Twitter rolls out “Branded Likes” to all advertisers

Twitter says it is adding the “Branded Likes” ad tool to the ad manager, making it available to all advertisers from next week. The new update, as the company noted in the announcement, will enable advertisers create custom “Like” animations for their tweets to help improve engagement in the app.

What are Branded Likes?

Twitter introduced Branded Likes in 2020, and since then the tool has been in beta testing. They are animated visuals that encourage Twitter users to share and like hashtag campaigns with a bit of extra visual bling. 

Back then, Brands like Disney, Pepsi, Spotify, McDonalds tested the feature. They choose hashtags that could trigger branded likes in organic and promoted tweets for a period of 24 hours.

Users who click or tap the posts, receive a surprise animation and can then enable the feature in their own posts when they use the hashtag themselves. With branded likes, brands can add animations to “likes” that work in tandem with hashtag campaigns and other campaign imagery. 

Disney was the first brand to pay for their branded likes as part of the ad product beta test, using the effect to promote Beyonce’s “Black is King” visual album.

Twitter was once charging $1 million for branded emoji hashtags around the Super Bowl, which is at the high, high end, but does provide some perspective on a similarly themed content option in the app.

Branded Like campaigns won’t be that much, but depending on your promotion, they could be costly, even if they do look cool.

Twitter says that it’ll make Branded Likes available as an ad option to all advertisers in the US, UK and Japan from next week.