Twitter tests ‘Dedicated Pages’ to fuel ecommerce push
Twitter is making it easier for users to look at products they might want to purchase with the launch of pages that provide additional information and content.
The micro-blogging site has had its eye on ecommerce for some time but there’s only so much a marketer can do to spark a sale in a single tweet. Through its “Dedicated Pages”, users can visit a landing page on Twitter that feature images and videos of the product alongside descriptions, its price and even a buy option.
For the dedicated page for the book “The Martian” for example (see below), the most relevant tweets are shown, which may include posts from followed accounts, relevant news updates, or popular content about the book.
“We’re starting to experiment with a small number of products and places. As we test, within your timeline you may see pages and collections of pages that are shared by influencers and brands,” said Twitter in a blog post.
Twitter has pulled together a group of partners from companies including Nike, HBO and Techcrunch to create their own pages around different themes in order to showcase how theey could be used. Many industry observers have been quick to highlight how brands could use it for ecommerce, which its into Twitter's bid to become a bigger part of content marketing and management plans. Last year , it launched a buy button to allow people to shop directly from the site.
The arrival of “Dedicated Pages” follows two major announcements from Twitter; the acquisition of artificial learning startup Whetlab and its upcoming project Lightning news feature.
The spate of updates could see their role in Twitter’s strategy change once the business finds a new chief executive. Dick Costolo resigned last week, and while interim boss Jack Dorsey said its strategy won’t change in the wake of the announcement, Dorsey’s replacement will need to ring in changes to the brand and ad business if it is to remain relevant to advertisers in the long term.