Consumers can join the Twitter brand conversation

A new feature on Twitter will let advertisers engage consumers more directly than ever before.



For many years, Twitter has offered advertisers a service called Promoted Tweets that puts their tweets at the top of users’ content stream with images, videos and/or hashtags encouraging retweets, likes and follows. Now, Twitter is expanding the capability it gives advertisers to directly engage consumers with an offering called “conversational ads.”



Conversational ads include a call to action buttons with customizable hashtags that encourage consumer engagement. When a call to action button is tapped, the user sees a brand message accompanied by the creative and hashtag buttons. The consumer can then personalize the tweet and share it with his or her followers. As a thank you, the consumer then receives a message from the brand for having engaged with the tweet.



Finally, the new tweet appears to the consumer’s followers in their timelines, including the brand’s original photo or video. Each shared tweet can drive earned media for the advertiser at no extra cost.



Twitter continues to attempt to transfer itself into a commerce platform. While conversational ads do not drive purchases as directly as the “Buy Now” button Twitter released in fall 2015, they are still another step in the evolution of Twitter, and social media in general, into a full-fledged omnichannel retail touchpoint.



Conversational ads are currently available in beta for select advertisers in all markets. Samsung Canada is among the advertisers publicly identified as testing the offering.



Media reports also indicate Twitter is considering significantly expanding the character length restriction on tweets from 140 to 10,000 by the end of first quarter 2016.