If you spend $100,000+ on a Promoted Tweet, should you spend $10 for the matching domain?

Over on my Twitter blog, I’ve written about Promoted Tweets and domain names before, but it’s still surprising to see companies spending six-figures for a Promoted Tweet without spending a dime on the domain name that matches the hashtag included in the promoted tweet. 

Earlier this month, Twitter launched a revamped version of its business.twitter.com – a site that provides the basics on how businesses can use Twitter effectively.  Though Twitter’s promoted products have been available for months, they were only open to a limited number of companies while Twitter experimented with the model. 

It’s now been open to the public.

Adult Swim is the latest company to buy a Promoted Tweet and include a hashtag for a domain name that wasn’t registered at the time of the tweet.  Though tweets are short-lived, you’d expect companies to include a clear hashtag that promotes their company.  In the case of Adult Swim, the company went with #adultswimcam, and up until an hour ago, the domain name wasn’t even registered.  As I started writing this post, the name got registered.  

With 175 million registered users, you’d think that a company paying for a Promoted Tweet would spend a few bucks for the hashtag domain, but that’s not the case with most Promoted Tweets that stream across Twitter each and everyday.  Instead of planting a seed for users to remember, many companies are using confusing hashtags instead of hashtags that mirror their web address, or in the case of Adult Swim and Radio Shack – hashtags for domain names that aren’t even registered.

If the type in rate is low from a hashtag (which is most likely the case), it’s no big deal.  But why risk losing traffic?

I still find it funny that Twitter is marketing its advertising products like Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts and Promoted Trends (which are bundled under “Promoted Products” on its Business page), without buying the domain.  At the time of this story, PromotedProducts.com is available for hand-registration.  So are other phrases the company is using for marketing purposes like OptimizeActivity.com.