To strengthen its relationship with advertisers, today Twitter joined the ranks of its social media siblings – Facebook and Google – by launching brand pages. We recently wrote about Google+ extending its functionality for brand and business pages in this post.

So, what are Twitter brand pages and how can you use them as part of a greater marketing strategy?

Brand pages have a few key elements:

1.  Design: Pages can now be customized with large header images. Advertisers can use this to prominently display logos, taglines and product shots.  Brands can also choose a tweet to keep at the top of their time line. Customize your “top tweet” by embedding a photo from Flickr or a YouTube video.

2.       Interaction:  Brand’s @ replies and mentions are now separated from its feed. That means companies can respond to users without “diluting” it’s messaging.

Already, top organizations like American Express, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Nike and Paramount Pictures have signed up.  Learn how these organizations are using Twitter brand pages to add to their marketing strategies, here.

According to Twitter insiders, the move is just one part of a more comprehensive redesign strategy. Stayed tuned, we know we will.