skip to main content

B2Bs, it’s time to cancel your Twitter Ads

Twitter Ads have never been less effective. If you're running a paid B2B marketing campaign on Twitter, you need to know the alternatives.

Uncertainty. There are few words more toxic in the world of business. And if there’s any business that’s been plagued by uncertainty, it’s Twitter.

If you have paid Twitter Ads as part of your business-to-business marketing strategy, you’ll no doubt have felt more than your share of uncertainty over the last year. 

That ends now. 

If you’re running paid B2B ads on Twitter, your path forward has never been more clear.

Stop.

Here’s why.

Chaos on Twitter

Elon Musk took over Twitter in October 2022. Since then, it’s been chaos.

Just this week, it was announced that Twitter was rebranding to “X” in the near future.

New features are constantly being introduced that alienate users in an attempt to bolster crashing ad revenues and start paying back Twitter Inc.’s $13 billion debt. 

Those features include Twitter Blue, a subscription service which verifies users based on payment rather than… verifying their identity. 

Multiple accounts “verified” to be the same people have caused problems.

In the first week of November, over 50% of Twitter employees got the sack. By April 2023, Musk announced that over 80% of Twitter employees had been fired so far. These layoffs included a hefty chunk of the platform’s engineering workforce. 

Since Elon Musk took over, Twitter’s ad revenue has halved. Meanwhile, some popular Twitter users have started getting huge payouts as part of a “Twitter revenue share” as the platform scrambles to keep influential users loyal in the face of Instagram Threads (we’ll get to that later). 

Ok, you might think. So Twitter has become a chaotic cesspool practically designed to provoke outrage. What’s new? More importantly, what does this have to do with my Twitter Ads?

The impact on Twitter Ads

Twitter Blue reduces the amount of data collected on paying users and limits the amount of ads that they see. This means your ads will get less impressions overall.

That could be fine, if Twitter’s ad targeting features weren’t already miles behind the competition. With the new model, you’re going to find it harder than ever for your ads to reach your target audience.

If something goes wrong with your ads, Twitter’s ability to respond and fix any issues has been hampered by the huge engineer layoffs. Go figure. At the time of writing, Twitter Ads’ page is down. 

Why not wait it out? Maybe Elon will cut his losses, and a month from now we’ll all be looking back and laughing as those Twitter Ad conversions come rolling in.

The truth is, Twitter isn’t going to get better.

It can’t.

The platform is stuck in a vicious cycle.

  1. Ad revenue is falling.
  2. A new feature is introduced to try and increase ad revenue or provide alternative revenue streams.
  3. That feature alienates users and causes technical problems which Twitter can’t respond to quickly after the layoffs.
  4. Twitter loses more ad revenue.
  5. Rinse and repeat. 

So how do you break free?

Finding alternatives

What about Instagram Threads? Threads might end up being the second coming of Twitter in the long-run. Right now, however, it doesn’t support ads at all. If you want to learn more, read my article on Threads marketing.

If you’re trying to run a paid B2B marketing campaign on social media, you shouldn’t be looking at Twitter or Threads.

You should be looking at LinkedIn Ads.

Unlike Twitter, LinkedIn’s revenue grew last year by 36%. 

The platform isn’t just being run more competently. Unlike Twitter Ads, LinkedIn Ads are designed specifically for B2B marketing.

LinkedIn Ads have far better targeting. You can target your ads by job title, job function, seniority – if you know who you’re trying to reach in other businesses, you can make sure your ads reach them. LinkedIn also gives you tighter control over your budget and campaign duration, making it easier to track your return on investment. 

If you’re looking for certainty in uncertain times, it’s time to drop Twitter Ads and focus on B2B marketing on LinkedIn. It’s also a great platform for organic content – you can learn how to make your team thought leaders on LinkedIn here.

They say that people notice when you do a bad job, but when you do a good one, nobody notices at all. You probably can’t name LinkedIn’s CEO. That speaks volumes.

There are unlikely to be any unexpected, highly publicised developments – or MMA fights – in LinkedIn’s future. When it comes to your B2B, that’s where your next ad campaign will find future success.

Related articles

More help

Want to build a B2B ad campaign for your business? Drop me an email at [email protected].

Social media engagement

I’ve got plenty to say

View my other articles and opinion pieces below

Our 10 most engaging LinkedIn post ideas for corporate comms

By Rebecca Holloway

You know your business needs to use LinkedIn.  With over a billion users, LinkedIn is the premier platform for connecting with your investors, customers, employees, industry peers and other stakeholders. You’ve only got one question. What should your organisation actually post about? So many businesses know that there are big benefits to engaging with their […]

Thought leadership strategy: putting your team’s expertise on your clients’ radars

By Rebecca Holloway

“Thought leadership” has become an essential part of B2B marketing. Ever since Google’s helpful content update, it’s been more important than ever for your organisation’s team members to be producing high-quality, informed content in their areas of expertise.  What is thought leadership? Articles, LinkedIn posts, blogs, videos – all of this comes under that umbrella. […]

Maximising multi-marketing success in paid social campaigns

By Rebecca Holloway

Understanding multi-market paid strategies is crucial to the success of any social media marketing campaign. I recently had the opportunity to speak at the International Social Summit in Barcelona, collating experiences from the past year to share some advice for organisations planning their own paid campaigns across multiple regions. The Problem Running a multi-market campaign […]

Rebecca sharing her insights at the International Social Summit