If last month Apple, Facebook, Google and even Instagram had major news for media industry, Twitter is now catching up by launching Twitter Cards. And thanks to this new design change, news publishers should be the first ones to take advantage of it and to get even more value out of their Tweets.
The new feature allows for an expanded summary of a link, completed with lead art and the first few words of the story. With Twitter Cards, users can attach rich photos, videos and media experience to Tweets that drive traffic to their website. This is possible by simply adding a few lines of HTML to the webpage, and users who Tweet the content will have a “Card” added to the Tweet that is visible to all of their followers.
Driving engagement
Twitter has introduced four main types of Cards. The bellow Cards are built for both web and mobile clients:
Summary Card: The Summary Card can be used for many kinds of web content, from blog posts and news articles, to products and restaurants. It contains a title, short description, thumbnail and a Twitter account attribution and it is designed to give the reader a preview of the content before clicking through to your website.
Summary Card with Large Image: This is basically the same as Summary Card, except for the fact that this one features a large full-width prominent image alongside the Tweet. And the reader will be able to access the link just by clicking on the image.
Driving app downloads
App Card: One of the most important features in the new Cards is the ability to let users to download your app or deep-link into your own app. The App Card allows for a name, description and icon, and also to highlight attributes such as the rating and the price. The App Card is a great way to represent mobile applications on Twitter and to drive installs.
Player Card:Thanks to the Player Card, publishers can deliver rich media to users across the globe.
Measuring results
But Twitter Cards doesn’t come alone. If Twitter Cards will allow the attachment of rich media experiences to Tweets, Twitter Card Analytics gives you related insights into how your content is being shared on Twitter. Through personalized data and best practices, Twitter Card Analytics reveals how to improve key metrics such as URL clicks, app install attempts and Retweets.
To learn more about how to introduce the Cards mark-up, check-out the Getting Started Guide.
