Twitter Unveils Targeted Tweets For Location & Device-Based Messaging

Twitter has announced a new feature that allows brands to target tweets towards specific users, with the unveiling of Targeted Tweets – an enhancement to their Promoted Tweets feature. Now brands can send out messages that will only appear for users in specific geographic regions or on certain devices (iPhone, Android, or desktop). 

While the Promoted Tweets function already allowed marketers to target in a similar manner, this was only possible after the message was already sent out to all followers. With the new Targeted Tweets feature, marketers can now send out their messages to only certain followers without having to reach everyone first. Brands can also send out tweets that arrive at different times with a more tailored approach for specific countries or regions. 

"Until today, it's been impractical to send these kinds of highly tailored Tweets, since there was no way to reach people in New York without also reaching followers in Norway, Nebraska and Nigeria who can't take advantage of your offer," Twitter said in the official announcement.

Targeted Tweets could be a fantastic tool for both artists and music technology companies. For artists, geo-targeted fan messages can now be sent out to their Twitter followers to act as reminders for local tour dates or even provide city-specific news and offerings.

“Mobile application providers who only want to reach customers on one device can do so without also sending the message to desktop users," Twitter said, which is something that many music technology companies would be thrilled to hear. 

Twitter has already been testing out Targeted Tweets for a few weeks now with brands like British Airways, Coca Cola and The Washington Post. In their announcement, Twitter highlighted a tweet from BritIsh Airways that targeted only users in the United Kingdom:

Targeted Tweets is now available to global advertisers who use Twitter's Promoted Tweets via a newly enhanced tweet box on ads.twitter.com.

“As with all Promoted Tweets, marketers only pay when users engage, and Tweets that generate the most engagement are likely to appear more often," Twitter said. "Simply put, advertisers are rewarded for messages that resonate with audiences."

A word of advice for marketers – since this new feature allows for a separation of mobile and desktop Twitter users, there exists plenty of room for unique experimentation and tailored engagement within the mobile community and should definitely be taken advantage of. In fact, Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo recently pointed out that the company's mobile platform had surpassed its website in generating advertising revenue.

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Hisham Dahud is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for Fame House, LLC and an independent musician. Follow him on Twitter: @HishamDahud