Twitter is changing. The core of the changes revolves around being extremely searchable and relevant to their 320 Million strong monthly users.
Amidst discussions that Twitter’s user base is dropping, the platform which introduced 140 character sound bites (or a place for rap artists to ask tech giants for a billion dollars), has reinvigorated its network with video at the heart of the strategy.
The Distillery London had the opportunity to be the first to pilot Twitter Moments, when, in the run up to New Year’s Eve, we helped Eric Lanlard create a moment. If you didn’t catch our early learnings on the blog, let us catch you up.
Eric’s Twitter following is already 343k strong, but to be discoverable and engaging, the moment required some thought and planning. The strategy: utilise the seasonal searches to bind the Moment, in this case around Christmas and New Year’s mince pies. Use a multimedia approach that highlights Twitter’s capabilities that makes it interesting for a follower to engage. There were short gifs, videos, still photos, polls and classic text Tweets.
The result was an engaging interesting Moment (that our friends at Twitter loved); a story guiding followers through the mince pie making process. The aim was awareness, so we were pleased with the 284 likes, 314 retweets and 226 poll voters.
If you would like to learn more about creating a Twitter Moment, please reach out to steve@thedistillery.tv
The Magic of GIF. According to Twitter, last year over 100 million gifs were shared on Twitter. In response, Twitter has introduced gif search - an opportunity to search the popular gifs and attach in your own tweet or send in direct message. The GIF is so popular and successful, we had no choice but to make our own to celebrate Leap Day and to celebrate Eric Lanlard’s 30,000 subscribers on YouTube! What we do know, is the introduction of the GIF button supports the trend that movement, any movement, is what audiences are looking for, or stopping to engage with, giggle at, RT and like. When planning your video strategy, how are you including gifs? How are you reshaping your content to be made for Twitter and a GIF happy audience?
Last year, Twitter video grew by 220 times. We recently assisted @JustGiving launch #PoweredbyPeople with a Twitter launch video. But it was made FOR Twitter. It’s 30 seconds long (the maximum length of Twitter video), it is visual, it has a clear call to action and an uplifting soundtrack.
Since Twitter video has grown massively, they are expanding their offerings to brands with the launch of First View. While it has been rolled out in the US, our friends at Twitter have said it is now in Beta in the UK. This option allows brands to have their video roll in the top spot for your targeted demographic for a full 24 hours. We are positive of the awareness and engagement impact this will have to your campaigns, so let’s start planning. What videos will you make to engage your audience and how can we help?
With over 320 million monthly users, your audience is on Twitter. They are watching gifs, videos and gathering for special Moments. If you would like to learn more about how we can help infuse that magic moment into your campaign, please email info@thedistillery.tv or call 02071834315.
