• Twitter celebrates users and brands around the world at #CannesLions

    Tuesday, June 26, 2012


    At Twitter, our goal is to reach every person on the planet. We’re also working to serve the needs of advertisers around the world.

    Last week, a small group of Twitter employees attended the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity to meet with advertisers from across the globe and discuss plans to expand our advertising business in nearly 50 countries by the end of this year. In response to tremendous advertiser interest in one of our fastest growing markets, we will begin to offer Promoted Products to marketers across Latin America this summer, and later in the year, we’ll open our first office in Brazil. We will also begin to offer our products to marketers in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands starting this summer. This will be the start of a sustained effort to expand our footprint in key markets around the world. 

    During the festival, our CEO Dick Costolo had an opportunity to address the international audience in a seminar entitled "Harnessing the Power of Real-Time Connections,” in which he shared insights from global brands finding success on Twitter. 


    The common theme for brands like Cadbury, P&G’s Tide, Burberry, H&M, Audi and Porsche: ads on Twitter aren’t an interruption; they are part of the conversation. Today’s most successful marketers harness the immediacy and emotion of these conversations to make authentic connections with consumers. Even better, brands can extend the life of offline campaigns by integrating Twitter across live events and TV ads to stimulate conversations that translate into free earned media. 



    Costolo closed with a call to action to marketers and creatives: “On Twitter the conversation is the canvas.  This is your canvas, and we can’t wait to see what new and creative ways you come up with to use it for your customers and ours.”  Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey shared a similar sentiment later that day when he accepted the Cannes Lions award for Media Person of the Year on behalf of our 140 million users for their “breathtaking and brave creativity.”



    As we look back on one of the biggest advertising industry events of the year, we are humbled and inspired by the conversations that took place in Cannes within the conference halls, meeting rooms, and of course, on Twitter. Here are just a few stats that highlight the incredible growth and volume of the global conversation for this year’s #CannesLions.

    • There were 103,389 mentions of #CannesLions on Twitter during the six days of the festival - a substantial increase from the 20,000 in 2011. Over 5,000 pictures were tweeted.
    • That’s 17,232 Tweets a day and 718 Tweets an hour with a peak of 3,000 Tweets an hour during key seminars - up from 40 per hour on average in 2011.
    • The total #CannesLions earned media on Twitter has been calculated at over 61 million impressions.

    Thanks to @TheBuzzRadar for compiling these stats.

    Posted by @ at 10:48 AM

  • Twitter brings you closer to the #CannesLions Festival

    Monday, June 18, 2012

    The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, arguably one of the advertising industry’s most important events of the year, is underway in the south of France. While festival attendance is at its highest of all time --up from 9,000 registered delegates in 2011 to almost 11,000 this year-- the global conversation on Twitter has grown significantly too. According to Buzz Radar, which is powering the festival’s Social Command Center, Tweet volume related to Cannes Lions through the first day of the event has already surpassed total social media mentions during last year's festival.  There have been over 15,000 online posts across social media referencing #CannesLions as of Monday afternoon, with 95% coming from Twitter, and most delegates are still just arriving. Whether or not you’re at the #CannesLions Festival, you can share in the experience and follow the conversation on Twitter here.



    Posted by @ at 7:33 AM

  • New #Twitterbird: What your business needs to know

    Wednesday, June 6, 2012

    Starting today, you’ll notice we’ve updated the design of Twitter’s little blue bird. From now on, this new bird will be the universally recognizable symbol of Twitter. There’s no longer a need for text, bubbled typefaces, or a lowercase “t” to represent Twitter.


    What does this change mean for your brand?

    • If you’re an advertiser using any one of our official buttons, these will automatically update today. There’s no action required on your part.
    • If you’re currently using any other Twitter “t”, bird, or other similar marks on your website and marketing materials, you’ll want to update those icons with the new correct assets. We’ve revamped our Twitter brand resources page to provide advertisers and partners everything you need to help you promote your presence on Twitter, including updated brand guidelines and new logo downloads. Please pass this information to any internal team that works with Twitter marks regularly. 
    • Have questions about using the new mark? Our trademark team is always available to review mock-ups and provide guidance: email trademarks@twitter.com.
    Inspired by a brand focus on simplicity, the new #Twitterbird also reflects our goal to transcend borders and reach every person on the planet with our service. Likewise, one powerful way to extend the reach of your brand is to integrate Twitter assets (including our buttons, your username handle and relevant hashtags) across your marketing channels. Use our brand update as an opportunity to reassess how you’re promoting your Twitter presence  to grow your followers and increase engagement.  

