In the past, if you wanted someone to follow your brand or website’s Twitter stream, they had to follow a two-step process. First, they pushed the Twitter icon on your site. Next, they were redirected to your Twitter page where they had to click the “Follow” button.
Twitter is attempting to eliminate that rigmarole by letting brands embed the “Follow” button directly onto their web properties, meaning would-be followers don’t have to make an extra trip to Twitter to approve the process. That’s good news for marketers and publishers since the new process eats up less of consumers’ time and could mean a greater number of followers.
It also means Twitter is jumping into territory Facebook has explored for a while now. You can already “Like” a page on Facebook without leaving most brands’ websites. Facebook still delivers the majority of social inbound links for both b2c and b2b companies. Perhaps this move will help Twitter drive more engagement for businesses.
Twitter says 50 sites are already on board. Will you add the Twitter “Follow” button to your brand’s websites?
