As more and more politicians are becoming Twitter savvy, new tools are being utilized to give individual politicians the edge in the “Twitterverse”. Now presidential candidates such as Mitt Romney and Rick Perry are using promoted tweets to influence voters in real time.

Defined by Twitter, Promoted Tweets are ordinary Tweets that are purchased by advertisers who want to reach a wider group of users or to spark engagement from their existing followers. Besides being labeled as Promoted and appearing at the top of relevant search results pages on Twitter, they act like regular Tweets.

In addition to Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, Herman Cain’s team was also using them to respond to the sexual harassment charges before he removed himself from the race.

These Promoted Tweets help drive traffic to website’s that the promoter wants the public to see as well as bring their opinions and issues to the forefront of conversation on Twitter.

To learn more, read Presidential Candidates Use Promoted Tweets to Sway Voters in Real Time by Cotton Delo.