    To learn more about extending the reach of your brand to Twitter's 140 million users, check out these case studies: https://dev.twitter.com/case-studies

    Posted by @ at 10:19 AM

  • Pepsi and Twitter bring fans closer to what’s hot in music

    Wednesday, May 30, 2012

    Today we announced a global partnership with Pepsi centered around one of the leading topics of conversation on Twitter: music. With this deal, Pepsi will give Twitter’s 140 million active users around the world a unique and real-time way to discover and consume music. Pepsi will break new ground by bringing fans closer to what’s hot in music and connecting them with the artists they are most passionate about, all through Twitter.

    Part of Pepsi’s new “Live for Now” campaign, this partnership involves three elements that speak to  the key ways consumers find and enjoy music: music downloads, original content and live concerts.

      Pepsi Live for Now
    • Fans can LISTEN to weekly free music downloads from Amazon MP3. Starting today, the @pepsi account will tweet about new and notable music using the #LiveforNow hashtag. Every week, fans can also follow @pepsi for free download codes they can use to discover more music through Amazon.com’s MP3 Store. The open, public and unfiltered nature of Twitter lets everyone have conversations about this music, creating a more sharable, interactive experience for Pepsi.

    • Fans can WATCH a new weekly video series, “Live for Now Music”, based on the top music and artists trending on Twitter. This is the first time any partner will use Twitter’s real-time data to develop original programming. By using Tweets to take the pulse of music lovers around the globe, Pepsi will uncover what’s hot in music every week and give fans a bite-size snapshot of the conversation on Twitter in Pepsi’s videos. The “Live for Now Music” video series will be streamed on pepsi.com and twitter.com/pepsi. 

    • Fans can EXPERIENCE a series of pop-up concerts in the U.S. this summer and fall. This is first time any brand has created a pop-up concert series with Twitter at the center. Each concert will feature a major artist with a large Twitter following and will be announced first on Twitter so fans can spread the word. Every concert will be streamed live on Twitter through @pepsi’s enhanced profile page, allowing anyone in the world the chance to watch and experience live music in a whole new way. 

    Twitter users love music: the top five most-followed accounts are all musicians. Now, Pepsi and Twitter are making it easier to indulge this passion. This partnership illustrates just how authentically brands can connect to the core interests of consumers by creating new, real-time experiences with multiple touch points on Twitter.

    Posted by @ at 9:22 AM

  • #Twitter4Brands event in NYC

    Monday, May 21, 2012

    What happens when Twitter brings together the industry’s top brands and agencies during Internet Week New York? A national trend.

    Yes, our first-ever #Twitter4Brands event sparked so much conversation that the event hashtag trended nationally on Twitter. Over 250 leading marketers attended last Thursday's morning session in NYC. Twitter’s President of Global Revenue, Adam Bain, provided an update on Twitter’s advertising business, including a number of key statistics about growth: 

    • Twitter has 140M+ active users.
    • 55% of users access Twitter on mobile, with 40% growth quarter over quarter.
    • Twitter users create over one billion Tweets every three days.
    • 60% of Twitter users tweet; 100% are listening.
    • 79% of people follow brands to get access to exclusive content.
    • During this year’s Super Bowl, one in five commercials contained a hashtag.
    • Promoted Tweets get an average engagement rate of one to three percent.


    Joel Lunenfeld, VP of Brand Strategy at Twitter, shared how brands are taking advantage of Twitter’s powerful ‘conversation canvas’ to tell stories, broadcast content, participate in cultural events, connect directly with consumers, and drive transactions. ESPN's Lisa Valentino also took the stage to discuss the network’s first-of-its-kind partnership with Twitter. By creating custom sponsorship packages for major sports events, Twitter and ESPN will help advertisers reach fans wherever they are across TV and digital. Valentino, Vice President of Digital Ad Sales at ESPN, said the relationship with Twitter is about “opening a window for conversation and completing connections.” 

    American Express presented a history of the company’s Twitter efforts, including the recent “Sync. Tweet. Save.” program that lets you use special offer hashtags to load exclusive Cardmember offers directly to your Card. Leslie Berland, AmEx’s Senior Vice President of Digital Partnerships and Development, said the brand began using Twitter just three years ago, with a focus on customer service. Since then, the company has pioneered the use of social platforms like Twitter to bridge consumer and merchant needs through initiatives like the @AmexSync program, which offers a frictionless way to redeem discounts through Twitter. @AmexSync launched with 16 merchants, a partnership network with over seven million followers and strong redemption rates - so strong that Berland told the #Twitter4Brands audience: “Out of all the social and digital platforms, Twitter has had the most impact on our business.”


