Paid advertising has become a necessity of social media marketing now. Gone are the days when you could get your content seen far and wide and for free! It’s not all bad though, as the social media giants (for the time being anyway) have set advertising costs relatively low and so kept social media marketing affordable.

So, there are three ways that you can advertise on Twitter:

• Promoted Accounts
• Promoted Tweets
• Promoted Trends

Promoted Accounts:

This is probably the quickest way to get in front of the right people and grow your following. You can use Twitter targeting options to really hone in on who it is that you want to reach. Make sure you give this some thought before parting with your cash! Your account will show up in the Who To Follow section, so make sure you’ve entered a clear name for your business so people have a shot at recognising who you are. A good profile image is also helpful here. The great news here is that it operates on a pay per follow basis so if no one follows you – you don’t pay, and if they do it only costs about £0.30.

Promoted Tweets:

Does what it says on the tin – gets your tweets in front of potential followers and current followers to give your content more clout! Targeting is key with promoted tweets and you can target by using keywords, interest and gender, location and device. Keywords are probably the most popular of the filters as it allows you to connect with what others are thinking and feeling and leverage your content. Make sure you’ve got some strategy in place before tweeting though – have a look at the competition to get a feel for what you could do.

Promoted Trends:

Trends are probably the most powerful feature on Twitter, because they show what the nation (and the world) is talking about -and you can get to the top of the list. This will do great things for your brand. When a user clicks on your Promoted Trend, it takes them to your marketing message displayed through your Promoted Tweet. Because of their reach, Promoted Trends are extremely effective. Again, this is something that needs planning and thought before being launched into if it’s going to be successful. You may be number 1 on Twitter but for what? You need to be promoting something interesting and exciting to your audience, like a launch or an event.

Advertising on Twitter is a great way to give your account a boost and paid advertising should now be an integrated part of any social media marketing strategy.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment box below.

By Harriet Thacker

Harriet is a marketing expert, social media enthusiast and Shake Social’s champion blogger. Struggling to maintain your own blog? We can help!