By Alan Coleman on 14 Nov 2013
As I left my apartment this morning, I knew today was going to be a great day...mainly because I saw a black cat as soon as I walked out the door! Then 45 minutes ago, received an email from Twitter. This is what it said: 
That's right! Self-Service Twitter Ads Are Now Available!
We have been waiting for this day for months and months! Before these were introduced, if you wanted to get started with Twitter ads, you had to commit to a minimum spend of €3000, and get a Twitter rep to help with the process. Now that stipulation is GONE! Now we can advertise to our hearts content. There are two Twitter advertising options so far, which are detailed below... 
Twitter Ad Targeting
Promoted Tweet campaigns are targeted on an interests or keyword basis, as well as location. You can also customise where Promoted Tweets appear (in timelines or in search results), limit targeting to specific devices or platforms, and limit targeting by gender. Promoted accounts are targeted by location, interest categories, or username (which allows you to target people similar to that user's followers).
Twitter Ad Pricing
Pricing is on a cost per engagement or per follower engagement basis. My first impression is that Twitter ads are more expensive than Facebook ads, but cheaper than LinkedIn ads.
As a test, I have created an ad similar to one I've been running on Facebook. On Facebook, I've been getting a CPC of just 9c. Twitter is suggesting a bid of between €1.10 and €1.60. A "follower" ad for that same client is estimating a cost per follower of between €1.80 and €2.50.
We Are Excited!
Despite the costs, I am still excited to get my teeth into Twitter advertising. There seems to be some decent interest targeting options! I'll report back!