    Thanks to everyone in NYC who came out for the event and contributed to the lively conversation on Twitter. For those of you who missed it, just search for #Twitter4Brands for great insights, stats, quotes and pictures from the event.


    Posted by @ at 2:36 PM

  • Twitter and ESPN team up to help marketers reach sports fans on-air and online

    Friday, May 18, 2012


    With Internet Week wrapping up in New York City today and the TV upfronts in full swing, what better time to share that Twitter and ESPN are teaming up.  Earlier this week, we announced a strategic partnership with ESPN that offers fans and advertisers a unique, interactive way to integrate broadcast TV with online social conversations around major sports events. This relationship marks the first time Twitter has partnered with a network to create custom sponsorship packages. 

    Now, marketers will be able to make a single investment to reach consumers on-air and online, across ESPN networks, ABC, ESPN.com, ESPN Mobile and Twitter during marquee sports events. The first program that ESPN and Twitter have co-created, GameFace, will kick off during the NBA Finals. This first effort, which will be integrated throughout live TV broadcasts with a dedicated Twitter hashtag, #GameFace, encourages fans to tweet photographs of their “game face” throughout the finals. At the end of every game, the best photographs will be featured on-air as well as online in a photo gallery on ESPN.com/NBA and tweeted via @NBAonESPN. After the NBA Finals, ESPN will select the favorite photo and the winning Twitter user will receive a grand tour of ESPN headquarters.


    Twitter and ESPN will create additional programs around fan favorite events like the Global X Games, Road to the BCS National Championship, NFL Monday Night Football, the World Series, and NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Every event collaboration will offer marketers an interactive experience that engages the audience around ESPN’s premier content across screens and drives the sports conversation on Twitter through dedicated hashtags.

    This program was developed by Twitter's Brand Strategy team in collaboration with ESPN. The Brand Strategy team focuses on partnering with large brand advertisers on creative custom packages that make the most of the Twitter platform. This year, the team worked with American Express on the launch of Twitter's advertising offering for small businesses, as well as the launch of the AmEx Sync program in March.

    Posted by @ at 12:17 PM

  • Extend your reach to BlackBerry and target across platforms

    Monday, April 16, 2012

    Last month, we rolled out Promoted Tweets in timelines on iOS and Android mobile devices. To help brands connect with even more mobile users, today we’re extending Promoted Tweets to BlackBerry devices and introducing the ability for advertisers to target BlackBerry devices, in addition to iOS and Android.

       

    Now brands can refine their reach by targeting users with platform-specific messages across Twitter.com, iOS, Android, BlackBerry and other mobile devices. Meanwhile, BlackBerry users may start to see Promoted Tweets with deals, discounts, news and information from brands even on the go.


    
Promoted Tweets on BlackBerry will be displayed at or near the top of the timelines of a brand’s followers and users with interests similar to the brand's followers. Promoted Tweets will  appear in a BlackBerry user’s timeline only once and can be dismissed, mirroring the experience on Twitter.com. 

    Promoted Tweets on BlackBerry and the ability to target campaigns to specific devices and platforms will help brands more easily connect to Twitter users —anywhere, anytime.


    Posted by @ at 11:37 AM

  • The British Heart Foundation saves lives on Twitter

    Tuesday, April 10, 2012

    Let’s be honest: the thought of mouth-to-mouth CPR doesn’t exactly bring a smile to most lips. In fact, people often hesitate to give “the kiss of life” to strangers in emergency situations. And, during cardiac arrest, a few seconds can spell the difference between life and death.

    Enter The British Heart Foundation (@TheBHF). The UK’s largest heart charity turned to Twitter to educate people about the effectiveness of hands-only CPR. Instead of launching the campaign on TV, @TheBHF first used Promoted Tweets to build buzz online with a cheeky video. The ad featured actor Vinnie Jones demonstrating the “hard and fast” CPR technique to the beat of “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees. Brilliant.

    @TheBHF also launched a Promoted Trend campaign with a hashtag to peak curiosity (#hardandfast) and amplify the reach of the campaign’s potentially life-saving message. A couple of days later, when the ad finally aired on television, @TheBHF continued to invest in Promoted Tweets to keep the cross-platform conversations (and chuckles) coming. The campaign resonated with British hearts and minds: it trended organically on Twitter five times and nabbed over 1.7 million video views.    


