Welcome to this week's episode of Social Chatter, the longest running social media marketing talk show where we cover the latest social media news from this past week, including Pinterest catalogs, Pinterest Shopping Ads, Intstagram Watch Party, YouTube Stories Filters, Gleam, Tasty Pins and more with Christian Karasiewicz, Phil Gerbyshak and guest, Vincent Orleck.
If you like, you can watch or listen to Social Chatter on our blog, YouTube channel or the Alexa Flash Briefing.
For those of you who missed last week's episode with Troy Sandidge, you can watch the replay here.
Let's see what's new in social media this week with your hosts, Christian Karasiewicz and Phil Gerbyshak.
Watch This Week's Social Media Updates
Changes To Facebook Privacy
In Facebook news, they are pivoting to privacy.
What this means is that they are moving into sharing updates to Stories and private messaging - features similar to what WeChat currently offers.
Why Facebook Privacy Pivoting Matters For Your Business
With Facebook pivoting to Stories and private messages, this could have big implications for your business.
Facebook has the ability to build powerful privacy tools. The question is whether they want to.
98% of its revenue currently comes from Facebook Ads.
If Facebook were to push users to private Facebook messages using Facebook Messenger and Stories updates, this could cause a seismic shift how you use Facebook.
For some business owners, they're just getting around to using Facebook to grow their business. Others have been there for a while and are now expanding to other social media platforms.
Over the next several months, Facebook has to make some big decisions on how they move forward. If they create stronger privacy tools, it could mean less revenue (and the need to find new models).
In the meantime, you can read more about Facebook privacy updates here.
Pinterest Catalogs & Pinterest Shopping Ads
In Pinterest news, they are rolling out Pinterest Catalogs and making Pinterest shopping ads self-serve.
What Are Pinterest Catalogs?
Pinterest Catalogs make it easy for you to showcase your products on Pinterest.
This includes the ability to upload multiple product images, organize them by category, and create dynamic product pins.
Why Pinterest Catalogs Matter For Your Business
Want to drive more sales from your Pinterest channel?
Consider setting up Pinterest catalogs for your business's products.
Merchants can create a full product catalog on Pinterest (once you claim your Pinterest domain).
You can then easily organize your product groups on Pinterest with the new Product Catalogs here.
What Are Self-Serve Pinterest Shopping Ads?
Pinterest is also rolling out self-serve Pinterest shopping ads.
Shopping Ads are a way for businesses to promote produce groups on Pinterest.
Why Pinterest Shopping Ads Matter For Your Business
Shopping Ads from Pinterest are a great way for your business to promote your Pinterest Catalogs that you create.
Previously, you had to be invited into the program.
You'll now find shopping ads in your Pinterest Ads Manager.
This means you'll be able to run ads to promote your Pinterest catalogs - a win for Pinterest and a big win for businesses on Pinterest!
You can read more about Pinterest catalogs and shopping ads here.
Co-Watching With Instagram Watch Party
In Instagram news, they are testing Instagram watch party, a way for you to co-watch Instagram videos with others in Instagram Direct.
Instagram is testing Co-Watching in Video Calls
It's like Facebook's Watch Party but for Instagram Direct
Tip @Techmeme pic.twitter.com/cRpRO61DXh
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) March 7, 2019
Why Instagram Watch Party Matters For Your Business
You can already host a Facebook Watch Party and watch videos together.
With Facebook pushing their platforms into messaging (this includes Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct and WhatsApp), chances are we'll see an Instagram Watch Party soon.
As a business owner, this feature makes a lot of sense.
It seems like it would work just like you can with Facebook Watch Parties, with the ability to add a queue or playlist of videos to watch together, except on Instagram.
We could see business owners host a training via private Instagram Direct messages, share their latest video with their followers and more!
This is currently in testing, so there's no timetable on when or if it will be launched.
In the meantime, you can read more about an Instagram Watch Party here.
WhatsApp Banning Accounts Using Modified Versions Of App
In WhatsApp news, they are banning modified WhatsApp accounts who use third-party versions of their app.
If you use a modified or cloned version of WhatsApp from third-party companies, you may see the following message when you go to log in next time.
"Your phone number is banned from using WhatsApp. Contact support for help."
WhatsApp is cracking down on users who aren't using the official WhatsApp mobile app.
Why WhatsApp Banning Modified Versions Of Their App Matters For Your Business
You might be using a modified version of WhatsApp because you want access to additional features.
Some people use third-party versions of WhatsApp because they don't want to be tracked.
Regardless, using a modified version of WhatsApp can produce security issues.
We think it may have something to also do with a recent WhatsApp update, that now makes it easy to enter a phone number and have it verified on the server.
If you log in to WhatsApp and see a message such as this.
"Be aware that we ban accounts if we believe the account activity is in violation of our Terms of Service."
You'll be prompted to delete the modified version of WhatsApp and download the official WhatsApp app from your devices App Store.
To learn more about WhatsApp banning modified versions of their application here.
YouTube Stories Filters Using Augmented Reality
In YouTube news, they are launching augmented reality filters for YouTube Stories.
YouTube Stories filters let augmented reality do the heavy lifting to add realistic AR selfie filters to your videos without too much effort.
Here is an example shared by Google of the new AR selfie filters.
They are available for YouTube Creators who have a channel with more than 10,000 subscribers.
Why YouTube Stories Filters Matter For Your Business
YouTube Stories Filters (also known as AR selfie filters) make it easy for you to apply filters to existing videos, as well as to new ones that you create and share.
What makes them unique is that they can "detect and compensate for camera imperfections and extreme lighting, meaning it will simulate light reflections off of AR glasses and cast virtual shadows to match natural lighting."
This is especially useful for businesses who maintain a YouTube channel and want to apply these YouTube Stories filters to previous videos and don't have the technical skills to do this.
You can read the announcement about YouTube Stories filters here.
Tools
In addition to sharing the latest news from this past week, we also highlighted some great social media tools and apps for you to check out.
Tasty Pins
The first tool that we have discovered this week is Tasty Pins.
Would you like to optimize your blog images for Pinterest SEO?
With Tasty Pins, now you can!
While Google prefers that you optimize your images one way, Pinterest SEO is different.
By adding Tasty Pins to your blog, now you can add your title, alternative text, and description for Google search.
To rank your images for Pinterest SEO, you can specify Pinterest text and Pinterest Repin ID. This way, when someone searches Pinterest, there's a strong chance that they come across your image.
You can try Tasty Pins on your blog for free. You can purchase Tasty Pins for $29.00. Optimize your images for Pinterest SEO
Gleam
The second tool that we have for you this week is Gleam.
Gleam makes it easy for you to run contests and giveaways on your social media channels.
What makes Gleam unique is that you can tap into social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and more.
You can also build your email list as well, by adding requirements into your social media contests, that require entrants to provide their email address.
Once you've created your social media giveaway, you can publish it to your blog, your Facebook Page, along with many other places.
If you're looking for an engaging way to run social media contests on your blog, give Gleam a try.
You can try out this powerful social media contest tool. Prices then start at $10 per month.
Run social media contests with Gleam
Wrap-up
That's it for this week's show!
To watch next week's episode of Social Chatter, your weekly social media marketing talk show, tune-in here to find out what's new in social media!
If you have any questions about any of the social media news or tools that were mentioned this week, please share them with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or in the comments below.
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