Lately in Social Media – 9/29/17
Well, this past month has been a whirlwind of change. Actually, that might be an understatement. We used our best judgment to sift through all the little tweaks and round up the biggest updates that matter most to marketers, and here’s what you need to know:
- In light of revelations that Facebook targeting was used for evil, the price we all pay is losing the ability to target users by employer and education info. And no more targeting for discriminatory purposes. Or advertising at all, if you’re sharing fake news. But if you’re resourceful about your targeting options, you can still get your money’s worth out of your ads.
- The upside of all the bad news about Facebook’s (unwitting?) role in fake news and misinformation: Consider this a case study in the effectiveness of social media!
- Unfortunately, it’s quite possible that the reach numbers you’ve been relying on are totally wack.
- Review your Recent Ad Activity if you, for instance, can’t remember which rug you liked so much on RugsUSA.com, and you rely on retargeting ads to find it again.
- Ads Manager and Power Editor are now one.
- Want to push users to message you? There’s an ad objective for that. And speaking of Messenger, some new tags are making bots a little more helpful.
- Don’t take your organic reach personally, because it’s tanked for everyone this year. And once again, the solution is “more video.”
- If you love sharing 360 content, but aren’t so skilled with the 360 filming, Facebook has an AI update that will correct your skewed scenes.
- If you prioritize real-time engagement, this potential “active status” update could help.
- Feel free to bring your best content to Facebook Watch, which has been described as a “sparse version of YouTube.”
- We’ve trained ourselves to express all our sentiments and CTAs in 140 characters, but soon we’ll be able to use 280 and the world will turn upside down and everything we thought we knew is being undone. Honestly, this one is still too raw right now and we don’t know how to feel.
- If you had the power to compose a tweetstorm, would you do it?
- Keep the trolls and bots at bay by limiting who can comment on your posts.
- Canvas ads have come to Insta and the word on the street is they’re working pretty well.
- In a reversal of the trend we’ve seen on other platforms, Instagram will now autoplay videos with sound, giving brands have a better opportunity for getting their message across.
- Posts with multiple photos can now include both landscape and portrait orientations, reducing the need for awkward cropping.
- Access to branded tools let you tag campaign partners and do other branded stuff.
- Make your engagement more visual and personal by replying to DMs using photos overlaid with text.
- If you broadcast on Instagram Live, these cool new Snapchat-like filters could be fun to use.
- The fate of the grid is still unclear, but many brands are holding their breath.
- Catch up on Stories from your desktop, or share them via direct message, or share them on Facebook. Whatever floats your target audience’s boat.
- There’s a super-cool targeting opportunity on the horizon, and it’s called the Pinterest Taste Graph. By mining users’ content, Pinterest proposes to offer marketers greater insights into users that go beyond demographics and tap into what matters – their evolving interests, tastes and preferences.
- A new self-serve tool for Promoted Pins allows brands to collaborate on campaigns with professionals and influencers in Pinterest’s creative network, the Pin Collective.
- In a few weeks, you can add an extra layer of organization to your boards by dividing them into “Sections,” which will hopefully encourage users to engage further with your content.
- Try slapping some branded hashtags on your pins to organize them even further.
- For those of us interested in pinning efficiency, iOS11 gives us the power to drag and drop to Pinterest on the iPad. Rejoice!
- The Audience Network uses LinkedIn’s targeting capabilities to help you reach professionals across the web. Since Facebook doesn’t let you target by employer data right now, this looks like a clear advantage for B2B marketers.
YOUTUBE
- Positive updates for live streamers include an ultra-low latency mode, simplified live chat, and the ability to stream from iPhone apps.
- After a rough year, YouTube is trying to woo back advertisers with a suite of cool tools.
SNAPCHAT
- If you must have a pretty sky background, Snapchat will give it to you.
Got questions about social media marketing, or how to use it for your business? We’d love to help, contact us below!