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What does the future hold for influencers on Twitter?
Key Takeaways
- In the second quarter of 2022, about 238m people use the network daily.
- Elon Musk bought Twitter for 44 billion, making him the company’s largest single shareholder. Apparently, he is planning a lot of roles restructuring.
- Twitter is not a visual platform, so marketers need to be more creative with influencer marketing campaigns.
- 41% of users say they would buy a product or use a service because of a tweet.
Twitter Inc. was founded in March 2006 and is still a microblogging service provider. Companies, celebrities, organizations as well as private individuals cavort on the platform and share everyday thoughts, political opinions or humorous tweets in a maximum of 280 characters.
In the meantime, Twitter is one of the largest social media platforms worldwide, as around 238m people use the network daily as of the second quarter of 2022. At the same time, the reach of the advertising audience amounted to about 7.75m people in Germany alone. This puts Twitter in the 15th place in the global ranking by country. In addition, influencers have built up a considerable following on Twitter, while not being able to market themselves on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok platforms.
As a public forum for unfiltered opinion, many controversies also surrounded the platform, as disputes and debates erupted on the microblogging provider.
Is Twitter in Chaos Due to Elon Musk?
In the fall of 2022, the South African entrepreneur and billionaire bought Twitter for $44b and then appointed himself chief executive. Since he was critical of the restrictions on freedom of expression on the platform shortly after the investment, experts expect a far-reaching roles restructuring in the company.
Here are some examples of the latest news about Elon Musk according to the Neue Züricher Zeitung (NZZ):
- On Monday, December 12, 2022, the former head of Twitter’s communications department in Germany announced he would appeal the group’s dismissal to the Hamburg Labor Court. Musk dismissed the entire communications department of Twitter in Germany as a consequence of the restructuring under the new leadership.
- According to “Forbes” magazine, Musk lost his title as the richest person in the world on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, however, this is said to be short-lived. The entrepreneur and Tesla CEO had the title since September 2021, previously Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had been the richest person in the world. By investing in Twitter, Musk’s net worth fell below the $200bn mark. Shareholders of his car company Tesla complained Musk was more concerned about the social network than the electric car brand. According to the report, Tesla shares have fallen 47% since Musk declared his interest in Twitter.
- In early December, more specifically on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, the Reuters news agency reported on the investigation by U.S. federal authorities into alleged violations by his company Neuralink of U.S. regulations on the welfare of laboratory animals. The company allegedly killed about 1,500 animals, including sheep, pigs and monkeys, since 2018. Musk has yet to comment on the allegations.
The Current Status of Influencer Marketing on Twitter
When marketers* plan an influencer marketing campaign, they first think of Instagram, YouTube, Facebook or TikTok, with 93% using Instagram, 68% using Tiktok and Facebook, and 48% using YouTube. Only 32% think of Twitter for influencer marketing, according to Hootsuite. But just because the platform is less popular doesn’t mean it’s less suitable, as 41% of Twitter users would make a purchase based on a tweet, according to the Digital Marketing Institute. Consequently, influencers on Twitter also have the power to influence consumer behavior and generate sales.
Also read: How to use influencer marketing on Twitter.
The reason behind the 32% is probably the specific content format on Twitter. While videos are revolutionizing the social world, Twitter supports videos and images, but still, the platform is text-based. At the same time, influencer marketing is mainly visual, which is why Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok are more popular for brands to collaborate with influencers.
Of course, Twitter has also recognized the potential of influencer marketing and has released several features in recent years to make marketing on the platform attractive for brands.However, it is difficult for brands to get in touch with influencers on Twitter because the influencer ecosystem is less developed than on Instagram or YouTube.
Influencers on Twitter are mainly humorous and have a single personal style. You should still consider influencer marketing on social media networks. However, like other networks, there are both micro-influencers and macro-influencers, who can also be called social media celebrities and have millions of followers on the platform.
-> The Rise of Nano-Influencers
Have you ever used Twitter as a platform for your influencer marketing campaign? Your style should be well-defined when doing so. If you can do that, you have the potential to be very successful on Twitter with influencer marketing.
Is Gaming the Future for Influencer Marketing on Twitter?
With 2.4bn tweets about video games, they are a major topic on Twitter. In an interview with the Washington Post, Global Head of Gaming Partnerships Rishi Chadha said, “When people think about gaming, they’re thinking about the Twitchers and YouTubers of the world. And it’s like, you can’t forget what Twitter is doing. Twitter has been that home for conversation and it’s been silently there.”
Twitter is especially attractive to gaming influencers. They tweet about their favorite games, share memes or comment on video game innovations. So there is a large audience on Twitter that is interested in this niche and influencers try to monetize their content, with varying degrees of success. For example, during big gaming events, things go wild and users and influencers post their live reactions.
In an effort to cut costs, Musk laid off employees in marketing, content moderation and other departments that the millionaire said were “less important.” Twitter Gaming’s marketing department also had to go, but Cadha kept his job. Teams such as partnerships and sales that generate revenue, remained mostly untouched.
Kolsquare, a data-driven Influencer Marketing platform, helps brands to optimize each step of their Influencer Marketing campaign with help of data and Machine Learning. The solution facilitates the identification of the right profiles for a campaign amongst a catalog of over 3 million KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders), and enables the measurement and performance analysis of each campaign. Kolsquare is a team of thirty experts who accompany you throughout the year in the implementation of your influencer strategies, to help you build effective campaigns and increase your knowledge of the Influencer sector through studies, barometers and enriching insights.