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.
As a reminder, each episode of Social Chatter is available as a blog post or video.
For those of you who missed last week's show, you can find it here.
Let's see what's new in social media this week with your hosts, Christian Karasiewicz and Nick Rishwain.
We're also joined by this week's special guest, Mike Gingerich.
Mike is the host of the Halftime Mike podcast.
Watch This Week's Social Media Updates
Twitter Expands Tweets to 280 Characters
In Twitter news, they are expanding tweets to 280 characters.
Why 280 Character Tweets Matter For Your Business
In a surprising move, Twitter is testing longer tweets.
Instead of 140 characters, you will now have 280 characters.
This isn’t affecting everyone though, just languages that typically need longer tweets.
This includes English, Spanish, Portuguese or French.
Languages such as Japanese, Chinese and Korean will still be limited to 140 characters for their tweets.
As a business, we’re glad to see the length of tweets expand. This should mean fewer tweets in your Twitter feed.
At the same time though, the brilliance of Twitter was that it forced you to be more concise with your tweets.
By adding more characters, this won’t necessarily improve the user experience.
You’re going to want to still try and be as concise as possible with your tweets.
What the extra characters may do is give you more space to tell your story.
We don’t think it will bring people back who have left Twitter.
It will only help add more noise to an already crowded space.
You can read the announcement about longer tweets on the official Twitter blog.
More Ways to Drive Offline Outcomes With Facebook
In Facebook news, they are adding more ways for businesses to drive offline outcomes with Facebook.
Why More Ways to Drive Offline Outcomes With Facebook Matter For Your Business
Facebook is "introducing more ways to help marketers better connect with their customers by re-engaging their offline audiences on Facebook."
These include the following.
Reach Customers Who Purchased Offline
Your business can now reach customers who made a purchase offline.
To do this, you can create a custom audience from your offline conversion event ad sets that are comprised of people who previously purchased offline.
One example that Facebook gives is "a real estate company can automatically show an ad with their latest house listings to people who have called to schedule an open house tour in the last 30 days. Businesses can also create lookalike audiences to find new potential shoppers that share characteristics with their best customers that shop offline."
A second way to drive offline outcomes is to reach customers who visit your store.
Reach Customers Who Visited Your Store Using Facebook
With the new store visits objective when running Facebook Ads, your business can now target people who visited your store.
This can help your business see the impact that their ads are having on foot traffic to your store.
Overall, Facebook is rolling out some very powerful targeting options to help businesses track offline conversions and help further strengthen the relationship with customers, whether online or offline.
You can read more about new ways to drive offline outcomes on the Facebook blog.
Measuring Facebook Cross-Platform Brand Lift
Also this week, Facebook began a program called Facebook cross-platform brand lift.
The aim is to help advertisers measure how the ads Facebook sells influence people's awareness of a brand and how that compares to other TV campaigns.
Why Measuring Facebook Cross-Platform Brand Lift Matters For Your Business
As a business, you want to be sure you're putting your advertising dollars in the right places.
An area that has always been difficult to measure has been the ability to compare Facebook Ads versus ads on TV.
To make it easier, Facebook is rolling out Nielsen Total Brand Effect with Lift and Facebook Cross-Platform Brand Lift.
According to Facebook, "we're introducing new measurement solutions that will enable advertisers to see the impact of their ad campaigns on both Facebook and TV, as well as the incremental impact of both platforms when used together."
Now you'll be able to improve your advertising and put your dollars in the right places and have the data to back it up.
Right now, you can measure the impact of Facebook and TV campaigns using the Nielsen Total Brand Effect with Lift.
Facebook Cross-Platform Brand Lift will be rolling out in the coming months to everyone, even advertisers with lower spend minimums.
You can read more about measuring Facebook brand lift here.
Switch Between Facebook, Messenger and Instagram
Also this week, Facebook has added a quick switcher to the Facebook mobile app.
Why Quick Switching In Facebook Matters For Your Business
If you have Facebook, Instagram and Messenger installed on your mobile device, you can now quickly switch between them from the Facebook mobile app with just a tap.
As a business, this is an especially useful feature because you no longer have to go back to your home screen and find your Instagram or Messenger apps.
Instead, you can switch right from Facebook.
Here is a short video showing you how to do this.
To learn how to use the new quick switcher in the Facebook mobile app, follow these steps.
