We spent some time going through the changes to our own Twitter profile and put together a list of 5 things that brands will love about the “new” Twitter.
Marketers and Social Media Managers all agree that updating their social media profiles to align with new structural changes can be a big pain in the rear, especially when they usually have very little time to get things reorganized. In the past, big updates to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn pages were made with little to no transition time for brand’s. Most notably with Facebook, this left page administrators fumbling to try and update their content so that it complimented any changes that were made to their profiles.
The good news for administrators is that this time around, Twitter took a much different approach giving brand’s plenty of time to make the transition at their own pace and in an orderly fashion. When you’re ready, simply visit this page to activate your new Twitter profile. You’ll first be brought to your new profile providing you with a very simple step-by-step guide for updating your content to fit the new structure. None of the changes you make will go live until you select that you are ready to “Go Live”… wahoo! This means that you have plenty of time to get the new graphics aligned just right before the world sees.
2. There’s now plenty of room for great design.
One of the first things you’ll notice is the new edge-to-edge header image, this is a breath of fresh air for designers and marketers. The new header image is massive in size, 1500 x 500, giving you plenty of room for great design. The new space puts the best of your branding on display and gives you the opportunity to catch the eye of visitors quickly. But Twitter didn’t stop there, they enlarged the profile image significantly. The new size is 400 x 400 so be sure you upload a new image so that it fits perfectly, otherwise it will automatically scale what you had there before causing the image to become blurry.
Something important to note is that you may not want to dump your old “background” image just yet. It appears that it’s still being used as the background for individual tweets, see below:
Have a new piece of content you want to draw attention to? Make a significant update to your product people should know about? Say something worth a second glance? With Twitter’s new profile design, page administrators now have the ability to pin a tweet to the top of their “timelines” so that a visitor will see this content first. This is very similar to Facebook’s “pin to top” option for status updates and comes as a familiar, yet welcome, change. To pin a tweet to the top simply click on the three dots to the right of the trash can at the base of your tweet and select “Pin to your profile page”. Doing so again will replace whatever you pinned there before.
4. Embeddable tweets are sooooo easy to do now.
Ever wonder how popular tech blogs like Mashable and TheNextWeb get embedded tweets to look so good? While this has been a feature for some time, Twitter’s new profile design will draw your attention to this capability during your new profile set up. Embedding tweets provides bloggers and marketers with the ability to capture valuable moments that happen on Twitter and make them available for viewing on their own native blogs. This is a very valuable resource for those who want to increase their social exposure as the retweet, follow, favorite, and reply functionality is preserved when embedding a tweet vs. snapping a screenshot.
To embed a tweet simply click on the three dots to the right of the trash can at the base of your tweet and select “Embed Tweet”. A light box will appear that provides you, and anyone else, with the ability to easily copy and paste the embed code to their own website or blog, see below:
Like it or not, Twitter choose to put your stats front and center with the profile redesign. Visitors to your new Twitter profile will very easily be able to see how many tweets you’ve racked up, how many of those are photos/videos, who you’re following, and who’s following you. This comes as a welcome change for most and will help to add credibility to bigger brands. In doing this, Twitter moved your profile description and links to the left of the new profile design directly below your profile image.
The updates, for the most part, are refreshing to say the least. As your brand transitions, you’ll find that the focus of most of these changes places an increased importance on your ability to communicate relevant, timely, and valuable information with your following. If you’re still using social media to blast nothing more than sale announcements, you’ll find that your relevance will drop significantly as the behemoths (Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn) continue to work to reduce the clutter and make way for content people care about and show an active interest in. What changes are you most excited about?
If you find yourself overwhelmed by all of the changes but know you need to stay on top of it to ensure your brand’s viability, don’t hesitate to reach out to us with questions. You may also benefit from our cost-effective Social Media Management services, be sure to take a look and let us know how we can help.
