my blog and content now that I am set up on the advanced campaigns, and hope to share my experiences.

Here are some reporting screenshots taken from the Twitter help videos.