As with most things in tech, the social media world is very fast-paced, every day changes and updates are rolled out to our favourite platforms, users are growing and declining, viral trends emerge, and new strategies and tactics are always being formulated. It can be hard work to keep on top of it all, tracking news, best practice and future trends all while building your profile on social. One of the best ways to stay ahead of the game is to follow blogs and newsletters (like Concise) that deliver the most important news and insight on the social media industry. We’ve compiled the latest news in social media to help you stay on top. Tips based on updates in October and November 2020.
Facebook Messenger now supports Instagram messaging
Messages sent by customers through Instagram profiles, Stories, or Shops can now all be accessed (and responded to) on a single platform.
New ways to connect Groups and brands for collaboration
Facebook is trying to make collaboration with brands and communities happen by expanding its Brand Collabs Manager to include Public Groups. The Brand Collabs tool has been active since 2018, but has previously only been used to connect brands with creators and public figures for paid product placement.
Facebook’s new Watch Together brings co-streaming to video calls
Messenger’s newest chat feature, Watch Together, offers the chance to watch videos together while video chatting. Just pull up anything from Facebook Watch videos right in your Messenger chat on mobile for iOS or Android and start streaming.
Facebook Shops introduces discount feature
If you’re a Facebook Shops owner, you can now offer deals to buyers, put individual products on sale, create automatic discounts for qualifying orders, or activate promo codes. Discounts can also be applied to your entire store or specific collections.
Whatever savings you’re offering, you can let your customers know by adding a banner to your shop. Learn more about setting up discounts using the Facebook Commerce Manager
Facebook Business Suite interface launches
It hasn’t exactly been the best time to be a small business owner, but digital tools offer at least a little relief in these strange times. The new app from Facebook – Facebook Business Suite, is a much easier way for business owners to manage Facebook and Instagram pages and profiles in one spot.
The music sticker expands globally
Ready to start adding soundtracks to your Instagram Stories? Besides adding text and filters, music stickers can make your Instagram story more appealing and engaging. Just create a Story, tap on the music sticker, and search for a song.
New updates for Instagram Live
You can now go Live for up to 4 hours (previously, it was up to an hour-long)
Live videos will be available in your archive for 30 days, so you can download them or re-use it for your next IGTV content
‘Live Now’ section is added within the IGTV app and on Explore so you can discover more Lives.
According to Instagram, this is another step toward helping creators follow their interests, reach audiences, engage with communities, and build businesses.
Facebook has merged Messenger and Instagram
We’ve just got the best of both worlds! Facebook announced bringing the best Messenger features to Instagram by combining the Messenger app and Instagram. This update will allow users to communicate across these two apps more smoothly.
Virtual Networking
Virtual Face to Face interaction is as important as ever before. Linkedin has teamed up with Microsoft Teams, BlueJeans by Verizon, and Zoom, so that you can seamlessly add video meeting links to your private conversations on LinkedIn with a few simple clicks.
Making your messaging better!
Linked in has added features to enhance your messaging. Check out the latest updates here.
Updates were made to help users consider Tweets carefully before re-tweeting
A new Twitter update now prompts users to quote the Tweet. That means when someone clicks to Retweet, they are brought to the quote tweet composer and encouraged to type their own thoughts. This article from early October (when it was still in the test stages) shows an example. This feature was then rolled out later in the month to the platform.
Twitter added more context to Twitter trends
The update includes pinned Tweets to the trending section. Twitter says that the pinned Tweets are representative of the trend. They are chosen by both Twitter’s curation team and by algorithms.
Let us know if Concise can help you during this time. We are happy to have a free call with you to give you some creative ideas, we can manage your brand on your behalf or we have a full range of short social media courses if you have time on your hands and want to learn how to market your business better yourself.