Lately in Social Media
I think this Chinese proverb pretty much sums up our experience with social media marketing this year: “A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it.” Ain’t that the truth with these platforms, amirite? These are the biggest changes, updates, new features and controversies we’ve been dealt in the past month:
- Europeans are dropping Facebook for the second quarter in a row, which matters because Facebook has a larger user base there than in the U.S. Perhaps the Cambridge Analytica debacle and the GDPR rollout have pushed those users away, and a decline in U.S. users is likely to follow. This could certainly impact marketing efficacy, so we’ll be keeping an eye on the numbers.
- Another lesson from the Q3 earnings: Facebook wants to push ads on Stories, Watch, Message and IGTV.
- Facebook is stepping up security between businesses by requiring them to confirm their B2B relationships prior to sharing advertising collateral such as pixels or offsite event tracking.
- Did you get hit by the data breach at the beginning of October? What would we do if outside groups could hack our accounts and – *GASP* – meddle with our clients’ Facebook Pages?? When will the risk become too much for marketers to take?
- Anyone having trouble with Ads Manager recently? You’re not alone in your annoyance.
- Speaking of which: Did Facebook’s faulty/inflated video metrics reporting push publishers to adapt video under false pretenses? Probably, yeah. Video still matters, but people aren’t consuming videos at the rate Facebook claimed they did. (As a skeptic/late adapter who avoided the pivot to video, it’s hard not to feel a little smug about this, sorry.)
- Did your midterm election candidates use Facebook’s info tool and video offerings?
- And are you making use of 3D photos yet? Preferably for dog photos??
- Look out for a pared down Messenger update focused on utility and user-friendliness.
- Missing Myspace? Take yourself back by adding your favorite songs to your newsfeed, profile or Stories.
- P.S. Just wondering what things will be like down the road but…when will we (and our target customers) have had enough with the data pillaging? This has already been a contentious election cycle for Facebook and its advertisers, and the tools in place maybe aren’t the greatest. but I can’t wait to see what happens in the mid-terms next week.
- If you’re in need of support, might I recommend a Facebook Group?
- The platform suffered more bad PR this month from the Atlantic’s coverage of its massive harassment problem, particularly impacting teens and young users. If Instagram’s new leadership takes the Twitter approach and doesn’t address this issue, advertisers might find themselves in a bind.
- Do you agree that Stories are the ad vehicle of the future?
- Have you tried out the new hashtag search feature for businesses?
- Wondering if IGTV is right for your small company? Here’s how to approach making your first videos, and here’s how to share your video to your Story.
- P.S. Proudly share this sticker in your Stories after you vote on Tuesday!
- The bot purge might’ve sunk your follower count but hey, wouldn’t you rather have real human followers? It might even improve your engagement rate.
- But don’t get too comfortable – the bots are adapting.
- Twitter is feeling self-reflective and wondering if the Like button incentivizes user behavior in an unintended and negative way. Other food for thought: Would 86ing the Retweet help to fix Twitter?
- Better yet, what if Twitter leadership focused on actually addressing abusive behavior when it happens, instead of taking down reported tweets only after they make headlines?
- They are adding some clarity to the reporting process though, by allowing users to provide more info and clearly highlighting when an enforcement action was taken against a reported tweet.
- This company’s experiment with Twitter advertising earned 17 million impressions on their tweet thread, which actually has me tempted to give it a try. What kinds of results have you gotten from Twitter advertising?
- If you’re looking to boost your engagement, Twitter is testing a new presence indicator and ice breaker prompt feature to help you converse with other users.
- How much data is Twitter collecting from it’s URL-shortening system, and how well does it play with GDPR? Guess we’ll find out…
- Looks like we might get to personalize which kinds of tweets we see first: Latest or Top?
- P.S. Twitter also wants you to vote in the mid-terms next week!
SNAPCHAT
- Another somewhat-plausible theory that I’m feeling smug about: Snapchat is flailing fast. If big publishers are scared away by dropping active user counts, what should the rest of us do?
- Maybe start using the Snap camera app for desktop?
- In other experimental news, Snap is continuing to play with augmented reality + ecommerce, so it might not be long before similar ad offerings trickle down to SMBs.
- The best filter offering yet 🐱
- P.S. Snapchat reminds you to hit the polls on Tuesday!
- Sponsored content campaigns can now be tracked via Google Campaign Manager!
- A new integration with Vimeo enables us to upload videos natively AND view analytics on engagement and views!
YOUTUBE
- An expansion in the platform’s TrueView in-stream ad format can now nudge viewers to take actions beyond simply clicking, such as downloading apps or buying movie tickets.
- More controversy for YouTube creators coming from a new policy that purports to prevent duplicative (spammy? viral?) content from appearing on Partners’ monetized channels. So make sure you’re “contributing to the value of that content in some way,” okay?
- Learn the takeaways from last month’s trends in video formats.
- Personally I can’t wait to test out this new promoted carousel ad format!
- Here’s a helpful guide: 7 steps to launching your ad campaigns.
P.S. Please vote on Tuesday!
Got questions about social media marketing? Not sure how social tools could benefit your business? Let’s talk!