Twitter is introduced a feature that will let advertisers reach users based on keywords in their postings. This expands the tools available to marketers on the microblogging site.

The site claims this will make targeting easier for companies to tailor promotions based on content. Twitter is looking to boost ads in lieu of various promotions that appear alongside the website’s 140-character status updates.

Eventually, the site wants to reach $1 billion in revenue by 2014, pushed by measures like this to help advertisers reach users based on interests. Debra Aho Williamson, analyst at EMarketer, says that doing this will make ads more relevant and more likely to lead to purchases.

“Twitter is where people go to get information in real time,” said Williamson. “By allowing advertisers to target keywords that people write in their tweets, it puts advertisers closer to that moment of intent.”

GoPro camera maker Woodman Labs ran a test ad triggered by tweets containing certain keywords which 11 percent of users clicked on, favorited or retweeted. This is much better than the 1 to 3 percent response to typical ads.

“[The results] underscore the intent that is inherent in users as they tweet publicly about what they are interested in,” Kevin Weil, senior director of product at Twitter.

While there’s heavy potential for advertisers, there’s also risk that ads might trigger a keyword with multiple meanings or post an ad based on a tragic event. “It would be unfortunate for people to see ads for travel to Boston when they were tweeting about what they saw happen at the marathon,” Williamson said.

Source: BusinessWeek.com {link no longer active}