This week in social media brought a new Twitter layout that looks very similar to Facebook – read on about what changes were made and how they can affect you. Read below about how Facebook is helping you increase your Page reach by eliminating spammy posts, sending messages to certain friends on Vine, searching through tweets by dates, and how the new Google+ view counter can affect your Google+ Page.
1. Twitter Rolls our New Design Similar to Facebook
The new Twitter profile design that looks a lot like Facebook began rolling out recently. Here are the new features you need to know about and how they affect you…
- New cover photo – A new cover photo replaces background images and gives more space for an attractive branded photo (1500x500px)
- Larger profile image – Resembling Facebook’s design, the new layout includes a larger profile picture on the left side of the screen for your brand logo
- Best tweets – Twitter will display tweets with higher engagement slightly larger than the rest making the “best content easier to find.” While tweets with photos typically have higher engagement, the rewards for engaging content just increased greatly.
- Pin your tweets to the top – Like Facebook, you can pin one of your tweets to the top of your page. You can use this to highlight what you want your audience to see the most.
- Filtered tweets – When viewing someone’s profile, you can now view all of their tweets, tweets with photos/videos, or only tweets and replies. As a brand, this is an opportunity for tweets to possibly have a longer life – filtering will reduce the number of tweets shown and increase the likelihood of older tweets being seen again.
2. Facebook Blasts Spammy Posts
In efforts to improve the content shared on Facebook, it will begin seeking posts that are actively seeking engagement (likes, comments, and shares), photos/videos that are repeatedly posted, and spammy links to shut them down.
Why does this matter?
If you’re flooding followers with these spammy posts, your page will be affected. Otherwise, with this content being eliminated, Facebook says there’s the possibility of your page seeing a reach rise. Posting relevant and interesting content is what Facebook is looking for – they did add, it’s okay to encourage discussion but avoid asking for shares, likes, etc. just to get more distribution.
3. Vine Messaging: the New Way to Chat
Vine recently introduced the ability to send vine videos and text messages to your friends on Vine or even anyone in your address book even if they aren’t on Vine.
How can you use this?
This new feature creates the opportunity to interact with your audience exclusively by sending Vines of special products or deals to a select group or begin a conversation with them.
4. Search for Tweets by Date
By using the advanced search on Twitter, you can search for tweets based on a date range by simply selecting the date. While this was available before, Twitter recently made it much easier to access.
Why is this valuable?
Do you remember what Twitter users were saying when you released that new product two years ago? I didn’t think so. You can now see what was being said about your brand in a given time frame or how people reacted to industry news in the past.
5. Google View Counts Replaces +1s
Google+ recently replaced your total +1 count on your Company Page with a view counter. This view counter tracks just that, how many times your content and page is viewed. For a detailed break down of this new addition, check out my blog post, “New Google Plus View Counter Replaces +1 on Pages.”
What does this mean?
These changes give you the opportunity to build a network of real followers. Forget about the total +1 count and realize that your views will increase if you continually create rich, interesting content that your followers want to share and engage with. Increasing your view count will help you build an audience and improve your credibility.
Other News…
Facebook Really Wants You to Leave Reviews
You may have seen in the review box when visiting a local Page, Facebook’s full example of a review in hopes you’ll be inspired and leave one. Word of mouth and customer reviews are one of the most important factors that can affect a purchase. If your page is lacking reviews, provide some incentive to visitors if they leave a review or if you have a happy customer, ask them to leave you a review on Facebook.
Google+ Engagement Doubles Twitter
A recent study found of 3+ million user interactions found that Google+ posts scored almost twice as much engagement per follower as tweets from that brand (see below). Almost as high as Facebook, brands need to be on Google+ if they want to continue to stay relevant online.
