Lately in Social Media – 12/1/17
It’s been a weird and wild month in the advertising world. Actually, it’s been a year. But despite the news, us marketers still have to get ready for 2018, right? So let’s revisit the biggest social media developments from November.
- What if you could broadcast a message to all the fans of your Page? Although Facebook’s version would only allow you to communicate to users who have contacted you before, this is a feature that we’ve been wanting for awhile.
- Pre-roll ads are coming to Facebook! Which is great if you’re an advertiser, less great if you’re a regular viewer who’s sick of these pesky things migrating to all your favorite platforms.
- Facebook is changing what it wants from creators who make content for Watch. Meanwhile, creators and publishers using this new spin-off don’t feel like they’re making enough money.
- Good news for nonprofits: Facebook has new tools and support options for you, and will no longer take a cut of your donations. Make note of this in your marketing strategy for next quarter!
- Could your poll use a GIF? The answer is probably yes.
- Facebook’s solution to the spread of fake news? They’re called “trust indicators.”
- No more struggling to cram in those hashtags and links, because tweets can be up to 280 characters now. And a welcome change for those with long company names, because handles can now be as long as 50 characters. Please use this power responsibly. (Note: Apparently Twitter did not roll out the new character limit for vision-impaired people who use a screen reader, so accessibility is an issue.)
- Save tweets for later review using the bookmark feature.
- Don’t take your verified user status for granted, because Twitter can revoke it if you violate their policies.
- Speaking of policies, Twitter also shared several articles detailing how they handle hate speech, violence and harassment on the platform. Phew.
YOUTUBE
- Turns out YouTube is not the safest platform for kids, and advertisers are fleeing once again. Déjà vu. But YouTube’s taking action, so those advertisers might come back around.
- In case your friends missed your Snapchat Story, or your Instagram Story, or your Facebook Story, or your WhatsApp Status, at least now they can catch your YouTube Reel. Designed for YouTube creators, the biggest difference is that Reels can be viewed more longer than 24 hours after they’re shared, unless the creators delete them.
- There could be a share/Regram button in our future, which could make sharing user-generated content a whole lot easier, among other things. Also, users might soon be able to add GIFs to their Stories, and archive them for private re-viewing.
- Hashtag discovery is part of Instagram’s appeal, so allowing users to follow specific hashtags could do wonders for brand awareness.
- It’s currently in test mode, but Instagram might let users create Stories using photos that are more than 24 hours old.
- For regular users, it’s easy to see the appeal of being able to share Stories with a limited audience of your best friends. For brands, it could enhance the insider appeal of Stories and create an exclusive communication opportunity between companies and their biggest fans.
- Do you love livestreaming from Insta? Now your friends can let you know when they want to join in on the fun.
- “Remixing” allows users to “vandalize” their friends’ posts with doodles, text and more, which could make DMS a lot more interactive.
- Last and possibly the least exciting news: More Stories features are coming to desktop.
- Lens gets another upgrade that includes a feature to suggest outfit ideas based on a clothing item, and the ability to pinch and zoom in on objects while using visual search.
- Have you seen any pincodes in the wild yet? We’re curious to see how this works as a brand awareness and customer engagement tactic.
SNAPCHAT
- Have you met the new Snapchat? By completely cleaving branded content from personal content, the redesign takes an approach that Facebook might not steal (like how Messenger stole Streaks).
- The new ads are pretty pricey for your average small business, though.
- Speaking of ads, “audience filters” allow brands to target users based on interests, age and other criteria to serve them branded filters. Now we can all be influencers for Quaker Oats, right??
- Snapchat can now recognize background objects, pets and food, and then recommend related filters to spice up your snaps.
Got questions about social media marketing? Not sure how social media tools could benefit your business? Let’s talk!