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…
How to effectively use hashtags on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
Hashtags, you either love them or hate them. Having become part of our culture, we use them every day on social media. As more social platforms use hashtags it has become confusing on how and when to use them.
In this post, we are going to look at how many hashtags you should be using and which ones are best to help you expand your reach beyond your followers.
What is a hashtag?
Firstly let's look at what a hashtag actually is. The correct definition of a hashtag according to the Oxford dictionary is:
'A word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#), used on social media websites and applications, especially Twitter, to identify messages on a specific topic'.
The evolution of the hashtag in marketing started in 2007 when Twitter used them to categorize discussed topics. Now, Hashtags are used worldwide making it…
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…
How to leverage the power of social media analytics to expand your audience
These days, if you are looking to expand your audience, you should definitely try your luck on social media, simply because everyone is there. However, the problem with being present on social media, and using it to reach out to your audience, is that it can eat up a lot of your time. For instance, if you have a killer post that will provide value to the readers, you will need to come up with a headline that will grab their attention, which is usually very divided, as well as find an image that will reel them in, maybe even include hashtags, and so on.
To make matters even worse, it's a shot in the dark, because even if it works like a charm, you will have no idea whatsoever why it worked.
According to Arthur Mitchell, who is the…
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…
Chart of the day: 28% of internet users have watched a live stream on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram
According to a recent report, 28% of internet users who have watched a live stream on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, up from 20% in 2016. This increase will be due to the number of businesses introducing live stream into their marketing strategy. Social platforms now have live streaming tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, making it easier for anyone to go live.
What does this mean for marketers? As time spent online on social media increases, more users will be engaging with live video content. Brands need to use this opportunity to reach a larger audience and engage their current customers. It also gives viewers the…
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…
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter content strategy
Just like snowflakes, no two social media platforms are alike. Yet marketers often take the one-size-fits-all approach to social media advertising, applying the same methodology to all clients and campaigns regardless of objectives and using the same creative across all marketing channels.
While this approach is undoubtedly easier, it doesn’t take into account that each social media platform has different types of users at different parts of the purchasing funnel. You could be inadvertently sending conversion-focused messaging to someone who’s still in the brand awareness stage, which is risky because 41 percent of social media users say they won’t hesitate to unfollow a brand that shares irrelevant information.
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Social media essentials: Facebook Watch, Instagram and Facebook to be redesigned for readability, and WhatsApp set to allow money transfers
There haven't been many platform changes in social this week (August is a quiet month typically), but these are the top ones we've seen announced, plus our top tips to help with your social media marketing strategy.
Spotlight story: Facebook are launching 'Watch' a new video platform
Facebook has introduced a hub for original video content called 'Watch'. According to Techcrunch, Watch will allow you to view personalized recommendations of live and recorded shows. You will also have access to your own 'Watchlist' where you can subscribe to updates on new episodes of your favorite shows.
This exciting new feature will generate opportunities to push more advertising before and during programs.
It will only be available for partners and will roll out to a…
Facebook launch 'Watch' a video hub for shows and original video content [Smart Insight Alert]
The amount of video being consumed across Facebook has increased dramatically over the past couple of years. Facebook has reported that the number of videos posted per person increased by users increased by 75% in 2016. Video posts now have a 135% greater organic reach than photo posts, generating around 8 billion video views on average per day. Facebook has seen this need and created a new video platform for its users.
Facebook has introduced a hub for original video content called 'Watch'. According to Techcrunch, Watch will allow you to view personalized recommendations of live and recorded shows. You will also have access to your own 'Watchlist' where you can subscribe to updates on new episodes of your favorite shows.
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