Twitter Ads Get New Mobile Targeting Options, Facilitates More Efficient Campaigns

Advertisers on Twitter have recently been given even more refined audience targeting options, thanks to two new updates to the Twitter Ads platform. In a blog post dated December 16, 2014, the company discussed two new mobile targeting options. The first mobile targeting option allows advertisers to reach users based on their mobile carrier; the second option allows advertisers to target users with new mobile devices. [See Figure 1 below]

Noting that mobile represents 80% of their active users (making it the “core” of their DNA), Twitter sees these new mobile targeting refinements as part of their continued effort to service advertisers who want to stay connect with their audiences, an initiative first unveiled back in November 2013.

According to Twitter, mobile carrier targeting options include:

• Mobile carriers – Subscribers to a particular carrier may see ads created by these carriers, thus paving the way for potential loyalty campaigns. Inversely, carriers may also target those who are not subscribed to their services by formulating customer acquisition campaigns instead.
• Mobile manufacturers and app marketers – Custom content can be created based on the carrier of the target audience “to drive improved performance.”
• Other verticals – Advertisers across verticals can create carrier-targeted campaigns that align with their preferred demographic.

Twitter also lets advertisers target or exclude users who have used Twitter on a new mobile device or carrier. As Figure 2 above shows, this feature is “ideal” for app marketers who want to reach “those who are looking for apps to install on their new device.” Advertisers can also target users who have used Twitter on a new device within a certain period.

These audience targeting refinements can be combined with other targeting types such as interests, keywords, and OS used. This could lead to advertisers formulating various campaigns, whether it’s one aimed toward encouraging app installs in a specific vertical, or reaching new users with an upsell campaign.

Feedback from mobile carriers that have given the new features a try have been favorable. T-Mobile’s Senior Vice President, Peter DeLuca, says their early results with Twitter’s new mobile targeting options have been “positive”, and that it has helped them “extend [their] Un-Carrier approach of directly speaking to existing and potential customers.”

Meanwhile, Rogers Telecom, Canada’s largest mobile provider, had nothing but good things to say about Twitter’s carrier targeting, calling it “one of the biggest investments we’ve made in Twitter to date”.

The new mobile targeting features are currently available in 35 countries, and will be expanding to Twitter’s Ads API partners shortly.

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