Social media is constantly updated – so should you. Here are the top updates from the world of social media that everyone is talking about.
1. More people on a smartphone than TV
According to research by eMarketer in 2019, “for the first time ever, US consumers will spend more time using their mobile devices than watching TV, with smartphone use dominating that time spent.” It’s a shift that’s been coming for some time and reiterates where smart marketers need to spend their time and money. Are you?
2. Branded Content ads on Instagram
Like many Instagram users, you’ve probably been working with influencers (those with a huge and the right following on Instagram). Up until now what these posts reached the followers of the influencers who created and shared the posts. Now brands have the option to extend the reach of these posts to other relevant audiences via branded ads, expanding opportunities for engagement. Find out more about how you can use branded content ads here.
3. Facebook’s new design and Stories update
Facebook’s new design is the talk of the town and comes as Zuck & Co face a barrage of data breaches and misuse of the platform to promote terrorism.
The new design also includes an update in the composer screen for Facebook Stories, which places more options within immediate, tappable reach. Given its older demographic of users who have not grown up using social media platforms, making such changes that make usage obvious is not a surprise.
Earlier in the year in its effort to push Stories, the platform made possible easy cross-posting of Instagram Stories to Facebook as well as sharing interesting events to Stories. It’s a space you should keep an eye out for!
4. More algorithm updates from Facebook
In its latest stew of algorithm updates, Facebook will be favouring quality video content. What does this mean? It’s time to work harder on creating videos that get engagement – rope in the experts or leverage your fans to get videos that work. There are also updated reach restrictions so you see more content from your most relevant connections. Things such as photo tags, people you constantly interact with and likes to go into informing these algorithm updates.
In general, you’ll notice the algorithm leaning towards more private connections in what is a very public platform and more private groups.
5. Post reactions on LinkedIn
LinkedIn Reactions now lets you not only Like a post in the feed, but now you can also choose to Celebrate or Love it, in addition to indicating that you are Curious or even that you find it Insightful (the part of speech of these reactions is a little all over the place, no?). Will it get you more engagement? Time will tell. It sure is fun.
6. Youtube for YOU
The world’s second-largest search engine has released some new features for its creators – YOU. These include a new Snapshot Report and YouTube Analytics Smart Headlines that gives you a summary of your monthly performance. Monitoring growth on the channel became a whole lot easier with these smart additions. You will also see a Known Issues Widget keep you up to date with issues concerning the platform and Creator Insider Widget so you can see the latest video from the Creator Insider channel.
Have you considered how these updates will affect you? How often do you review your social media strategy in the light of constant changes? Keen to know more email marketing@staah.com.