In case you missed it this past Thursday, Twitter has rolled out a new advertising option that allows you to target your Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts campaigns to a set of interests that you explicitly choose. By targeting people’s topical interests, you will be able to connect with a greater number of users and deliver tailored messages to people who are more likely to engage with your Tweets. When people discover offers and messages about the things they care about on Twitter, it’s good for both marketers and users. This new interest targeting option has over 350 interests!

While the auction mechanisms and bidding process remains, the new interest-based targeting parameters are now built into Twitter’s dashboard for advertisers. Brands can also create custom interest segments by suggesting a specific user or company account that attracts the same audiences they are trying to reach. Now here is the best part for advertisers, especially readers of this blog. If you have advertised on Twitter before, then you already know the minimum bid was $0.50! Ridiculous!

Well now, straight from the horse’s mouth, Twitter ads will now become more cost-efficient for starting affiliates.

Upon release of the new targeting feature, Twitter also reduced the minimum bid from 50 cents to one cent. The move brings Twitter’s minimum advertising prices more in line with other ad platforms and “removes a potential source of friction,” said Guy Yalif, head of product marketing at Twitter. “Brands now have the option to target that tweet just to specific audiences.”

Here’s how interest targeting works:

There are two flavors of interest targeting. For broader reach, you can target more than 350 interest categories, ranging from Education to Home and Garden to Investing to Soccer, as shown in the screenshot below. As an example, if you were promoting a new animated film about dogs, you could select Animation (under Movies and Television), Cartoons (under Hobbies and Interests), and Dogs (under Pets).

If you want to target more precise sets of users, you can create custom segments by specifying certain @usernames that are relevant to the product, event or initiative you are looking to promote. Custom segments let you reach users with similar interests to that @username’s followers; they do not let you specifically target the followers of that @username. If you’re promoting your indie band’s next tour, you can create a custom audience by adding @usernames of related bands, thus targeting users with the same taste in music. This new feature will help you reach beyond your followers and users with similar interests, and target the most relevant audience for your campaign.

You may or may not know but the Promoted Products advertising option on Twitter is auction-based. Winners are determined by engagement rates and bids. Which means what?

GREAT CONTENT MATTERS MORE THAN EVER ON TWITTER – Write that down, because that’s the key to being successful with Twitter Ads.

If you have Promoted Tweet copy that engages Twitter users, you can win even if others bid higher than you!

Ralph Ruckman

Founder & Entrepreneur at IMGrind & Mobgrind, Revived Media (our Mobile CPA Network) and iMobitrax (our Proprietary Mobile Tracker). I dedicate myself inside our Private Internet Marketing Forums teaching Entrepreneurs how to be successful with their businesses. Connect socially with me: