The two biggest social media platforms – Facebook and Twitter – have recently launched schemes to open up opportunities for small businesses in the UK to advertise on their social networking sites – just in time for Christmas!
| ‘If you can Tweet, you can advertise on Twitter. All you need is a Twitter account and a credit card.
‘You’re in control of your ads, the audience you want to reach, and of course your budget. Best of all, you will only be charged when people follow your Promoted Account or retweet, reply, favourite or click on your Promoted Tweets. ‘You are never charged for your organic Twitter activity.’ Ravi Narasimhan, a product manager at Twitter |
Twitter is allowing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) outside of the USA to advertise on the microblogging site for the first time.
SMEs in the UK, Ireland and Canada will now have access to Twitter’s self-serve advertising platform for the first time, something their counterparts in the USA have had access to since April. This means they can now buy advertising space directly. Non USA companies have previously had to “develop a working relationship” with Twitter in order to buy adverts – effectively limiting Twitter advertising to large companies only. The new service is being launched in partnership with O2, which is also offering support and guidance to SMEs. |
The move comes just a week after its Initial Public Offering (IPO), and is expected to create a dramatic boost in Twitter’s revenues, thus boosting its share price. It is also expected to be part of a wider package of initiatives that Twitter will be rolling out.
| Facebook meanwhile have moved to make it easier for businesses to find and reach customers and prospects. It was announced in October that the “Custom Audiences” ad targeting tool was being rolled out to businesses of all sizes in the USA, and that has now extended to the rest of the world, including the UK. Custom Audiences allows businesses to use their contact lists to reach customers with targeted ads on Facebook. It was highlighted that “small businesses in particular will now be able to use their current customer list to reach people on Facebook”. Suggestions for ways to use this feature included messaging selected existing customers with specific promotions or offers, or excluding existing customers from campaigns aimed at attracting new customers. | ‘For a long time people thought Facebook advertising was about “likes” but “likes” don’t ring the cash register.
‘With “custom audiences” a business can supply a list of email addresses and Facebook can see if we have someone with that email address and an ad can be sent. ‘All you have to do is write a post and set a budget’. Facebook’s Director for Small Business, Dan Levy |
Facebook and Twitter are among the top 10 most visited websites in the world, and therefore your adverts can potentially reach a huge audience. Please visit our Facebook advertising page to see how DBS can help you to harness the power of Facebook ads, or visit the social media section of our website to see how we can help you with social media in general.
