The winning secrets of #BestOfTweets, live from the arena

Here, Avril Chua, brand strategist at Twitter Next, Southeast Asia and Lerdwasid Thianthong, head of strategy & marketing for Thailand at MediaDonuts by Entravision take us through how to create winning work that puts brands and agencies in good stead for being awarded one of Twitter’s #BestOfTweets.

Before we learn the techniques it takes to create winning work, take a look and give a round of applause to the campaigns that were crowned at the #BestOfTweets 2021 Southeast Asia Awards. 

The Southeast Asia Twitter Next team studied winning works across the region and distilled them into five tips that will help brands and agencies deliver a knockout campaign on the platform. 

Prepare for the arena
Understanding the value of Twitter

The first and most important step to take while preparing for a fight is to understand what you have signed up for. Likewise, when you are planning for Twitter, it is crucial to understand the medium and how to best use it to your advantage. It’s evident that all of the brands that won #BestOfTweets in 2021 have a good grasp of Twitter’s value. To get on their level, here are three key things to understand:

That Twitter is a broadcast medium
Things scale quickly on Twitter because of the public nature of the platform. Tweets are viewable, searchable, and shareable by anyone, anywhere, anytime. Winning brands come to Twitter to scale their message to a wider audience because the first step of making an impact is making sure you have an audience.

That Twitter is conversational
Conversations are Twitter’s currency. We observed winning brands using conversations to plan for their campaign or to inform marketing decisions. Twitter was used as a litmus test to understand consumers’ preferences and reactions before, during, and after campaigns. These real-time interactions are incredibly valuable when fine-tuning future and ongoing campaigns.

That communities gather on Twitter
We have seen communities such as K-pop, local entertainment, gaming, and sports growing stronger on Twitter through the years. Fans gather on Twitter to discuss what’s happening and to talk to one another. Winning brands were able to tap into fans’ passion for their communities to fuel conversations.

Tapping into the value of Twitter and understanding how your audiences use the platform will allow you to plan well and get the most out of your campaigns.

Enter the right game
Developing a campaign that aims to win

Every year, Twitter’s #BestOfTweets awards brands in many categories, each of which is unique. The best way to win the fight is knowing which category you are competing in and tailor your attack — sorry, approach — accordingly. These tips will help you to get your campaigns in fighting form.

Using Twitter to launch something new
In taking this route, the winning brand must demonstrate how it strategically designs a campaign based on Twitter’s launch formula. Whether it’s a new product drop, a new promotion, or even an entire new brand, use Twitter’s creative formats to achieve maximum impact.

Leveraging Twitter to “connect with cultural moments”
Twitter is essential for both brands and consumers looking to keep their fingers on the pulse. Leverage Twitter’s position as a conversation starter to tap into important cultural moments — such as events, trends, occasions — and audiences to sweep this category.

Using Twitter as a purpose-driven marketing tool
A winning brand in this category must showcase  its values loudly and proudly on Twitter. Make sure your brand puts its money where its mouth is by taking a stand for societal issues and driving impact consistently through a combination of paid and organic campaigns.

Leveraging video solutions on Twitter at its best
A shortlisted campaign must demonstrate how to embrace Twitter’s video best practice, while also employing a diverse mix of video formats to drive ultimate campaign impact.

Design a campaign that capitalises on the unique creative value of Twitter
To score points on creative campaigns, marketers must delve deep into human-centric insight through conversation and turn their findings into impactful, relevant, and creative ideas; the kind that could only take place on Twitter.

Practice the fight and leave no tips behind
Leveraging Twitter best practice

After you get to know the category you plan on entering, do not forget to embrace Twitter’s best practice for your campaign. Make sure to utilise all of Twitter’s tips — from how to Tweet like a pro for video and image right through to going live —to make your brand stand out. Here are some of the best practices for various types of campaigns.

Best practice for launch

Whether the campaign launch is for a new brand, product, feature, positioning, or promotion, super-charge it with these following tips:

• Don’t launch and forget. Launch and continue by dividing your campaign phasing and maximising results by following the tried-and-tested Twitter Launch Formula — tease, reveal, reinforce
• Feature three to five video creatives to drive a bigger impact with your launch
• Aim for a campaign of at least seven to ten weeks to drive higher intent and favourability

Best practice for connection

If you aim to use Twitter to connect with cultural moments, follow these tips:

• Select the right connection moment that resonates with your brand voice, whether it’s an event, occasion, or trend
• Tell a compelling story with three types of content — hype, participate, and react
• Drive purchase intent by having multiple formats in your connect campaign

Creative pro tips when tweeting

While there are customised tips for each creative format — image, video, and text — there are three recommendations that work across all media:

• Be short and focused
• Win with strong visuals
• Be explicit with your branding

The brands that championed innovation, creativity, and purpose on Twitter were crowned winners in 2021. Learn and be inspired by the winners of the #BestOfTweets 2021 Southeast Asia Awards here.

Find the right coach
Leaning on Twitter’s experts to refine your campaign

When planning a campaign on Twitter, relying on our teams will help you become more efficient and effective in delivering against your campaign objectives.

Twitter’s experts include accounts teams, as well as cross-functional teams spanning Arthouse, Global Content Partnerships, Research, and Twitter Next. These experts can contribute to the success of your campaign, whether your objective is to plan a launch, connect with cultural moments, utilise influencers, leverage a creative canvas, or devise a creative strategy that taps into audience behaviours.

Twitter Next

Twitter Next is Twitter’s internal brand strategy team, the purpose of which is to partner with brands and their agency partners to create human-centric campaigns that are worth talking about. The foundational approach to our partnership is staying true to our audience and exploring beyond the limits of our platform to produce innovative solutions for our clients.

In 2021, we had the privilege to work with a few winning brands across Southeast Asia, including Spotify, Disney+, AQUA, and many more — and we look forward to making 2022 a knockout with you.