Ads appear in a box with the Twitter bird icon in the lower left-hand corner and the advertisers' latest tweet in the center. To the lower right is a button prompting viewers to follow the advertiser on Twitter, which they can do without having to leave Google. Clicking on any other part of the ad directs the user to the advertiser's Twitter page, however.
Google has begun testing the new ad format with a select number of advertisers, including Norway-based firm Qualité Search Marketing, who was invited to the beta test in early May. The firm reports only "a modest boost" to its follower count since testing on the platform began.
"To provide more marketing opportunities for our advertisers to reach users in moments that are relevant and useful to them, we are currently testing different ways that allow advertisers to better update their ads in real time," a Google spokesperson wrote to ClickZ. "We are currently in a limited test with a small number of advertisers and publishers."
Given that Microsoft's Bing announced a similar deal with Twitter even before Google did, we suspect the search engine will shortly announce a Twitter-related advertising platform as well.
What do you think of Google's forthcoming ad product? How else could the company leverage its deal with Twitter to create value for advertisers? Share your ideas in the comments.
[img credit: Qualité Search Marketing]