Quality copy has a huge impact on the success of social ads. Crafting messages that appeal to viewers is an obvious goal, but sometimes small nuances can have a big effect on the performance and return of our social media advertising. There are many factors that can influence success. Here are 7 tips for writing better Twitter ad copy, from Twitter themselves.
1) Show A Need For Urgency
Urgency causes a natural human response to feel a need to act immediately. It’s hardwired into us. When certain words are used, we feel an anxiety and often feel we must act. Making your message show urgency will take advantage of this natural trigger to action, and push your ad viewers to take the steps you’ve asked of them.
Tip: Use words that emphasize urgency, such as “now”, “hurry”, “fast”, “running out”, and “limited time”.
Payoff: 10% lower cost-per-acquisition (CPA) and a 10% higher link click rate (LCR).
2) Display Discounts In Percentages
Everyone likes a good deal, and the thought of saving can be a powerful tool of persuasion. But, simply showing the discounted price isn’t the best way to make your ad viewers act. Don’t give them the dollars, give them the discount percentage.
Tip: Rather than displaying the discounted price, use the discount percentage in the ad copy.
Payoff: Twitter ads that use a discount percentage in the message see a 40% lower CPA than those that use the discounted price.
3) Everyone Likes Something New
The word “new” is one of the most persuasive words in the English language, according to Gregory Ciotti. It’s a word that makes us perk up and take notice. We all want the newest thing. We want to know about what’s new. And it’s a great word for getting your ads noticed.
Tip: Use “new” in your ad copy to gather greater reader attention and make them want to learn more about the latest and greatest.
Payoff: Ads that mention “new” products or services see a 10% lower CPA and a 26% lower cost-per-link-click (CPLC).
4) Don’t Do Hashtags
Hashtags are great for expanding the reach of your organic messages. But as we’ve discussed before, hashtags hurt your paid Twitter ads. They distract and lead to lower performance. Don’t use them.
Tip: Drop the hashtags from paid messaging. They only drive people away from your intended destination.
Payoff: Messages that utilize hashtags see a 24% higher CPA and a 3% lower LCR.
5) Keep It Short
There are piles of research which shows that short messages perform better on social media. And yet, most social media marketers still feel that they have to squeeze every bit of information into their message. Stop it.
Tip: Keep promoted tweets short and sweet, between 40-60 characters of copy.
Payoff: Promoted tweets with 40-60 characters see a much lower CPA than those with longer copy.
6) Put Up A Prize
Everyone wants something for nothing (or next to nothing). We want to win, even if the prize isn’t something we’d normally be interested in. Use this want of winning to entice ad viewers click-through in increasing quantity.
Tip: Make the competition clear. Use words like “win”, “sweepstakes”, or “contest” to make it clear to viewers that they could be a winner if they click your ad.
Payoff: Ads offering a prize or competition which utilize words like “contest”, “win”, or “sweepstakes” see a 40% lower CPA and a 1% lower CPLC.
7) Everyone Wants To Answer Your Questions
Questions are a great way to create engagement. Even if you aren’t a know-it-all, we naturally want to help and love to share our point of view. Questions are perfect for driving greater engagement with your audience, and they get people thinking about you and your brand.
Tip: Include questions in your Twitter ad copy to increase engagement.
Payoff: Twitter ads with questions in the copy receive a 9% lower CPLC and a 16% higher LCR.
Gaining Greater Ad Advantage
Ad images grab viewer attention but it’s the ad copy that gets them to click. As we see in the 7 Twitter ad copy tips above, even small modifications to our existing copy can have a big impact on everything from click through rate, to cost-per-link-click, and cost-per-acquisition.
By taking these research backed tips and applying them to your own Twitter ad copy, we can get better results from our initiatives and return better bang for our buck. These tips can help bring about better performance from your ad campaigns, and can create even better performance when you combine several tips together. Now take what you learned and apply it to your next social ad spend.
