How To: Twitter Lead Generation Cards

For those marketers active on Twitter and seeking a boost in new customer prospects, Twitter offers Lead Generation Cards. This advertising product allows marketers to sponsor a tweet and attach some asset to it. Valuable assets can include downloadable graphics, guides and ebooks, event registrations, email content subscriptions, discount codes/coupons and more. In exchange for your brand’s unique offering, the prospect willingly provides access to contact information stored in Twitter (specifically name and email address).

As an example, let’s say I create a webinar event. I could potentially utilize Twitter Lead Generation Cards to create an ad on Twitter and capture contact information for webinar attendees. Here’s a sample view of our faux event’s Lead Generation Card:

The following notes provide instruction on how to setup your own Twitter Lead Generation Card campaign.
 

Step 1: Create a Card

1. Start by logging into Twitter and accessing the ad interface at Ads.Twitter.com.

2. Select Creatives > Cards from the top navigation.

3. Add the necessary details to your card including:

A. A short description of your program (50 characters maximum).
B. A card image. This must have a 4:1 aspect ratio. Twitter recommends an image size of 600×150 pixels.
C. A call to action. This will serve as button text and sit underneath your card image.
D. A privacy policy link.
E. A “fallback” web address for more details about your asset, promotion or the premise of your card in general.

4. There are optional settings to provide the Twitter user with a landing page after interacting with the card and a custom “thank you” message.

5. Finally, you can provide a unique URL to specify how the data from Twitter should be handled (we’ll cover this below). The last step to create your card is to simply give it a name (e.g. “Webinar Registration Card”).
 

Step 2: Data Settings

In tandem with creating a new Lead Generation Card within the advertising interface, you will also want to determine how to manage the customer data you receive. Twitter provides the option of simply downloading your leads to a CSV file. However, this requires added manual effort and may not provide the most optimal experience for your prospects.

Twitter has created a system for automatically feeding data to several leading CRM and marketing automation systems including Eloqua, ExactTarget, Infusionsoft, MailChimp, Marketo, Salesforce and Silverpop. While these are all fine tools and Twitter can feed several others, for this example, we will show you how to configure an automatic feed to MailChimp.

1. Login to your MailChimp account, and navigate to the list to which you would like to feed new contacts.

2. Select the “Signup forms” option, and then click on the “Form Integrations” link.

3. On the “Form Integraions” page, you can gather the necessary “Submit URL” and data key information from MailChimp. You’ll need to re-enter these values into your Lead Generation Card settings in step 4 below.

4. Go back to your Lead Generation Card settings and enter your MailChimp list values in the appropriate fields. Please see the example below. Change the HTTP method from “GET” to “POST.” Note the “Custom Key Names” that will feed each data element (i.e. name, email and Twitter handle) to the correct columns in your MailChimp list.

5. Save and test your data settings. Twitter will allow you to feed your designated MailChimp list with your own data. Simply confirm that your data (name, email, twitter handle, etc.) correctly populates in your email list.
 

Step 3: Launching Your Ad

Now that you have created your Lead Generation Card, you can attach it to a campaign to generate interest and leads. You must first create a campaign complete with targeting settings, audience and budget.

1. Within the ad interface select “Campaigns” from the top navigation and then click on “Tweets and Accounts.”

2. Choose to create a “Promoted Tweets” campaign. The process to do so is fairly self explanatory, but likely requires a separate post to discuss the nuances. Also see Twitter’s own advertising resources here. Be sure to take advantage of the various targeting options including keywords, interests and tailored audiences. Save and/or schedule your advertising campaign.

3. Navigate back to your saved Lead Generation Card. Select the “new tweet” icon.

4. Compose a new custom tweet to introduce your resource, promotion or campaign. You can show this card to your own followers, but in this instance below, we are attaching it to our previously constructed “Adwords Webinar” campaign.

5. Post your new tweet with the Lead Generation Card attached or schedule it accordingly.

 

Additional Tips

1. Refresh creative and tweets regularly. Run multiple campaigns in short bursts.
2. Test different images for your cards.
3. Be very selective with your interest and keyword targets when developing your Promoted Tweets campaign.
4. Import multiple @usernames of relevant influencers when targeting by “Interests and Followers.” Identify influencers with services like Little Bird, Twellow or Followerwonk.
5. Always use the destination URL option. Drive traffic and attention to your website from those who interact with your card.
6. Create an auto-responder email to interact with your new contact instantly. The auto responder should fire as soon as the lead information enters your email/CRM/automation system.
7. Measure the cost per lead over time.
8. Only utilize Twitter Lead Generation Cards when you have something truly valuable to offer the audience.