Twitter to launch the new platform, offering early access to its customers and a $100 credit for free advertising to the first 10,000 businesses to sign up.
American Express will notify the first batch of small business who have access to the platform starting Tuesday, and the number of eligible businesses will increase throughout the next weeks.
Promoted Accounts suggest a brand’s Twitter account to users with interests similar to those who are already following the brand. Promoted Tweets take an existing tweet from a brand’s account that is inspiring a lot of engagement and promotes it in search results. Small business pay only when their account is followed or someone engages with their promoted tweet.
Twitter launched a self-serve advertising platform in November with just a “handful of advertisers,” but it remains closed to most businesses.
It’s no surprise American Express stepped in to help promote the new option to small businesses. The company has launched Twitter-based promotions in the past, and it has been aggressively pursuing partnerships with other social networks as well. A Facebook program called “Link, Like, Love,” for instance, tailors offers to what cardmembers Liked on Facebook. A partnership with Foursquare that launched in June rewards users with loyalty card-like credit when they check in.
Twitter is a private company and doesn’t disclose its advertising revenue, but an eMarketer estimate suggests Twitter’s overall revenues — most of which come from advertising — will total $259.9 million this year.
