Check out our round-up of the biggest changes in social media and digital marketing from the last month. Let us do the work for you, we gather the updates, you reap the benefit of having all of them in one place!
We read all of the latest social media news so you don’t have to.
As a value add for our All Access Pass Members, we provide a monthly call where in 30 minutes we share the biggest changes in social media and importantly how they impact your social media strategy and 30 minutes of open Q&A where we answer questions from our members!
The top news in social media that we covered this month includes:
Facebook
Facebook released Q4 results – Key data includes 1.7 Billion Facebook users, 1 billion What’s App users, 1 billion Messenger users and 500 million Instagram users.
New Features for SlideShow ads– Facebook enhanced slideshow ads – you can now add text and music, create them on-the-go from your phone and use Facebook stock images in your ads. This should all make it easier to use slideshow ads.
New look and layout for Facebook Pages – That is right! Pages got a Facelift! Facebook believes that this makes Pages easier to navigate — be sure to check your images to make sure that your Page still looks great in the new layout.
Facebook updates user ad preferences – Giving you more control over the ads that you see – they also want to eliminate ad-blocking software by helping people to see ads that are relevant and helpful to them.
Facebook launches new tools for 360 video creation – This includes allowing you to highlight content in the video and also heatmaps that show you the parts of the video that generate the most attention.
Facebook ads shopping and services features to Pages – Before you get too excited, want and see if people actually use them. Facebook has a long history of commerce features that just seem to miss the mark with users.
Instagram
Instagram launches Stories – Considered a “copycat” move (copying SnapChat) Instagram announced stories – which essentially is a slide show of content from the last 24 hours that is only available for 24 hours. Brands have already started creating and sharing stories to connect with customers.
Instagram uses an Algorithm to sort Stories – Similar to the Instagram and Facebook newsfeeds, stories are sorted based on a variety of factors linked to user preferences to show you the stories you are most likely to be interested in first.
Instagram Stories vs. SnapChat Stories – Want to understand the difference between the two? Check out this article for details. The bottom line though is to focus where your AUDIENCE is and where they want to engage vs. getting caught up in the technology.
Pinterest
Pinterest launches promoted videos – Tell your stories even better with promoted videos – use video to get infront of your audience on Pinterest.
Twitter
Twitter launches searchable stickers – Twitter stickers allows you to add a sticker onto a post – BONUS – stickers are now searchable so you can find all the photos with scuba masks 😉
Twitter announces promoted stickers – This is only available for those with actively managed ad accounts, but it is an interesting feature – brands can create and promote their own stickers that users can add to their photos.
Twitter Launches Direct Message Button for Websites – You can now send direct messages from your website – add the “direct message” button and users can instantly send you direct messages directly from your website. I would only add this if you actively use Twitter for customer service – be sure you monitor messages and respond quickly if you opt to use this.
LinkedIn Content is Now Searchable – LinkedIn content can now be searched – making it easier to find what you want. This also signals the continued effort by LinkedIn to focus on the content platform and become the place to find business relevant news.
Linkedin Announces Influencer Videos– Have you noticed videos on LinkedIn? Have you wanted to create some? You probably can’t. LinkedIn announced a new video platform, but it is only available to a handful of influencers.
Other Networks
Tumblr announces ads – Content creators can run ads on their Tumblr accounts and make some $$. This type of a revenue sharing program is similar to YouTube and other creator networks. Now you can make $$ from your Tumblr.
Reddit Announces ads – Reddit announced a new type of ad format allowing for advertisers to choose to sponsor organic posts. The approach is interesting – essentially brands must look for natural posts that they want to pay to promote and the creator of the post must grant permission.
Pokemon Go for your businesses – There are TONS of posts about how businesses can leverage Pokemon Go… the reality is that this game is still relatively new, and the opportunity to actually MARKET your business to players is questionable. If you have a local business, it may be work playing with (see what I did there?).
Other News
FTC Tightens Disclosure Rules– If you work with influencers (or if you are paid by brands to promote products) you’ll need to pay attention to new disclosure requirements. Simple hashtags may not be enough any more. Read all the details about the new requirements.
