Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is targeting retail companies to boost its advertising revenue. J.J. Hirschle, the new advertising executive of the micro blogging company is on an urgent mission to strike advertising deals this holiday season, according to report from Bloomberg.
The micro blogging company hired Hirschle last month prior to its initial public offering (IPO). Hirschle was a former media and entertainment-advertising executive at Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). His primary task is sell advertising products to retailers.
Hirschle will face uphill battle
According to Bloomberg, Hirschle already met with Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) and Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) and other potential clients to use Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) for its marketing campaigns.
Hirchscle said, “Holiday is one of the most important periods and for me, sitting in the retail world, it is the most critical period.” However, he is confronted by challenges in accomplishing his job for the micro blogging company because of the fact that 80% of retailers believe that promotions via social media platforms will have minimal or no impact this holiday season based on a survey conducted by Baynote Inc in August.
Last year, the study conducted by International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) showed that the combined advertising campaigns on Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) generated less than 50% of sales during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales events.
[drizzle]Another survey conducted by Shop.org in August revealed that retailers that placed advertisements on social media sites chose Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)’s competitors. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of the retailers who participated the poll said they allocated significant advertising budgets on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), 28% on Pinterest, and 19% on Instagram. Only 15% of the respondents placed advertisements on Twitter.
Based on the survey, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) needs to prove that advertising on its platform provides better impact on the sales of retailers than Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). Chad Dickerson, CEO of Etsy Inc said it is using the micro blogging company to advertise its products. However, he noticed that Facebook and Pinterest are generating more traffic because both site provide more pictures that draw the interest of consumers.
Facebook, Pinterest more advanced, have pictures
Dickerson believed, “Twitter as a public company is going to have to try to figure it out. I could definitely see them grow, but for right now they’re definitely smaller than Facebook and Pinterest.”
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has more than 1 billion users compared with the 215 million monthly actives users of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR). In addition, the social network giant has four advertising products especially designed for retailers.
Facebook’s advertising executive, Nicholas Franchet said, “Our product suite is much more advanced than a year ago. The landscape has completely changed, to the point where we’re advising retailers to build an ecosystem between Facebook and their sites.”
Last October, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) intensified its message to advertisers that their promotional posts on the message streams of consumers resulted in actual purchases. The company supported its assertion using data from Crimson Hexagon indicating that its holiday shopping conversations rose 30% in 2011 and last year particularly during Black Friday.
According to the micro blogging site, the number of retailers advertising on its platform have increased by a factor of two since September.
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