M80 on Twitter Brand Pages
December 9th, 2011 by Tim
Twitter announced the launch of Brand Pages today, giving brands the opportunity to provide a richer user experience on the micro blogging platform. Part of a much larger redesign, this is the first time Twitter has provided tools specifically for brands. The new features give brands more control over the way they present themselves in social media, however, the impact these changes will have on consumer interaction with brands on Twitter are not certain.
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Twitter Brand Page Features
Three changes are reflected in the Brand Page layout – each improving the way brands present themselves. The new features are currently free for brands to implement. These changes are Twitter’s first steps in designing a brand page experience, and are important moves to draw new advertisers and publishers into establishing and maintaining accounts.
The redesigned Disney-Pixar brand page and the page in its current form.
- Design elements. As shown in the Disney-Pixar example above, a brand-controlled banner will be presented under the page’s masthead, giving designers a larger canvas to work with. Beneath that, the visual organization has been flipped – placing Tweets at right, with the Twitter text entry field, various counts of followers, “followings,” lists, and photos.
- Arranging Filtering Tweets. Brands will now be able to “feature” a selected Tweet to remain at the top of their profile while having the option to filter out @replies and Retweets.
- Displaying Media In-line. The linked photos and videos brands include in their Tweets will now be automatically displayed on their page.
What this means for brands on Twitter
Overall, the redesign makes the platform more intuitive and friendlier to new users. Twitter has given brands the opportunity to put their best foot forward on their brand pages – working hard to convert visitors into followers through nicely designed, content rich experiences. By combining the banner, profile picture and background image, brand design teams now have the opportunity to make beautiful experiences. Filtering Tweets is a bit of a mixed blessing – while content creators will no doubt be happy to show off the photos and videos first, the real power in Twitter comes from the direct brand/consumer interactions fostered by the platform.
Macy's page under the new design, without the banner element
What this means for consumers on Twitter
These changes may have surprisingly little impact for many Twitter users. According to the 2011 Pew Internet and American Life Project, 54% of Twitter users access the service via mobile devices. Combine that with an audience primarily accessing Twitter using desktop applications like Tweetdeck, interfacing with brands through the “sliding panel” design feature on Twitter.com, viewing tweets through various api’s and embedded feeds on 3rd party websites, and connecting to brands through their distributed “Follow” button… fewer users visit brands’ profiles (and now pages) than one might initially expect.
Users can follow Zach Galifianakis directly from his IMDB.com profile page or from within Tweetdeck.
The changes should drive more users to visit Brand Pages due to the newly enhanced user experience. Users may, however, just visit these brand pages without following brands, or be more likely to unfollow brands. By filtering the content available on the brand’s page, new followers might get a skewed understanding of what content the brand brings to its users as they follow, quickly yielding un-follows.
The bottom line
Much like tabs on Facebook or custom pages on Google+, Twitter has given brands a toolkit to better present themselves visually. Brands on twitter will no longer just push content to followers, but try to become a destination. This makes twitter more of a Facebook challenger than it was before. Where Twitter stands apart, though, is the high use of effective alternative means to access one’s feeds – yielding fewer visits to a brands’ official Twitter.com page and exposing fewer users to these changes.
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Tags: brand pages, profile pages, social media, twitter
Categories: M80 Intelligence, Social Media Brand Management, Social Media Strategy, Twitter