Twitter is a tool used by about 16% of internet users to communicate with their friends, family, and the public in general. At the same time it is also designed to promote businesses and increase brand exposure. It is yet another social networking platform (in addition to Facebook, Pintrest, Tumblr, and Instagram) where businesses, friends, and individuals blend together in a stream of content. According to the Pew Research Center, the demographics on Twitter tend to be distributed evenly across income brackets, education levels, and amongst both genders. Twitter is notably more popular in urban areas and amongst African Americans. It also skews toward a younger audience, under 29, which is true of all social media networks. Keep these dynamics in mind when marketing on Twitter. 
Also it is important to note that marketing on Twitter is distinctly different from other social networks. The primary factor that sets it apart is that Twitter imposes a 140 character limit on all tweets. This means that your company needs to convey a potentially complex pitch in a very short space. Another element that sets it apart is the importance of hashtags (#). Twitter users put hashtags in front of important phrases on Twitter to make their posts searchable. For instance if you want to be searchable for “innovate tech trends” you would put “#innovativetechtrends” somewhere in your tweet. Twitter users care about finding out what’s going on, or “trending,” right now. Many Twitter users return to their homepage a few times a day, or even every hour, to see what’s trending. One way businesses can leverage this behavior is through “Promoted Trends” or “Promoted Tweets.” The Twitter support page explains these tools:
Promoted Tweets are ordinary Tweets purchased by advertisers who want to reach a wider group of users or to spark engagement from their existing followers. Promoted Tweets are clearly labeled as Promoted when an advertiser is paying for their placement on Twitter. In every other respect, Promoted Tweets act just like regular Tweets and can be retweeted, replied to, favorited and more.
Promoted Trends began as an extension of our Promoted Tweets platform, and are now a full-fledged product in their own right. With Promoted Trends, users see time-, context-, and event-sensitive trends promoted by our advertising partners. These paid Promoted Trends appear at the top of the Trending Topics list on Twitter and are clearly marked as “Promoted.”
Promoted Trends and Promoted Tweets yield engagement rates between 3% and 10% on average and sometimes much higher than that. Engagement is defined by click-throughs (primarily), as well as retweets and “favorited” tweets. It is best to buy them when you have an associated news story, product launch, or event to promote. You should link to a landing page for Twitter users to click and land on. The buying process for Promoted Trends and Promoted Tweets follows Google’s Adword model. Companies purchase them in an auction, at a cost-per-engagement rate, and then pay based on actual engagement activity. Contact us today for more hot marketing tips!