Welcome back to Spark Social Report by Spark Growth, your weekly source for social media updates! This week, Facebook is allowing users to have up to five profiles, Instagram Reels can now be boosted as ads, and YouTube has partnered with Shopify. Continue reading for more updates across social media!
Holiday Marketing Insights
Reddit has a new guide to help you market your brand for Christmas! The holiday season may seem far away, but the best way to have a great holiday marketing campaign is to start now! Here are some key insights from the guide:
- Reddit is the most trusted place for product research because of the honest reviews.
- 75% of users who did their holiday shopping research on Reddit made a purchase.
- Holiday shopping conversations start in the first week of October.
Read the full guide here to start your campaign planning.
Buy Products Directly in Chat
Now you can make purchases and track orders directly in chats with small businesses on @instagram in the US 🛍https://t.co/8tXA0AkhpQ pic.twitter.com/nFzn7d0YDl
— Meta Newsroom (@MetaNewsroom) July 18, 2022
You can now purchase products from small businesses directly in Instagram DMs. The new feature allows users to place an order in the chat and businesses can send a payment request using Meta Pay. Buyers and sellers can chat in real-time to confirm details and receive tracking information, receipts, and ask follow-up questions in the same thread. The feature is available in the U.S. for qualified small businesses.
Boosted Instagram Reels
Turn your Instagram Reels into ads! Instagram announced that Reels can now be boosted as advertisements. Boosted Reels will be seen in the feed, Stories, Reels tab, and explore page. The Reels must be under 60 seconds with a 9:16 ratio and can’t contain any copyrighted music, GIFs, or interactive stickers. This update provides new opportunities for brands to promote their business using the popular short-form video-type content.
New Map Search Feature
Location features on Instagram just got better! Instagram has launched new map features to help you discover local businesses. Users can search popular tagged locations and filter by categories such as restaurants, stores, cafes, and more. The feature gives users information about where a business is located, recent stories and posts that tagged the location, and allow you to save those for the future.
Multiple Personalities on Facebook?
Facebook is experimenting with ways for users to create multiple separate profiles. Users may soon be able to create up to four profiles attached under one master account. The other accounts do not need to include a real name or real identity. The intention is for people to use their many profiles to interact with different groups, with one being a personal account, one for work, one for hobbies, and so on. The feature is in limited testing but it will be interesting to see how users utilize the new profile capabilities and if it causes any security issues for the app.
Avatar Cover Images
This is Facebook’s NEW avatar cover image feature for profiles pic.twitter.com/LLOXd6SnAP
— Matt Navarra (I quit X. Follow me on Threads) (@MattNavarra) July 18, 2022
Facebook has a new Avatar cover image feature. This allows users to put their avatar over digital scenes and add it to their profiles. Meta has created many avatar-related features lately, including adding them to Instagram Stories and profile images — all of which seem to support its vision for a metaverse.
Say Goodbye to Facebook’s Bulletin
Facebook is scaling back its investment in the news tab, “Bulletin”. The feature is a subscription newsletter platform to support independent writers. It is unclear why the company is not funding the feature anymore. Meta stated that they are reallocating resources into the creator economy and focusing on the features that bring users the most meaningful experiences.
Repost New Default Option
#LinkedIn is renaming the “Share” button to “Repost”!
Its icon is also getting updated! pic.twitter.com/u0iS7kh7IY— Nima Owji (@nima_owji) July 18, 2022
It looks like LinkedIn is replacing the “Share” button with “Repost”. Users could click share to either repost or share content with a message. The new tested feature would change the name and icon to encourage reposting without the added pressure of including a message. This could affect how people interact on the platform and the content on it. Previously, sharing meant users had to put more thought into if they wanted the post on their page and what they wanted to add.
Creator Accelerator Program
LinkedIn has announced a Creator Accelerator Program to help creators learn new skills and maximize their in-app presence. Participants will learn to start conversations, build communities, and connect with others. Learn more about this six-week program and see if it’s right for you!
YouTube
New Features for Shorts
Youtube announced new features for Shorts! The first feature, “Cut”, allows users to take a one to five-second sample of a video and use it as the intro to a Short. This is similar to Stitching on TikTok but here, a YouTube video can be used as the snippet, not just other Shorts.
Secondly, new updates for the green screen feature allow users to choose if they want to use audio, video, or both. Users can also change the size of their picture by pinching the screen and moving their image around.
Lastly, users can now save as many drafts as they want. In the past, users could only save one draft at a time. Drafts are currently only available for iOS!
All of these new features for Shorts are ones that are already available on TikTok, its direct competitor. Learn more about the new features on YouTube.
Shopify Shopping Tools
YouTube is partnering with Shopify to bring in-app shopping tools. Creators can activate YouTube Shopping in the Google Channel Shopify app to display their products from their inventory. Creators can tag products during live streams, list products in on-demand videos, and add a new store tab on their channels. This could be the perfect update for small businesses. Watch this video to learn more.
New Text Markup Options
YouTube is expanding its video description options to allow for text markup. Creators will be able to bold, italicize, and strikethrough their text in video and Shorts descriptions. This can allow for some more creativity and dimension in descriptions.
Product Tagging for Creators
Finally, YouTube is expanding its product tagging options. Chosen creators can now tag products and get paid for any sales that come as a result of the product tag. YouTube has been integrating new commerce options lately and this adds more shopping options for users on the platform.
Snapchat
Snap Website
Snapchat finally has a web version of its app! Currently only available for Snapchat+ subscribers, the website will enable users to send messages, make video calls, and engage with friends. This improves the app’s accessibility, especially for content creators! The site is available to Snapchat+ subscribers in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, and regular (non-subscribed) users in Australia, and New Zealand.
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.
Social media marketing could be the perfect strategy for your brand. Whether it’s organic content or digital advertisements, our marketing experts can help! Click below to learn about all our services and see if the Spark Growth team is right for your brand.
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