Microblogging website Twitter announced on Thursday that it will roll out brand pages to help businesses using social media marketing convey their company’s message better on the platform.
Like Facebook and Google+, Twitter brand pages will offer a feel slightly different from the traditional. Companies using Twitter for social media marketing will be able to upload slightly larger photos as their default image to ensure followers can see their entire logo without enlarging. Moreover, the customization will also allow companies to keep a particular Tweet at the top of their page. When this Tweet contains a photo or video, users scrolling over the Tweet will see it enlarge automatically.
The content posted by the company itself and its followers will be separated into two tabs, so users can differentiate between the two.
Twitter’s marketing team has reportedly pushed for brand pages for some time now, but other departments were hesitant to make such a substantial play into social media marketing. Facebook’s success, paired with Google+’s impending growth, likely provided the final impetus for Twitter to make the move to branded pages.
For users, the adjustment changes very little. Social media content from the companies they follow will appear in their streams as usual. They will only notice these adjustments when they visit a company’s actual brand page. However, Twitter did announce changes to its service for its consumer users, as well.
According to a video posted on the company’s blog, the dashboard page has been completely reworked. The box for users to post new Tweets has been positioned in the upper left hand corner of the page with the prime central location reserved for more content from the user and his or her followers.
Moreover, Twitter has added a “discover” button that will allow users to view popular hashtags and respond and engage in the conversation. The “connect” button will allow them to see who has mentioned them and who they mentioned. Ostensibly, both of these features are designed to keep users discussing various events. Organizing the conversation in this manner will help drive engagement and organize the content more effectively, according to the company.
Twitter’s value as a social media marketing is quite high now, even without specialized pages for branded content. Brafton recently reported that a survey found 37 percent of businesses are most socially active on Twitter. The launch of the branded pages will likely make the website more appealing to businesses previously hesitant to use the site.
