Hats off to online business software company Exact UK for combining video with targeted Twitter ads during the world's largest accountancy conference in London to great effect.
Before we look at the video they used. Here's the promoted tweet that caught my attention.
Above: their promote tweet as it appeared on my iPhone
Apologies to Steve Pipe for taking a screen grab with this freeze frame!
Targeted Tweets
Now Steve, you might think, you don't work in accountancy, so why would this appear in your timeline? How is that good targeting?
Well, I don't know for sure what Exact used, but...
- I had been tweeting about London the day before because, well, I was in London.
- That same day, I was also interacting with someone who was at the Accountex exhibition (visiting a stand they'd designed).
- Plus on closer inspection I can see a few people who follow me/I follow also follow Exact UK.
- And I do blog/tweet about businesses and say that in my Twitter bio and tweets
So, there is a link.
More to the point though. WHAT if I were interested in going to Accountex. Or I was going to Accountex? It's on for two days, so Exact can pay to target their tweet at people very precisely and let's face it, if you're not interested in Accountex you'd probably keep scrolling, BUT what if you were interested? You'd pause, intrigued and watch their video.
Smart right?
The video itself
Now, here's the video they used (this is the YouTube version, but it was the same video).
So, it wasn't made for Twitter specifically originally which is why actually if I'm being picky it doesn't grab you immediately as you scroll in your feed and it doesn't view that well with no sound (on autoplay). If, for example, they'd put text on the screen something like 'These are the people you need to HEAR from' I might unmute the video...
But lots comes from it. Firstly, these great minds will all be at the Exact 'theatre' speaking at Accountex. Great.
I also take from it that Exact care so much about what they're putting on at the event that they've brought all of the speakers together months before Accountex opens its doors so they can allign their topics.
Not only does that tell me Exact care about the event, but that they care in general. See? If they care about something like this, imagine the care they must have for their product and their customers?
I'm getting all of that from this video... would I have got that from just a single tweet? A single paid image ad? A press release? A flyer sent to my office or an email? No.
Pre Event Promotion
Exact used this video weeks ahead of the event, jumping on the # and the @ of Accountex to reach a greater (and interested) audience and in doing so furthering the message of the brand ('who are Exact?' we might wonder).
They also shared the video with their speakers, who of course don't want to play to an empty hall, so they in turn shared it with their audience... so that audience are also now encountering the brand.
Above: one of the speakers sharing the content, therefore sharing the brand
Real Time EVENT Promotion
Then during the two day event itself as I detailed right at the start, that's when they uploaded the video to Twitter and handed over the cash to promote the tweet to their target audience.
Have you ever attended an event at somewhere like ExCeL in London? Well, I made this video at the Business Show there a few years ago and I can tell you it's an overwhelming experience with far too much to see. So if a brand can reach out to you on your way there, or when you're actually in the building via Twitter you are bound to be drawn to their stand/theatre whatever it may be. You'll spot their logo from afar and find yourself walking towards it.
As a company if you're spending a lot of money exhibiting at an event, it makes total sense to then market yourself in real time to potential atendees.
And even if the viewer isn't attending, your tweet will still underline your brand and your message. Be it to a newbee like me, or to a customer you already have who will be chuffed to know they made the right choice in selecting your product.
So, applause to the marketing team at Exact UK. The rest of their time on Twitter at the event was equally well spent by the looks of it, but I'm sure this targeted video marketing will provide a great return on investment by all accounts.