Webtrends

Webtrends (@Webtrends) is a digital marketing company that combines in-the-moment measurement and optimization to empower brands to deliver better customer experiences. The company was founded in 1993 and serves thousands of brands around the world.

The challenge

@Webtrends wanted to increase the inbound flow of leads from Twitter and combat long sales cycles by quickly turning them into nurtured prospects. The brand also wanted to keep the cost per lead and cost per engagement as low as possible without increasing its marketing budget.

Before launching the Promoted Tweets campaign, @Webtrends embarked on three months of rigorous measurement, testing and analysis to determine what drives meaningful social engagement. This culminated in a #socialsiesta, a weeklong shutdown and reboot of its Twitter presence. @Webtrends then returned with an entirely new strategy and user experience.

“Previously, Twitter was just an awareness mechanism for our marketing team. Now it’s the focal point of all our social lead generation initiatives, especially when it comes to net new name acquisition.”

John LeeManager, Brand + Social Marketing, Webtrends

The solution

@Webtrends used Promoted Tweets with Lead Generation Cards to connect with users, build its email database of qualified prospects and start moving them through the sales cycle. The target audience included digital marketing decision makers, VP level or higher, working in areas like email marketing, optimization, social and mobile.

During its Twitter reboot, @Webtrends used tools like Google Adwords to build keyword lists around interest areas like landing pages and social analytics. Once the Promoted Tweets campaign began, the brand used keyword targeting in timeline and search with these existing lists to save time and effort. Keywords aligned with the content being shared, so a Tweet offering information about landing pages was targeted to terms like “build landing page” and “optimization.”

@Webtrends also used @username targeting to connect with digital marketers. Promoted Tweets were targeted to users similar to the followers of brands like Mobile Marketer (@MobileMktrDaily), Social Media Today (@socialmedia2day), Econsultancy (@Econsultancy) and others.

The brand used Promoted Tweets to share content like white papers, playbooks and other PDF resources that would be helpful to its audience. Tweet text featured information or stats intended to capture attention and encourage people to click. For example, when sharing a white paper on social measurement, @Webtrends highlighted key data points that users would find valuable.

 

“Twitter’s Lead Generation Cards don’t just deliver qualified leads; they create a window for meaningful, multi-touch lead nurture that doesn’t exist elsewhere in social. For example, all leads coming from Twitter are immediately introduced into personalized nurture programs that keep the conversation going. Subsequent emails we’ve sent to those Twitter-acquired leads have had a 50-200% better open rate than other leads and a 3-4 times improvement on click through rates.”

John LeeManager, Brand + Social Marketing, Webtrends

The results

Over a four-week period, @Webtrends accelerated its lead acquisition with Twitter by 996%. Promoted Tweets with Lead Generation Cards improved the company’s cost per lead by 500% with the lowest CPL coming in at $4. The cost per engagement on Promoted Tweets was improved by as much as 300%, with the lowest cost per engagement hovering around $0.70.

Twitter-generated leads were also highly qualified. With follow up emails to Twitter users, @Webtrends saw a 50-200% higher open rate than other leads and a 3-4 times improvement on click through rates.

3 keys to success

1. Know your audience.
   Before you launch Promoted Tweets, research your audience to see what terms and hashtags they use, then target Tweets appropriately. @Webtrends crafted each Promoted Tweet so the content being shared aligned with the keywords being targeted.

   30% of mobile shoppers abandon a purchase if the experience isn’t optimized. Up your mobile game with our new guide: https://t.co/nywinmfcw6

   — Webtrends (@Webtrends) September 27, 2013

2. Optimize on the fly.
   Constantly monitor campaign performance and adjust depending on what is driving your business goals. @Webtrends monitored its Tweets and optimized the campaign based on which ones generated the most leads.
3. Engage one-on-one.
   Use Twitter to have two-way conversations with your followers. @Webtrends replied to users engaging with its Tweets to nurture one-on-one relationships and keep the dialogue going.