Is Twitter Making Mobile Ads Obsolete?

Everybody who is a somebody has taken to advertising on Twitter, because it’s a great way to drive online sales. Needless to say that to get the maximum out of your efforts, you must have a thorough understanding of the channel and the way it functions.

Mobile advertising is simply one of the numerous targeting options that are a part of Twitter’s advertising campaigns. But is advertising on mobiles as fruitful as it’s made out to be? Let’s find out.

A very recent experiment was conducted regarding the benefits of advertising via desktops and mobiles. Two promoted identical tweets were tweeted, one via a desktop, and the other through a desktop. The results revealed that:

• Ads on mobiles showed a 60% lower conversion rate with a 160% increase in the costs per acquisition.
• Desktop device users showed a 200% increased cost per engagement but only 50% of the expected engagement rate

• If desktop user device clicks on a particular tweet, they are more likely to visit the tweet’s landing page than a user of mobile devices.
• Desktop users have a 200% conversion rate of a visit to a lead as compared to that of mobile device users.
• For the lowest cost per acquisition, it’s better to target desktop devices
• Desktop device users are more likely to fill out forms because it’s a lesser hassle for them

However, it is up to you to identify which targeted device works the best for you, after working out its pros and cons. It’s always best to take a well researched and scientific approach for testing your ad campaigns. Twitter advertising is flexible because it gives you the ability to test and modify your campaigns quickly. This is an advantage for marketers who want quick results.

Conduct an Experiment Yourself

If you’re not satisfied by what others say, you can conduct this experiment on your own. Create two Promoted Tweets in the Timeline campaigns, with everything identical (maximum bid, daily campaign budget, target locations etc) except the devices targeted.

Let each of those tweets have different URL tracking parameters so that you’re able to segregate the mobile users from the desktop users. You yourself will notice that the mobile device targeting will have a different reach when compared to targeted desktop devices.

Make use of Twitter’s native campaign analytics and Optify Reports for both your campaigns. The Traffic Report will show you the visits, leads, page views etc both your campaign separately, as well as give you the combined results

Summary

At the end of the day, Twitter advertising is a powerful tool only if you know how to use it properly. You can use it to drive online sales or you can misuse it by losing all your money to it.

Each business is different and has a unique set of goals. What works for one company may never work for another. At the end of the day, it’s best to do your own testing and conduct your own experiments to understand which device gives you better ROI.