    Even more heartwarming, @TheBHF has received several Tweets from users who said they used the hands-only technique to save a life after watching the video. “That is the best campaign result we could ask for,” says Betty McBride, British Heart Foundation’s Director of Policy & Communications.

    Read the full British Heart Foundation case study

    Posted by @ at 12:52 PM

  • #TwitterDC event trends nationally

    Tuesday, March 27, 2012

    Over the last six years, we’ve seen Twitter become a powerful political tool around the globe.  Even in a democratic country like the U.S., Twitter offers citizens and candidates alike a unique platform to make their voices heard in new, transformative ways.  Today’s politicians, advocates and media professionals are using the platform as a direct line to voters and a real-time way to take their pulse on key issues.  With every one of the 2012 presidential candidates and nearly 90% of Congress members using Twitter to communicate with their constituents, this year’s elections will be unlike any before in American history.




    Last week, our public sector advertising team held an educational event in Washington D.C. for the country’s leading campaign and issue advocacy professionals. We shared insights with over 100 attendees about how people are using Twitter to shape the political conversation. The event hashtag, #TwitterDC, even trended nationally that day, driving home the power of the platform in political circles. (We also learned the power of a good t-shirt: our limited edition Twitter #Election2012 tees were all the buzz at the event!)




    A panel of marketing and communications professionals from a range of advocacy organizations also took the stage to talk about how they are using Twitter’s full suite of advertising products. They offered their own best practices for using Promoted Trends, Promoted Accounts and Promoted Tweets to reach an influential audience and keep them engaged with a candidate, issue or cause. Speakers included Robert Bobo (@robertbobo), Director of Communications at U.S. Travel Association, Tammy Gordon (@floridagirlindc), Director of Social Communications at AARP, Mike Harinstein (@maharinstein), Director of Marketing at Americans for Prosperity and Nick Schaper (@nickschaper), Executive Director, Digital Strategic Communications at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Their top tip for potential and new Twitter advertisers: embrace experimentation.




    The panelists encouraged organizations testing out different Promoted Products campaigns to learn what techniques work best for their audiences. They gave examples of creative Promoted Trend campaigns they’ve run on Twitter, like one by AARP around actress Betty White’s 90th birthday (#HappyBirthdayBetty) and another by the U.S. Chamber promoting their Free Enterprise advocacy campaign (#TellTheWhiteHouse). U.S. Travel described how their #VoteTravel campaign depends on Promoted Accounts and Promoted Tweets to boost their earned media efforts. For more details, read our case studies on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Travel Association.

    All the speakers discussed the unique value of using Promoted Products to amplify the real-time nature of Twitter in rallying support around their issues at the precise moment that matters.




    Find more tips, insights and requesting information about how to advertise on Twitter, visit https://business.twitter.com

    Posted by @ at 2:16 PM

  • Opening up Twitter advertising for select small businesses

    Monday, March 26, 2012

    Last month, we partnered with American Express to offer its small business Cardmembers and merchants the chance to use Twitter advertising to better engage with the people they want to reach.

    Today, American Express will begin to notify eligible Cardmembers and merchants that they can now start advertising on Twitter. Initially, only a small group of businesses will have access to this new advertising opportunity — we will steadily increase the number of participating small businesses over the coming weeks.

    In the short video below, you’ll see just how simple we’ve made it for small business owners to grow their businesses using our Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts products.



    Highlights:
    • Get started in minutes: we provide ongoing management of your advertising.
    • No previous advertising experience is required. If you can tweet, you can advertise on Twitter.
    • Gain new followers: Promoted Accounts helps your small business connect with new people who want to hear from you and can spread the word about your business to others.
    • Amplify your Tweets: Promoted Tweets helps your small business get your messages in front of more of the right people. Twitter will take out the guesswork by automatically identifying and promoting your most engaging Tweets.
    • Pay per follower for Promoted Accounts and per engagement (click, retweet, reply, and favorite) for Promoted Tweets.
    • Target the whole world, specific countries, or limit your reach to specific U.S. metropolitan areas.

    If you are an American Express Cardmember or merchant, it’s not too late to register for this unique opportunity on Twitter.

    For tips and best practices on using Twitter for your small business, download our Twitter for Small Business guide.

    From the start, small businesses of all types have made their homes on Twitter, using the platform to interact with current customers and market to new ones. We are excited to offer small businesses the chance to create even more marketing success as advertisers on Twitter.

    Posted by @ at 9:01 AM