Welcome back to Spark Social Report by Spark Growth, your weekly source for social media updates! This week, Twitter announced “Branded Likes” for advertisers, Instagram Reels added API access, and Facebook announced new features for Groups. Continue reading for more updates across social media!
Email Marketing Insights
Before social media, email marketing was an effective marketing strategy that many businesses used. It is still a great tool for brands and specific target markets. Reach Mail shared some of the most common mobile email marketing mistakes that may help your brand improve your strategy. Here are some key points:
- 75% of mobile users in the U.S. still use email to send and receive messages.
- 4 in 5 mobile users will move on if a site is not mobile-friendly.
- Create and optimize a strategy for each mobile device to increase readability (iPhone, Android, iPad, etc.).
Click here to read all the insights on mobile email marketing.
New Ways to Promote Spaces
Twitter added more ways to promote Spaces, its in-app live audio feature. Twitter added a new Spaces button to the Tweet composer and in the retweet menu. By selecting “Start a Space about this Tweet” in the menu, users can skip the setup process as it will immediately take you live and the Tweet will be pinned to the top of the space.
Twitter is also testing a way for hosts to share Tweets within a Space through the retweet menu. The button, “Retweet into (the name of the Space),” will allow users to retweet something directly to the Space to continue the conversations.
Branded Likes for Advertisers
https://twitter.com/GhostRobi96/status/1480895660090183695
Customize the Like button for your brand! Twitter announced that it is making “Branded Likes” an option for all advertisers in the U.S., U.K., and Japan. Branded Likes are custom Like animations for a brand’s Tweets. This can help improve engagement and overall creativity on the app. See above for an example.
Notes Feature for Close Friends
New: #Instagram is testing new Notes feature, you can share notes only with your close friends list or the followers you follow back pic.twitter.com/8bXNHFcVUG
— Ahmed Ghanem (@ahmedghanem) June 20, 2022
Are two platforms colliding? You may be able to share short-form Tweet-like messages on Instagram. Instagram is testing a new Notes feature where users can share a quick note to their Close Friends list or followers who also follow them. The Note can be up to 60 characters and will last for 24 hours — that is a lot shorter than a Tweet, which is 280 characters. Friends will be able to reply to the Notes like on Instagram Stories.
New Reels API Access
Meta announced its Reels API which enables external platforms to provide cross-platform posting. Now, sites like Hootsuite and Sprout Social will be able to offer their users the ability to post Reels through their respective scheduling platforms. This will also enable more analytical abilities to assess how users watch and interact with Reels.
New AR Elements for Stories
#Instagram keeps working on the ability to use stickers in the Story camera 👀
ℹ️ You can use AR Stickers and AR Text pic.twitter.com/bza4Ri7ZRH
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) June 23, 2022
Next, Instagram is working on new AR elements for Stories, such as AR stickers and text. These features would add animated digital objects that overlay with your physical space in a Story. These would need to be added before a Story is taken so the stickers can interact with what’s on-screen.
New Age Verification Tools
Lastly, Instagram is doing more to protect younger viewers in order to provide an age-appropriate experience. It is testing new options for people to verify their age. If someone who is under the age of 18 attempts to change their age to over 18, they will be asked to verify their age by uploading their ID, recording a video selfie, or asking mutual friends to confirm. This will better ensure that young people are protected from harmful content. Instagram provides individuals aged 13-17 with an age-appropriate experience but no such verification tools were required previously.
New Features for Facebook Groups
[Source]
Have you been getting extra notifications about your Facebook Groups? Facebook has added new additions for Groups to increase engagement. The first feature is a sidebar that shows all the groups a user is a part of, listed based on the latest activity. The sidebar offers the ability to pin groups, find new groups, and create a group. Facebook also added Community Chat Channels and Community Audio Channels, a way to talk with group members in real-time. Groups are a key feature on Facebook that receives more engagement than its other functions. These new features may be a way to keep engagement up and encourage more users to make use of Groups if they haven’t already.
Say Goodbye to Facebook Premieres
On August 22, 2022, Facebook Premiers will no longer be available on the platform. Premiers is a feature allowing users to post a prerecorded video to Facebook’s Live feature. This way, creators can make and schedule video content ahead of time for Live, yet they don’t actually need to be present while the content plays. No explanation was given yet as to why Premiers is being removed.
Snapchat
Snapchat+ Officially Launches
Snapchat announced the official launch of its paid subscription feature, Snapchat+. As we reported last week, Snapchat has been testing a set of exclusive features for users who subscribe. For $3.99 USD a month, users can have access to custom app icons, a view of who rewatched their story, the ability to pin someone as their #1 best friend, and see where their friends have traveled recently. Snapchat+ will be available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
That wraps up the latest social media updates for this week! Be sure to check us out on Twitter for more digital marketing trends and news.
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