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Twitter As Lead Generation Tool

Twitter-music-ATwo recent announcements will prove Twitter's worth not only as a social advertising platform, but as a lead generation tool for the movie and the music industries.

Lead generation has been an important tool for finding new customers. Twitter continues to build a massive community, with more than 400 million tweets generated worldwide daily. It makes sense that tweets with a positive sentiment have a greater impact to drive sales, but how much of an impact? It turns out that a 30% increase in positive tweets is four times more effective in driving sales than a 30% increase in existing above-the-line advertising, according to a study from Twitter U.K. and Deloitte.

That's why marketers have begun to see an increase in tweets being used to generate leads. Last week, BBC America and Twitter announced via a tweet a video ad deal to offer an "in-Tweet branded video synced to entertainment TV series." Then the social site confirmed Twitter #music, where the charts draw from Twitter, separating the lists for Popular and Emerging tracks.

Twitter #music also offers a #NowPlaying chart of songs tweeted by those being followed on Twitter, and suggestions for artists that might sound appealing. After finding the tunes, similar to Shazam, users can click on iTunes to buy the track.

Preview clips stream from iTunes, but subscribers of streaming services Spotify or Rdio can sign in to those within the app to play full-length tracks. The moves demonstrate how the social site will focus on reeling in a mainstream audience rather than early adopters.

Initially, Twitter will monetize the application through iTunes and promoted content, but will likely receive a cut of any iTunes sales generated through redirected traffic, with the respective artist and Apple paying a small portion of their traditional 30/70 split to Twitter itself, according to Wedbush Securities.

Promoted content on Twitter #music has the potential to drive significant revenue growth, similar to Promoted Accounts, Trends, and Tweets, according to the report. "We believe many artists would pay handsomely to be inserted into the Popular or Suggested charts, among others, that populate the user's screen. In our view, music sales are driven in large part by word-of-mouth, with the world's de facto word-of-mouth service on a plethora of topics becoming Twitter, as opposed to other online sites or the traditional print media," writes Managing Director Michael Pachter, and team.

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