October has seen massive changes from all quarters as far as online advertising is concerned. The likes of Google, Facebook, and Twitter have all contributed and devised smarter and better targeted online advertisements to suit various marketing needs.
You must have read about the latest developments in Google and Facebook Ads throughout October. Twitter is seeing some advancements as well; a tool called ‘Tweet Delivery by Country” will be made available to the Twitter users in coming months. It has been launched by Social Media Management Company, Spredfast.
What is Tweet Delivery by Country?
The new tool will benefit marketers and brands on Twitter, who are looking to expand their business across borders and cater to their target audience more specifically on a geographic basis. It will allow marketers to send region-specific targeted tweets to specific geographic locations.
For example, if your business has customers and prospects in different parts of the world, let’s say India and USA – with Twitter’s Tweet Delivery by Country, you can send a separate tweet to your customers in the USA and separate tweets to customers in India from the same account.
Moreover, you need not worry about visitors from different countries seeing your country-specific tweets in the brand’s official Twitter profile page. US-specific tweets will only be seen by customers in USA while tweets meant for the Indian audience will be seen by the Indian customers. In other words, these tweets will not even show up on the brand’s official Twitter page unless those followers reside in that targeted country.
What are the pros?
Everything available in one account: Brands/companies need not run multiple Twitter accounts to send regional tweets. The number of social accounts to manage will be brought down, thus, reducing the marketer’s time and effort.
Let me give you an example. McDonald’s, the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, has multiple accounts that cater to millions of customers across the world.
With ‘Tweet Delivery by Country’, tailored tweets can be sent to specific geographic locations, from the same account! (The image below is a graphical representation of how these tailored tweets might appear, if the tool is used)
(Please note that this is only a graphical representation of how these tailored tweets would appear on Twitter, if the tool is used. McDonald’s may or may not be using this tool)
Increased Customer Engagement: Tweets, customer feedback, complaints and comments will now be available in one place, thus, creating a direct funnel for communication between the marketer and the prospects.
More local-culture specific tweets: Targeted tweets will lead to more geographic, culture-specific tweets that customers/prospects can identify with.
Bonus during specific times of the year: These tweets will be highly beneficial, in case of B2C firms, during holiday seasons in specific counties – like Christmas time in the USA and Diwali in India. Retail chains, online departmental stores, spa and salon centers, and so on can tweet about different offers at different times of the year, depending on the country. B2B firms can take advantage of the peak seasons as far as business is concerned, with country-specific offers.
What are the cons?
Lengthy Process: The entire process will take a couple of months. The process of consolidating followers, getting used to a lot of information coming into one place and compiling country-specific tweets will not be that easy initially.
Consolidation of Followers: The task of consolidating and convincing users of other accounts of the same brand to follow their main page will be challenging.
Too Much Information: All of the information coming into one place may become a little overwhelming for small businesses. The need to segment and have specific people dealing with specific regions is important.
Requirement of universal handle and logo: The Twitter handle and logo (image) has to be a universal one and cannot be region specific.
The Verdict:
Nevertheless, the benefits of this tool grossly outweigh the cons. Nearly 77% of Twitter’s monthly active users reside outside the US. Thus, it is very important for B2B and B2C firms to connect with their overseas customers at a local level to generate growth overseas. With the addition of tailored tweets, Twitter now provides businesses with a variety of targeted advertising options. The image below, (courtesy Twitter Blog) shows us the number of options provided by Twitter for better targeted advertising.
With Google and Facebook doing so much to keep up with the trends and bring out the latest and coolest advertising tools, how can Twitter fall behind? The coming months will however, be able to confirm how this new technology has performed in the market.
