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Twitter advertising campaign costs

Author's avatar By Dave Chaffey 13 Dec, 2011
Essential Essential topic

Leaked Email from Twitter reveal costs per follower

Value/Importance: [rating=3]

Recommended link: Original post on the Drum

Our commentary on the costs of Twitter advertising

These are the costs revealed in the leaked email from Twitter’s ad sales department:

  • Cost of $2.50 and $4 per follower
  • $0.75 to $2.50 for each click, favourite, retweet or reply.
  • Commitment to a minimum campaign spend of 3 months and $15,000

Since Twitter introduced it’s advertising through it’s Promoted Tweets we’ve had questions from marketers about costs and whether the service would become available to advertisers with smaller budgets as is possible through Adwords, Facebook and LinkedIn.

This leak gives an idea of the costs and suggests the programme isn’t likely to become available to small and medium businesses any time soon.

Marketing implications of the Twitter fees

While most marketers will continue to use Twitter as a low-cost way of engaging and building an audience, it’s useful to know that advertising isn’t an option - if and when colleagues ask “why aren’t we advertising on Twitter?

If you work for a larger organisation or agency with larger budgets available for this programme this raises questions about the value of a follower compared to other channels. While the cost appears expensive at first glance, it may not be in comparison to other channels like Adwords where someone who clicks on an ad is arguably less engaged. It will be interesting to see ideas and cases on calculating the value of a follower in the same way email marketers assess value per subscriber.

Author's avatar

By Dave Chaffey

Digital strategist Dr Dave Chaffey is co-founder and Content Director of online marketing training platform and publisher Smart Insights. 'Dr Dave' is known for his strategic, but practical, data-driven advice. He has trained and consulted with many business of all sizes in most sectors. These include large international B2B and B2C brands including 3M, BP, Barclaycard, Dell, Confused.com, HSBC, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, M&G Investment, Rentokil Initial, O2, Royal Canin (Mars Group) plus many smaller businesses. Dave is editor of the templates, guides and courses in our digital marketing resource library used by our Business members to plan, manage and optimize their marketing. Free members can access our free sample templates here. Dave is also keynote speaker, trainer and consultant who is author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing including Digital Marketing Excellence and Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. In 2004 he was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing. My personal site, DaveChaffey.com, lists my latest Digital marketing and E-commerce books and support materials including a digital marketing glossary. Please connect on LinkedIn to receive updates or ask me a question.

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