Twitter announced today that it has officially launched the Promoted Accounts feature.

Brafton recently reported that Twitter had announced a Promoted Accounts ad service that may help brands find followers on the microblogging site. Now, marketers can see how far their follower-base can go with the feature – Twitter announced today that it has officially launched the Promoted Accounts feature.

The company explains that Promoted Accounts will roll out this week. Twitter account holders already see a "Suggestions for You" panel on the right hand side of their homepages, and this will gradually include Promoted Accounts. However, the company says sponsored suggestions will only appear when there is a relevant recommendation to be made.

Twitter officials say, "When an advertiser promotes an account, Twitter's algorithm looks at that account's followers and determines other accounts that those users tend to follow. If a user follows some of those accounts, but not the advertiser's account, then Twitter may recommend the advertiser's Promoted Account to that user." This means marketers will need to acquire quality followers to find more users who may convert into customers. The best way to do this is through industry-specific, informative tweets.

In addition to starting its Promoted Accounts feature, the microblogging site has announced it is expanding its Promoted Products service. Now, advertisers will get their Promoted Products syndicated on some of the Twitter's partners' sites. For instance, these promotions are now featured on HootSuite and others will soon follow.

This may be good news for a number of brands looking to reach consumers on Twitter; it currently boasts more than 160 million users. Plus, the site offers brands a range of demographics. It's considered common knowledge that twenty-somethings tweet, but the Pew Internet and American Life Project reports that it is increasingly popular among older online audiences, as well. Nearly half of consumers over the age of 50 (42 percent) use Twitter.  

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.