Twitter New Promoted Tweets Platform (Opinion)

The new Twitter Ads platform is nothing more than another traditional marketing tactic that enters the social media sphere. What does it entail: Beside making your twitter experience an unpleasant one, you will start to see Tweets promoted by Twitter partner advertisers (see example below). In other words, annoying ads will interrupt the stream of tweets on your Twitter page. Twitter is saying that Tweets will be labeled as “Promoted”, which is fair, but so as TV ads and I can’t stand TV ads.

We all saw it coming, and frankly it was inevitable since Twitter had to find a way to make money somehow. My disappointment is not with Twitter, they are not at fault here. My disappointment lies with the companies who keep insisting on using these outdated Outbound Marketing tactics. What annoys me the most in this entire scenario is that companies in the U.S, and around the world, have yet to discover the power of Inbound Marketing. They have yet to discover the power of social marketing, where a “healthy” interaction with your clients on a daily basis can create leads and eventually, if you play your cards smart, create sales.

Do these companies really think I’m planning to Retweet their “Tweets” (more like ads than tweets)? Why? What value did they add to my knowledge, to my learning process, that will possibly make me want to Retweets their messages. In my opinion, it is nothing more than a simple annoying TV ad, and you don’t see me picking up the phone just to inform my colleague about an ad I just watched on the TV screen.

The bottom line is very clear and simple. Companies need to focus on the secret ingredient of Inbound Marketing and that secret ingredient is called engagement, and I don’t mean the type of engagement that interrupt my Tweets.

I welcome your thoughts on the subject.