By Lauren Proctor at SustainableBusinessForum:
Twitter’s latest redesign, deemed the #newnewTwitter, recently rolled out to a select group of people with plans for mass release in approximately three weeks. The new, new Twitter offers additional simplicity and access to new content discovery, but for brands the biggest change has to do with Twitter’s brand pages.
Twitter started testing their new brand pages with a couple dozen brands and nonprofits. For now the feature is only available for those who have access to the #newnewTwitter, but as the release goes live en masse, here’s what brands should know.
The new interface in general is beneficial because it removes outside advertisements from brand pages and allows a new Connect element that improves the @reply functionality. In addition to allowing brands the inherent ability to better track the spread and impact of tweets, this new functionality feels like an incremental step forward for those that want to use the platform as a customer support portal.
Beyond the general interface, brand pages themselves introduce two key elements into the Twitter ecosystem, including a large header image and the ability to prioritize tweets. The large header images are long, almost browser width banners that, unlike Twitter backgrounds, maintain a prominent, legible place on the Twitter brand page.
Promoted tweets also help marketers prioritize visibility with a single free promoted tweet. This tweet rises to the top of the tweet stream and stays there in an auto-expanded view that shows embedded media and social spread statistics like favorites and retweets. Of the brands that already have the new, new Twitter, use cases for this Promoted Tweet functionality are varied.
Disney is using the top tweets to promote new and upcoming releases while Pepsi prioritized particular products. General Electric, on the other hand, linked to a piece of video marketing that helps consumers understand the human element of GE.
Although many brands still have to wait for the new, new Twitter, there’s no doubt the debut of this redesign will add an overall sense of clarity to how brands interact and engage with consumers on Twitter.