In an effort to provide more clarity around its various ad offerings, and make it easier for brands to find the right promotional option/s for their needs, Twitter has announced a re-branding of its ad products, which essentially streamlines its different options into fewer, grouped segments.

As explained by Twitter:

“After an extensive discovery and research process, we have recategorized and rebranded our entire ad suite. We have gone from 22+ individual ad format names to just 5 advertising categories with a corresponding suite of features that can be applied across them.”

As you can see here, while the re-branding of its ads doesn’t provide new ad options, Twitter has sought to clarify what each different ad type can be used for, by sorting them into broader categories of focus.

The new Twitter ad categories are: 

• Promoted Ads – These formats can feature images, videos, and various ad features. They can be used in multiple ways across each stage of the marketing funnel. 
• Follower Ads – This format can be used to promote an account to a targeted audience to build awareness and attract new followers.
• Twitter Amplify – With Twitter Amplify advertisers can align their ads with premium video content from the most relevant publishers. 
• Twitter Takeover – This category includes the most premium, mass-reach placements that drive results across the funnel by taking over the Timeline and Explore tab.
• Twitter Live – With Twitter Live, advertisers can broadcast their biggest moments to the world, and allow an audience to join in real-time.

The new listing doesn’t include super-advanced promotional tools like hashflags, the hashtags with emojis automatically attached, though those are not readily available to everyday Twitter advertisers, so it makes sense to leave them off this list.

The simplification makes sense – even as someone who writes about social media marketing every day, it is sometimes difficult to remember all of the various Twitter ad options available, and where they fit. This new overview makes it much clearer what Twitter offers in each category, which will help advertisers understand the best options for their approach, and how they can reach Twitter audiences.

Twitter says that it will be phasing in these changes over the coming months:

“The updated names are already reflected in our new Tweet Composer, and we’re continuing to improve our Ads Manager experience, which paired with these changes, will make it easier to set-up and manage campaigns.”

It’s a good update, which will help Twitter marketers make best use of the options available for their promotions on the platform.