The Rise of the 𝕏vertorial

One of my favorite movies is There Will Be Blood.

It’s a story of a man named Daniel Plainview who wound up becoming one of the biggest Oil barrons in the United States.

In the beginning of the movie, he was climbing out of the bottom of a mine shaft when he broke his leg. He managed to climb all the way back up and army crawl his way back into town.

It was a grueling journey, one he could have died from.

But it paid off.

Because he kept on digging.

And after a few years, he struck (liquid) gold.

Right now, you and I are Daniel Plainview.

Very few people realize the amount of potential revenue we’re walking over every single day on 𝕏.

And…

I think I know why!

Before I get into that, take a look at this chart:

You’ve probably seen this before. I believe it’s from the book “Crossing the Chasm” which is about how ‘tech adoption’ takes place.

For every piece of new technology, there is a gradual adoption phase before an explosion of popularity.

We are EARLY.

We are in the “innovators” phase.

Only ~2.5% of the business owners who use 𝕏 right now even realize they can scale their business with 𝕏 ads.

In a year or two, there will be an explosion of people. The rush has already begun.

More and more brands are waking up each and every day…

Now, this is just one anecdotal example, of course.

But the fact that agencies like Neil Patel’s agency are running tests like this are quite promising.

Now…

Let’s get into the meat and potatoes of this issue…

My Favorite Ad Framework For 𝕏

If you’ve been involved in digital marketing for some time, you’re probably familiar with the term “advertorial.” It’s a combination of the words ‘advertisement’ and ‘editorial.’

Typically, these are pages that LOOK like content and read like content… but they tell a story that shifts your internal beliefs until you are “pre-framed” properly for a sales pitch on the next page.

You typically see this a lot in the world of “display” advertising… although there’s a good chance you’ve also run into this format of ad on FB/Insta, as well.

Here’s what’s cool about advertorials:

They do a great job of “warming up” your prospects so they become ready to buy.

Think of it like a microwave for cold traffic.

I think this ad framework is what can work best for most brands on 𝕏.

When people go on 𝕏, they’re looking to tumble down rabbit holes.

Obviously, static ads and direct-pitch style video ads can work on 𝕏. But this is only going to hit the warmest people in your audience.

If you want to convert people from the much larger mass of “colder” prospects, you need to warm them up. You need to slip past their natural defense mechanisms and slip the pitch in after you’ve shifted their beliefs.

Here’s an example from Jimmy Kim, the Founder of Sendlane:

Jimmy has been running this longform style post as an ad for sometime now. It’s a perfect example of what I mean by the term 𝕏vertorial. If you click through and read it, he attached another tweet with some direct CTAs:

You start reading (without even realizing it’s an ad)… and by the time he mentioned his business, you’re already primed and ready for the solution.

I believe Jimmy said he’s been spending ~$20/day on this ad. It has over 2.2 MILLION impressions, 72 retweets, 789 bookmarks, and 36 comments.

That’s a lot of engagement.

I bet this drove a lot of inbound leads, DMs, and conversations.

The “above the fold” text has ZERO mention of his product or what he’s “selling.”

It’s pure content.

But the content warms you up and makes you want to buy.

Here’s another example that’s a bit more “on the nose”:

This is a straight “listicle” style 𝕏vertorial that hits on the pain points most e-commerce brand owners deal with, when it comes to ESPs.

See how this works?

Now, you might be thinking…

“So, this just works for SaaS?”

Not at all!

I think it can work just as well, if not better, for e-commerce products.

The following is an example of an organic post from the CEO of Lomi. I do NOT believe they ever ran this as an ad… but I think this has the potential to work well.

Click through and read it.^^

Now, I don’t think I’d ever buy this product myself. But Matthew has built this business to an impressive level and it’s obviously crushing.

I think for the target demo, this ad would kill it.

The video is great. But the text above the video is the entrance into the “rabbit hole” that people are always looking for on 𝕏.

I bet this would work on Meta, too. After all… I’ve tested a ton of FB ad copy over the years and you’d be shocked with how well long form copy-driven ads perform.

The reason this approach works is because of what Howard Gossage once said:

He’s not the only one, either.

Gary Bencivenga is one of the world’s greatest living Direct Response copywriters.

One of his core philosophies is:

This means that if your ads are good enough that people want to bookmark them, they’ll get conversions.

See his famous “Do you make these mistakes in job interviews?” ad:

In a sea of sameness, how can you STAND OUT and meet your customers where they’re at?

The 𝕏vertorial is the way.

Try it out and let me know how it goes.

Chris Orzechowski

P.S.

If you want to test out this 𝕏vertorial style framework, I can write them for you.

We’ll sit down and discuss the best strategy to attract more of your ideal customers/clients… we’ll test out the approaches organically (to drive some initial sales and leads)… and then we’ll pour gasoline on the fire and roll it out BIG to your target market.

Hit reply and say 𝕏vertorial and I’ll get you some details on how we can work together.