There’s plenty of buzz that Twitter is considering introducing brand pages similar to those found on Facebook. According to the story, reported in the UK-based Marketing, brand pages would serve as a marketing tool for advertisers, creating a new source of revenue for Twitter.
The push for this new revenue stream for Twitter certainly addresses the dearth of opportunities for advertisers interested in partnering with the social media giant. As of now, promoted tweets and sponsoring hashtags so companies show up in relevant searches are about the only options. So, this is great for Twitter, but what does this mean for us marketers?
The expectation is these corporate pages, like Facebook’s branded pages, would allow companies to deliver customized messages to consumers and businesses alike. It creates flexibility in marketing that Twitter hasn’t otherwise provided and increases opportunities for companies to attract more followers.
Detractors will question whether Twitter’s search for revenue will occur at the expense of the simplicity that made its platform so successful in the first place. Plus, how will Twitter get around the fact many followers use third-party sites such as Tweetdeck to view followers, affecting how these new branded pages will be experienced?
For Twitter to succeed as Facebook has in the space, they’ll need to provide a similar level of flexibility allowing for easy updating of corporate information and content while the basic structure of the page remains consistent. The recipe for success already exists. Twitter just needs to offer a similar level of flexibility and control with their new branded pages. If they can pull that off, count me in!
