Insights

3 reasons why the Conversation on Twitter Matters for Brands

why-the-conversation-on-twitter-matters-for-brands

Conversation is a core human activity. It’s how we share what’s happening, swap ideas, and stay connected to the people around us.

Think about people who aren’t back at the office quite yet. What do you think they miss most? It’s probably not their desks — it’s the conversations they used to have with co-workers. 

On Twitter, it’s the conversations people are having on the platform that make it what it is — and as it turns out, it’s those conversations that make Twitter such a powerful tool for brands. 

According to our research, brand conversation on social media drives key, measurable results. What’s more, interactions like mentions and retweets can give an extra boost to paid media, meaning your brand’s dollars go further as people keep the buzz going. 

Want more proof? Here’s why conversation matters for brands:

Real results

First and foremost, driving brand conversation on Twitter directly fuels results across the marketing funnel. According to our research, exposure to paid media generates lifts in consideration; but in one instance, that lift nearly tripled when people were exposed to both the paid media campaign and the campaign-related conversation happening on Twitter.1

And this is true across multiple categories. Within media and entertainment, for example, exposure to both paid media and the conversations generated by a campaign can drive TV tune-in by up to 30x.2

The impact goes beyond consideration: Our research has shown that, at the high range, just a 10% rise in conversation has led up to a 3% increase in sales volume.3 Within the technology category, for example, we’ve found that, on average, just a 1% increase in conversation has led to more than $6 million in incremental sales.

Clearly, driving brand conversation can have a big impact on metrics across the funnel. But there’s more to it than that.

The Multiplier Effect

From a pure media-math standpoint, more people talking about your brand makes your media work harder. And it makes sense! On conversation-driven platforms like Twitter – where paid media can generate compounding impressions through mentions and Retweet – brands may end up seeing more efficient eCPMs. In fact, our data shows that – when compared to typical base CPMs – paid media on Twitter drives an average +15% more efficient eCPM when factoring in both campaign and earned impressions.5 So essentially, when you invest in the conversation on Twitter with paid media, you’re getting more bang for your buck!

In the tech category, for instance, we saw a campaign where 39% of ALL conversation was generated after users saw paid media, which ultimately ended up generating 40MM impressions.6

What’s more, the public nature of conversation on Twitter can ultimately impact other platforms. 

The compounding effect from the earned conversation – i.e. additional impressions – helps to amplify brand messages. In fact, according to new research conducted with Nielsen, when Twitter is paired with other channels, like TV, online video, or paid search, advertisers have seen a 2-4% incremental sales volume.7

In the end, driving conversation on channels like Twitter can have a multiplying effect on your media investment, both on platform and across other channels.

Conversation is easy to influence

For brands looking to lean more into conversation, our research has shown that Twitter is an excellent place to start. We already know Twitter is where the public conversation is happening – and where people are ready to engage with brands – but our research shows that, on average, investing in paid media on Twitter can drive a 131% increase in conversation about your brand.8

For example, one entertainment brand generated nine thousand additional mentions of their campaign by increasing spend by 1%. What’s more, people who were exposed to the campaign were 41x more likely to start talking about it themselves.9

A great illustration of this is when a brand is launching something new. When GMC utilized Twitter to launch the HUMMER EV, the event drew millions of viewers and thousands of people chatting about the release during the broadcast. By the time the show ended, GMC completely sold out of pre-orders.

Simply put: conversation matters for brands. 

Conversation drives results across the funnel, makes your media dollars work harder, and can be directly fueled by paid media investment. 

On board, but don’t know where to start? Read more to find out the three ways brands can optimize their creative and media strategies to maximize the impact of brand conversation. 

Sources
1: (Case Study: Twitter Brand Survey Results overlaid with Twitter Internal conversation data Unexposed (in=983); Exposed to Ads + No Convo (in = 921); Exposed to Ads+ Convo (n=58). US. The ratio compares the deltas among control vs. brand ads alone, vs. control vs. brand ads + exposure to conversation)
2: Samba Tune-in Studies for Twitter, Timeframe [January 2020-April 2021], Media & Entertainment Category, US, N = 23)
3: Twitter Meta Analysis: Measuring the impact of Earned Conversation, Neustar MMM (2019), US.)
4: Twitter Meta Analysis: Measuring the impact of Earned Conversation, Neustar MMM (2019)
5: Twitter Internal Data, April 2020 - April 2021, Global (US/UK/BR/JP/MX/TH) Campaign duration ( <1 week N = 61, 1-4 weeks N = 30, 4-8 weeks N = 25, 8+ weeks N = 9) The comparison references the % efficiency increase for Base CPM vs. Effective CPM. Base CPM - (the Campaign Spend/Paid Impressions) * 1000. Effective CPM - Includes the earned impressions generated by the Tweets from Exposed users. (the Campaign spend / Paid impressions + impressions among Exposed users) * 1000
6: Pulsar, March 2021, total unique users Pulsar n = 82.9K
7: Twitter Synergy Meta, Nielsen, US (April 2021) Results are reported at the total category-level, with individual masked observations provided. We report the straight average of Synergy lifts from 15 brands. Other Social Media” are non-Twitter social media grouped together.
8: Twitter Internal Data, April 2020 - April 2021, Global (US/UK/BR/JP/MX/TH) ( N = 125))
9: Pulsar, October 2020, total unique users Pulsar n = 169,486) 

 

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