Twitter carousel ads allow you to place between two and six images or videos in a single ad. You can use them to showcase different products, highlight a new product line, or tell a story.
Alternatively, you can think out of the box and use them in a way that other marketers haven’t yet thought about.
In this article, I’ll go over what we know about Twitter carousel ads.
Twitter Carousel Ads: the Format
If you’re unfamiliar with carousel ads, here’s a primer.
Carousel ads combine multiple images or videos in a single ad. People who view the ads can swipe or click to view more content.
Additionally, each image or video in the ad is tappable/clickable. The link takes people to a landing page that provides more info about the content in that part of the carousel.
So what do Twitter carousel ads look like and what do they offer? Here’s what you can expect:
- Edge-to-edge design
- Analytics reporting provided by third parties
- Accessibility support
- Enhanced analytics on individual cards, swipes, and more
This is what Twitter says about its new ad format: “This investment in performance advertising also includes expanding the capabilities of our ad formats to enable advertisers with more options to show and tell their brand story, while providing a more intuitive, engaging experience for people on Twitter.”
Getting Started
If you’d like to get the ball rolling with a carousel ad, you can do that using either the Ads Manager or the Ads API.
Then, you can create the ad using the tweet composer.
Keep in mind: when you add images and video to your carousel, they’ll need to follow the same requirements as other Twitter ad formats.
By the way, you don’t have to run the carousel format as an ad. You can post it and let it reach people organically without spending any money.
The Results Are In
Are Twitter carousel ads effective? It sure looks that way.
The folks at Twitter say that they saw an average 15% lift in the click-through rate of carousel ads versus other ad formats.
But that was just for website carousel ads. On app carousel ads, the company reported an average 24% increase in installs per impression over other ad formats.
Finally, Twitter also highlights a Nielsen study showing that marketers who use three or more ad formats see purchase intent rise by 7% and campaign awareness increase by 20%.
Best-Practices
Twitter also highlighted some best-practices that you should follow when using carousel ad formats:
- Use all components – Include the visuals (images and videos) but don’t forget to add headlines, descriptions, and calls to action when available.
- Tell a story – Use your carousel to walk people through a narrative about your brand.
- Consider the audience – Target your carousel ads to a specific segment of your market and tailor your assets accordingly. It’s rarely the case that “one size fits all” with carousel ads.
- Communicate benefits – Tell people why they should buy your product instead of just showing them a picture of it.
Carousel ads are here! 📢
Get all the details:
— Twitter Business (@TwitterBusiness) November 11, 2020
Wrapping It Up
Twitter carousel ads are available to all marketers as of right now. You can run them with website and ad objectives. You can also use them with engagement and awareness campaigns.
If you think your brand can benefit from a carousel ad format, then it’s time to start planning. Meet with your marketing team and come up with some ideas about how you can reach people on Twitter with carousels.
