Social Media Essentials: What's new in social media this week?

Spotlight Story: Twitter has started testing a feature that enables longer messages

Have you ever been in the middle of a Twitter conversation, but you can't fit everything you have to say into the 140 character limit? Twitter have looked at this limitation of Twitter compared to other social networks and have started testing how to make what they call a 'tweet storm' easier for its users - it's a strange name. The feature will allow you to chain tweets together into a cohesive message. So, instead of posting tweets into separate tweets, you can tweet them all at once. The example they give isn't great... By introducing this feature, Twitter is making sharing expanded thoughts more accessible to everyone. For those of us who have a lot to…

Catch up on whats been happening at Social Media Week London 2017 and learn social media trends for 2018

Social Media Week London is a three-day conference that focuses on the latest trends in communication, engagement, VR, Mobile, influencer marketing, and of course social media. SMW London holds over 50 sessions and workshops, with brands such as Buzzfeed, Facebook, and ITV. Over the next three days, I will be keeping you all updated on what’s happen and the key take aways from each talk. Check back each day for an overview of the day's talks and trends.

Day 1

The Speed of Feed, Facebook

The day kicked off with Kat Hahn, from Facebook who focused on 'The Speed of Feed'. She first pointed out that we scroll through 300 feet of content per day. How can brands start building ideas that work for the speed of feed? She suggested there are three…

Twitter has started testing a feature that simplifies your tweetstorms

Have you ever been in the middle of a long winded Twitter rant but you can't fit everything you have to say into the 140 character limit? Twitter understand your pain and have started testing how to make a tweetstorm easier for its users. The feature will allow you to chain tweets together into a cohesive tweetstorm. So instead of posting tweets into separate tweets, you can tweet them all at once. By introducing this feature Twitter is making sharing expanded thoughts more accessible to everyone. For those of us who have a lot to say or a business sharing breaking news, this will allow you to tweet quicker and share content cohesively.   TechCrunch believes: By launching a tweetstorm button…

Social Media Essentials: 5 updates to inform your social media strategy

It has been an exciting week in social media, we have seen Prince George trending on Twitter as Britain followed him on his first day at school, YouTube update their look, LinkedIn have a useful salary comparison tool and Facebook is finally looking to merge Instagram stories with Facebook stories. Check out these 5 social media updates that could help inform your own social media strategy.

1. Spotlight story: Instagram Stories hits desktop

Instagram Stories have announced they will now allow desktop web users to view Stories, and will soon allow you to post to Stories too. Instagram has already copied all of Snapchats' best bits and has now taken it one step further offering something Snapchat can't.

Similar to the mobile version, Instagram explains that you’ll see stories at the top of your feed, and you can tap to watch them. To skip…

You can now view and upload Instagram Stories on the web

Instagram Stories have announced they will now allow desktop web users to view Stories, and will soon allow you to post to Stories too. Instagram has already copied all of Snapchats' best bits and has now taken it one step further offering something Snapchat can't.

Similar to the mobile version Instagram explains you’ll see stories at the top of your feed, and you can tap to watch them. To skip or go back to a story, you can tap the right and left arrows They also announced that in the coming months Instagram will allow users to upload stories via the mobile web. This feature will be helpful for professional photographers and videographers who go the extra mile by editing their images and videos…

IKEA isn't just innovating in their design process, they are innovating in their customer research approach too

Global home furnishings and meatball brand (IKEA sell 150 million meatballs a year), IKEA of Sweden already innovate in their democratic design approach when producing new products, but now they're taking a leading approach with their customer insights: chatbot surveys. The IKEA concept already works to make their products attractive, functional, sustainable, accessible and affordable. IKEA are the masters of efficiency and it seems that they are working with their research agencies, to take this approach to customer insight. The world of market research and insight has somewhat an obsession with innovation, researchers are always looking for new ways to gain insights, hence big data, online communities, shorter surveys (though I question whether many are actually getting shorter). But in the day to day, researchers tend to stick…

Social media essentials: 8 updates that happened in social media this week

To finish your working week off here are 8 social media updates we saw happen this week that could help inform your social media strategy. If you want to keep up to date with everything that's happening in digital marketing check out our top 10 sites we use to keep up to date. You can also vote for your favorite that keeps you up-to-date with what's happened in the world of social media.

Spotlight story: Amazon influencers program welcomes YouTube stars

Amazon is one of the many brands who has seen the benefits of using influencers to increase revenue. In March this year, Amazon’s Influencer Program was launched allowing social media influencers to earn commissions on Amazon products they promote. Last week Amazon also announced they will be accepting sign-ups from YouTube influencers. They have introduced a self-service tool for…

Amazon taps into influencer marketing using product recommendations

Brands introducing influencer marketing into their marketing strategy has seen a massive increase in 2017. It has been reported that 70% of marketers agree that creating ongoing ambassadorship is the most effective influencer marketing strategy. In 2017, 82% percent of brands were expected to spend more on video influencer content and increase their spend by 48%.

Amazon is one of the many brands who has seen the benefits of using influencers to increase revenue. In March this year, Amazon’s Influencer Program was launched allowing social media influencers to earn commissions on Amazon products they promote. Last week Amazon also announced they will be accepting sign-ups from YouTube influencers. They have introduced a self-service tool for YouTube stars that lets them request to join the program.

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Google reveals its 'secret formula' to how they plan, manage and optimize

In August Google launched re:Work, an initiative to share their management tools - such as how to run and set up meetings and setting goals. It is more HR than marketing orientated but it is a vital process of any business - and we wanted to cover OKRs - a technique relevant to marketers which we explain below. If you go to the site you will see that Google have split their tools and guides into 4 sections: Hiring, Managers, People Analytics, and Unbiasing. This type of 'behind the scenes' work is often overlooked but is a necessary process in any organization. What has been released cover basic management process and tools, but as the Harvard Business Review have noted in their review of re:Work: "Basic management practices…

The biggest social media platform changes this week, including important algorithm updates affecting non-mobile optimized websites.

Last week, we reported that Facebook is introducing Watch, a new video platform where they intend to start creating original content - with advertising opportunities before and during shows. This week we have seen some important changes to Facebook's newsfeed algorithm and other big changes to social platforms, including LinkedIn video.

Spotlight Story: Facebook newsfeed will penalize non-mobile optimized sites.

This algorithm update will reduce the reach of websites that are not mobile-friendly and have longer loading times (much like Google algos have in organic search since April 2016). Considering, Facebook showed in their 2017 Q1 earnings that mobile ad revenue was $6.7 billion, up 58% year-over-year and was approximately 85% of total ad revenue, it is no surprise that they are favouring mobile-friendly sites. They announced that they would like to help businesses leverage the power of marketing…