Elon Musk’s X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, has announced a partnership with Google to display programmatic ads on their site. This is quite a shift, as Elon Musk’s X (FKA Twitter) had never previously worked with outside advertisers, choosing instead to work directly with advertisers on the social platform.
Our VP of Advertising, Tayler Jaksim, and our Paid Search Manager, My Ha, are sharing their thoughts on Elon Musk’s Google Partnership and what it means for brands — and how you can leverage your advertising efforts to the 94.5 million US active Twitter users.
Why Musk's X (FKA Twitter) Is Partnering with Google
The New York Times recently reported that Twitter’s advertising revenue was down 59%, despite Elon Musk’s claims that advertisers were returning to the platform. This partnership with Google for programmatic advertising is likely in an effort to win back previous advertisers and open the doors for new advertisers who have never previously advertised on the platform.
“Historically, Twitter ads have been reserved for brands that are doing large awareness buys, not performance marketers with small budgets,” says My Ha, Paid Search Manager at Blue Wheel. “This partnership will open up X, and its audience, to brands that haven't advertised on it before, and potentially lead to scalability for both platforms. It'll be a great opportunity for Google to venture into social media inventory, while X is able to venture into the world of Display”
Our Thoughts on the Musk Google Partnership
“Overall, it's intriguing to see a social network open up ads from a traditional search network,” says Jaksim.
Traditionally, paid advertising and organic social media, and paid search and social advertising, have all been divided into different silos. This partnership has the potential to show the importance of looking at things at an omni-channel level and less as individual silos.
Jaksim notes that this is not the first search and social partnership this year. Pinterest and Amazon announced their ads partnership earlier in 2023. Jaksim notes the similarities between the two: “The X (FKA Twitter) and Google partnership, similar to the Amazon and Pinterest partnership, is cementing that Paid Search and Paid Social work more in tandem than often thought (and not in a vacuum).”
What the Twitter Google Partnership Means for Brands
This partnership cements the importance for advertisers to have (the proper) creative in their Performance Max and Google Display Network (GDN) campaigns. Twitter is a text-based social network, so text ads won't stand out — they’ll just look like regular tweets.
If you are running Display campaigns on Google, you need to keep an eye on the placement reports to see how performance is on X. You might find that these ads aren’t converting well. With any new ad platform, you can experiment with audiences, placement, and creative to find what works.
However, advertising on Twitter won’t be right for every brand. Twitter is a hot topic platform, and features conversations that range from current events, memes, politics, sports, beauty trends. It’s diverse, but it’s also a divisive platform. It's not monitored like other social networks, and people can say what they want.
If you're running a retargeting campaign on GDN, keep in mind, you are retargeting people who visited your site. If they are on Twitter, that's okay — but your ad could show up against a tweet with subject matter you wouldn't want it to.
Remaining Questions on the Musk Google Partnership
If you feel like you're out of the loop, you're not alone. This partnership isn’t totally clear to everyone quite yet. We still have some remaining questions:
- When will this roll out?
- What will the creative look like?
- Can we exclude Twitter as a placement or site?
From what we've read, inventory will be on Twitter Home Feed, not in other areas, like the search, trending topics, and communities. However, we’ll just have to wait and see as this rolls out in the future.
Want help navigating Google ads on Twitter? Reach out to Tayler & My’s team today.
Hannah Hansen is a freelance copywriter and brand designer. She's passionate about distilling complex ideas, crafting brand narratives, and making good design accessible to all. She currently lives in Oceanside, California, with her husband and their golden retriever.
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