Microblogging site Twitter is believed to be struggling to compete in the fast moving social media market as its latest growth forecasts anticipate little growth in the coming months.
The site is already finding it difficult to reignite audience growth and rekindle deeper engagements from users. However, it is now finding that it may need to convince marketers to continue with the site and may have to prove itself as one of the most indispensable tools of online marketing.
Earlier this week, the company announced its second quarter figures, and they showed that revenue was down on what analysts had predicted, coming in at $602m (£458m). Despite the figure not being as high as analysts had anticipated, the figure still represents an increase of 20% compared to 2016.
More worryingly for the social media giant, its forecasts show that growth could completely dry up in the current quarter as the company expects revenues in the region of $590-$610m (£449-£465m). This is significantly different to the revenue of $680m (£518m) that experts had predicted.
Twitter bosses have already explained possible reasons for this change in projected revenue, including the fact that the majority of big brand advertisers already use the service as a marketing tool, meaning that growth on this front would mean convincing these big hitters to spend more on the site.
Another possible reason for this halt in growth could be online marketers’ choice to become more adventurous and try something different in the forms of Instagram and Snapchat. These social media rivals are not known for online marketing, but as these sites generate more and more users and continue to show signs of growth, some marketers are experimenting with new sites such as the aforementioned in a bid to attract more customers.
Twitter has admitted that the idea of marketing on the likes of Snapchat and Instagram is intriguing for marketers, but assures them that the site is making good progress in coming up with new ideas of its own, which include a new live streaming service that could be introduced as early as September for NFL American Football games – a concept proving to be attractive to many advertisers.
While Twitter executives are realistic and understand that there are no quick fixes, and that to change the outlook of these figures may take “multiple quarters” to remedy, they are optimistic that they can turn around the company’s fortunes and convince advertisers of the real value of advertising through the site.
Bosses have also stated that thanks to the sale of Yahoo this week to Verizon, Twitter is now consolidated its position as “the clear number four” in digital advertising, giving advertisers a glimmer of hope for the present.
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RT @EngageWeb: Twitter lagging in social media market: https://t.co/2X7LIUU6KF