Navigating through the chaos at Elon Musk's Twitter, experts suggest way forward

From changing the verification process and mass layoffs to global advertisers leaving the platform, a lot has been happening at Elon Musk's Twitter. This uncertainty has triggered mixed reactions. Social Samosa speaks to digital agencies to find out the best ways to deal with this chaos. 

A lot has been happening at Elon Musk's Twitter. With him taking over the platform and imposing new rules on the app, advertisers across the globe have shared mixed reactions; some merrier than others.

The new rules also include paying $8 for the blue tick and a ban on the impersonation without a ‘parody label’ among others. 

Following this change in the guidelines, Elon Musk gained attention for announcing mass layoffs of Twitter staff, which also included 50% of the Indian team. This sudden decision sparked worldwide conversation and Twitter is now facing a class action lawsuit for sacking its employees without giving them the official 60-day notice as required by federal law. 

According to Musk, his intention behind these changes is to “democratize journalism, empower the voice of the people.” Musk said that his mission is to make Twitter “the most accurate source of information about the world.”

Also Read: Elon Musk changes Twitter verification process, to charge $8 per month for Blue Tick

However, globally, many agencies have announced that they've advised their clients to pause advertising on Twitter amid the storm that's brewing. According to Musk, "Activist Groups have been pressuring advertisers to drop out."

As uncertainty continues and perplexes advertisers, we spoke to a few Indian agencies to find out the best ways to navigate this chaos. 

While globally brands are waiting for the dust to settle, Sanjay Mehta, Joint CEO of Mirum hasn’t observed any major reaction in India in terms of changing the advertising plan. 

In India, if you are running small campaigns or short-term campaigns, Mehta suggests that you should continue without any change. 

He said, “For the immediate future, it seems like business as usual. However, if you are in the middle of your annual planning and may be looking at 2023 and thinking of what role Twitter can play in your overall media mix, then I would suggest you wait to see what emerges; advertising on Twitter will potentially change. Advertisers can then look at it, understand it and accordingly integrate the changes, if it seems the revised options fit well into the brand and business requirements, with their media planning for the next year.”

On the other hand, while Rishabh Mahendru, VP, Client Success, AdLift said that a few advertisers have decided to pause their campaigns on Twitter, he is also optimistic that Twitter will be even more advertiser-friendly with new ad segments. 

“From where I see it, this is a win-win situation for advertisers. This ‘chaos’ has created a buzz around the platform and that’s exactly what advertisers need! My advice is to pay attention to trends and use them to your advantage,” said Mehandru. 

SoCheers’ Associate Account Director, Tanvi Bosmia is hopeful that Musk will bring about some pro-advertising changes to the platform. 

“The unpredictability of the entire deal makes the brands rather wary, but Musk is a major-league creative thinker, so seeing how the whole thing plays out seems like a smart move. Musk recently spoke about the relevance of ads that deliver good content, which makes me hopeful for some pro-ad policies to come from the platform soon. And the subscription for a blue tick might somewhere mean the introduction of some other interesting versions of a verified account. So, even though all the details aren’t clear, the possibilities for new and interesting things to happen are plenty,” said Bosmia. 

Mehta also shares this optimism. “I expect to hopefully see some more advertising options as compared to the limited ones that we currently have – probably better targeting, some sort of profile/interest-based targeting, so there is a certain focused benefit that we can derive and newer advertising opportunities in terms of method,” he said. 

Mihir Palan, VP, Media, Kinnect also said that there's way too much noise around the same and ‘it can lead to an increase in the user base.’ 

“This growth may result in either incremental AdEx on Twitter or the platform becoming more affordable if the user base continues to grow sustainably,” said Palan. 

Swati Nathani, Co-founder and CBO, Team Pumpkin pointed out that while paying $8 will open up opportunities for brands that have been waiting to be verified, she said that it will also impact the active number of users because many users who aren’t privileged, won’t choose to pay.

About advertising on the platform, Nathani added, “Advertisers eventually will also start being cautious of putting media budgets on a platform that is seeming so volatile right from the beginning of the new reign. The best advice for advertisers, for now, is to be responsive. While we wait and watch how things unfold, spontaneity in adjusting budgets and messages will help them suitably.”

Overall, while too many changes at Twitter have affected advertisers’ confidence at the moment, agencies have pinned their hopes on business tycoon Musk and are hopeful to see more advertising formats on the platform in the near future.

-With inputs from Sneha Medda