Twitter Introduces New Tool With Language Targeting

Twitter has made it possible for advertisers to improve targeting by communicating with users in their native language, the social network announced in an official blog post.

Currently supporting 20 languages, the new option allows Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts to reach audiences in a number of different languages, meaning the ads will become more relevant to users. Language targeting is now globally available and all advertisers can make use of it through Twitter’s Ads API. The microblogging service added that the new function was announced in conjunction with language-specific analytics.

Advertisers can now select a target language and tweets written in it will appear on the timeline of users who understand the language. Twitter can determine who these users are as it keeps track of what languages users choose for their profile interface, as well as what language they use to interact.

The social network gave the example of advertisers who might want to target Italian-speaking football fans during the World Cup this summer. In this case, Italian language targeting will allow them to reach such users across the globe.

This can also be combined with targeting options on the basis of interest, keyword, gender or geography. So, say a travelling brand wants to target Spanish-speaking tourists in the US, it now has the option to combine geography, interest and language targeting to reach the right audience in an effective manner.

The introduction of language targeting can be seen as an attempt on Twitter’s part to bolster its advertising revenues. According to a PC World article, non-US followers currently constitute 78% of Twitter’s 225 million active user base, however only 27% of Twitter’s overall sales revenue last year was attributable to international users, the company revealed in its annual report.