• What’s New in the World of Social Media? November Recap

    What’s New in the World of Social Media? November Recap

    The world of social media is constantly evolving and marketers, business owners and even the daily Facebook user should be aware of the updates. Make sure you are subscribed to our blog to get the monthly news and updates on all things social media sent right to your inbox. Let’s see what happened this past month…

     

    The Return of…. Google+?

    The well-known search engine site is attempting to get back into the social media world with a new feature, ‘Google Posts’. Posts will allow ‘Google My Business’ users to share timely updates with Google users within the Search and Maps functions. According to Google, the posting feature gives you new ways to engage with your customers:

    • Share daily specials or current promotions that encourage new and existing customers to take advantage of your offers.
    • Promote events and tell customers about upcoming happenings at your location.
    • Showcase your top products and highlight new arrivals.
    • Choose one of the available options to connect with your customers directly from your Google listing: give them a one-click path to make a reservation, sign up for a newsletter, learn more about latest offers, or even buy a specific product from your website.

     

    Snapchat Misses Investors Expectations for Growth

    Snapchat’s Quarter 3 reports show that the company brought in $207 million revenue, up 62% YOY, but lost $443 million, which is nearly 4x the amount it lost last year in Q3. While they now have 178 million daily active users, a 17% increase from last year, this has been surpassed by both WhatsApp and Instagram Stories in size. Snapchat is planning a significant re-design to attract more users, which includes paying top content creators in the near future.

     

    126 Million Americans Saw Russian-Backed Facebook Ads Last Year

    This was the number revealed by Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch when he testified in front of Congress in early November. As the entire world has noted, that number is quite a bit more than the original figure of 10 million people that Facebook provided one month ago. A marketing director quoted by Social Times accurately sums it up by observing that this is a great case study for the power of Facebook Ads, just not the kind they have in mind. Moving forward, Facebook is testing a lengthier review process for ads that focus on hot-button topics, but given the number of ads that go out each day, that is going to be difficult.

     

    5 Ways to Get Creative with LinkedIn Video

    At the end of the summer, LinkedIn introduced LinkedIn video, a way for users for share videos with their network. These videos can be filmed with the app, or uploaded to the app after recording. After a few short months of the feature being available, users have started utilizing LinkedIn’s native video functionality in a variety of ways since. Adweek suggests tips on what to do to get the most out of LinkedIn video:

    1. Share what you are working on
    2. Share what is going on behind-the-scenes of your project
    3. Share interviews with people who are passionate about their work
    4. Share professionally relevant and authentic stories
    5. Share a preview of an event

     

    Pinterest President Steps Down

    The current president at Pinterest, Tim Kendall announced that he will be leaving Pinterest at the end of the year to start his own company within the healthcare industry. According to the Social Times, senior vice president for ads and commerce Jon Alferness will take his place. In a statement by Pinterest, “Jon Alferness, senior vp for ads and commerce, will now lead the world-class team driving our rapidly growing ads business. Our focus continues to be measurable and actionable results for our partners while giving Pinners relevant ideas to help them discover and do new things.”

     

    YouTube Stories?

    YouTube posted a blog at the end of November revealing that they will begin testing their own stories feature, ‘Reels.’ The post stated that, “Reels are YouTube’s spin on the popular “stories” format, but designed specifically for YouTube creators. We learned that you want the flexibility to create multiple Reels and have them not expire, so we’ll give you those options.” This new format will not be rolled out to everyone quite yet, but beta testing will begin with some users and then expand. This update was announced alongside improvements to video discoverability, optimizing of notifications and more.

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  • What’s New in the World of Social Media? August Edition

    What’s New in the World of Social Media? August Edition

    From the newest social platforms, to changes to your old favorites, here is the latest in social media news that you should be aware of.

    Facebook Limits Video Clickbait

    As part of Facebook’s larger effort to improve user experience, the company will begin to demote posts containing two kinds of video clickbait. According to Social Times, stories containing images with fake video play buttons and videos containing static images will be demoted in the News Feed in an effort to discourage spammers.

    A New Mobile Look for the Facebook Feed

    In a blog post by Facebook’s design team, a new release of changes was explained. The changes, which focused on the News Feed, should make it easier to read, more engaging, and easier to leave feedback. The team decided to change the comments section to include round message bubbles, remove story titles, eliminate empty space, and more.

    Amazon Gets Social with Spark

    Not content with moving into the food industry, Amazon has its eye on the social space as well. Amazon Spark, a social feed of user-posted images, debuted in July and might someday be a potential competitor to inspiration-fueling social channels like Pinterest and Instagram. According to Adweek, users can curate content by following specific interests and people. For now, Spark is available exclusively to Prime members.

    LinkedIn Builds Out Sharing Options + Adds Comment Filter

    According to the Social Times, LinkedIn introduced three new features: enabling users to share drafts of articles to specific users, providing the capability to disable comments, and sharing content with anyone on the web. All of these efforts coincide with LinkedIn’s central goal of attracting more users on a daily basis and becoming more of a hub for social sharing in the mold of larger, consumer-facing platforms.

    Instagram Allows Promotion of Multi-Photo + Multi-Video Posts

    Since February, Instagram has allowed business and personal accounts to include up to 10 photos and/or videos in a single post. Now, businesses have the option to promote these carousel posts. According to Adweek, in the same fashion as a regular promoted post, brands will be able to add paid support via the “promote” button located at the bottom of the content and select from the following objectives: more profile visits, more website visits, and reaching users located near a specific address. Considering the amount of content that can be included within one of these mixed media posts, this is one more way that organizations can get creative when telling a story to users.  

    BuzzFeed Livestreamed Twitter Show to Debut in September

    According to the Social Times, Twitter and BuzzFeed News are creating a new morning show focused on “fire tweets” that will feature reporters and special guests. The show is set to launch September 25th and is titled “AM to DM.” It will be available free-of-charge to logged-in and logged-out Twitter users weekdays from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET on @BuzzFeedNews. Reporters, editors, and special guests will discuss the day’s top stories, bringing headlines from BuzzFeed News reporters all over the world.

    Facebook Expands Related Articles Test in Battle Against “Fake News”

    According to Adweek, Facebook is taking quality control a step further with smarter technology to detect hoax news articles, or “fake news,” as some have termed it. The company will begin using machine learning to identify more potential fake news and share that content with third-party fact checkers. The fact checkers will then share updates below the original post.

    Pinterest Pushes Search and ‘Lens’

    In a recent blog post, Pinterest announced the addition of a new search bar and ‘Lens’ option in their app. The search bar allows users to type in exactly what they are looking for and the ‘Lens’ allows users to snap a picture of something they find interesting and get related items. Both of these items will be “front and center” within the app for ease of use.

    Facebook Puts Even More of a Premium on Fast Load Time

    Facebook is increasingly sifting content by speed, prioritizing stories that load quickly on mobile at the expense of those that take longer. According to Newsroom, in the coming months, stories that load the quickest will rise to the top of feed, while slower content will remain towards the bottom.

    LinkedIn Adds Audience Demographics for Website Visitation

    LinkedIn announced the launch of LinkedIn Website Demographics, a new feature that enables brands to tap into data from the professional network to see who has been visiting their websites. Brands will be able to add the “Insight Tag” to their website, create audiences to track, and apply those insights to their marketing strategies.

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