How to Switch From Facebook to Messenger or Instagram From the Facebook Mobile App
- Launch the Facebook mobile app
- Tap on your profile photo in the top-right corner
- Choose the account you would like to switch to
Public Instagram Accounts Can Now Choose Who Can Comment On Posts
In Instagram news, public accounts can now choose who can comment on posts.
Why Instagram Public Accounts Choosing Who Can Comment On Posts Matters For Your Business
With over 800 million Instagram users, Instagram wants to make their platform as safe and secure as possible.
“Starting today, if your account is public, you’ll see a new way to choose who can comment on your posts — from everyone to just groups of people, like people you follow or your followers.”
Public and private Instagram accounts will have the ability to block accounts from commenting.
Here is the announcement made on Instagram’s Instagram channel.
Instagram Face Filters In Instagram Live Video
This week, Instagram added face filters to Instagram Live video.
This is what face filters look like in Instagram Live video.
Why Face Filters In Instagram Live Video Matter For Your Business
When you're using Instagram Live video, you can now apply face filters such as stars, rainbow light, as well as a new sunglasses face filter.
While face filters during Instagram Live videos might not seem applicable for businesses, you have to remember, it is about storytelling and giving your audience a reason to tune-in.
You can use the new face filters to showcase your mood in new and exciting ways.
To use face filters in Instagram Live video, follow these steps.
How to Use Face Filters In Instagram Live Videos
- Launch Instagram
- Tap on the camera icon in the top-left
- Switch to "live"
- Tap on the smiley face icon in the bottom-right
- Select from the different filters
- Tap on start live video
Another important thing about face filters is that Instagram is testing some special ones.
For example, you can add a new sunglasses face filter and then tap on the sunglasses or nod your head up to change to a new style.
This particular face filter is only going to be available for the next week.
We could see "limited time" face filters for Instagram Live videos coming soon to drive stronger adoption of live video.
You can read the announcement about face filters in Instagram Live video in this article.
Instagram Visual Backdrops
Also this week, Instagram rolled out visual backdrops.
This is what they look like.
Why Instagram Visual Backdrops Matter For Your Business
When you send text messages using Instagram Direct, you can now add visual backdrops.
It could be a selfie or a colored background.
As a business, if you use Instagram Direct a lot, you could add a visual backdrop to certain types of messages. This way they're easier to follow and you know who you're having a conversation with.
To use Instagram visual backdrops, follow these steps.
How to Add Instagram Visual Backdrops
- Launch Instagram
- Tap on the arrow icon in the bottom-right
- Type your message
- Tap the camera
- Take a photo or swipe right to add a colored background
- Tap send
You've just learned how to add Instagram visual backdrops in Direct.
You can read the announcement about Instagram visual backdrops on the Instagram blog.
Instagram Seasonal Stickers
Also this week, Instagram announced seasonal stickers.
Why Instagram Seasonal Stickers Matter For Your Business
Instagram is adding seasonal stickers based on your location.
They had this to say.
"If you are in the northern hemisphere, you'll see a new cozy sticker pack for autumn complete with expressive acorns, falling leaves, warm beanies and cups of tea. And for those in the southern hemisphere, flowers, kits and happy sprouts help you celebrate the arrival of spring."
As a business, just because you may be small, doesn't mean you can't keep up with the seasons in your marketing.
While you don't have to use Instagram seasonal stickers on every post, they can help you better connect with your customers.
For example, if it's Christmas, you could add seasonal stickers to Instagram to get everyone into a happier mood.
To add Instagram stickers, follow these steps.
How to Add Instagram Stickers
- Launch Instagram
- Tap the camera icon in the top-left
- Take a picture or choose one from your library
- Select the smiling-face icon
- Scroll through the stickers and tap a sticker to add it to your post
- You can drag the stickers around, pinch-to-zoom to control its size or rotate it
You can read the announcement about Instagram seasonal stickers here.
Snapchat Sky Filters
In Snapchat news, they are launching sky filters using augmented reality.
This is what Snapchat sky filters look like.
Why Snapchat Sky Filters Matter For Your Business
While Snapchat sky filters are not directly related to driving success in your business, they demonstrate the potential of Snapchat.
Snapchat has been marketing itself as a camera company.
This update shows the power of how augmented reality can be used.
For example, if you can take a photo of a sky and add a filter, why can Snapchat not let your business take a photo and quickly apply a custom filter to showcase your logo or brand on an object?
Here is how to use the new sky filters on Snapchat.
How to Use Snapchat Sky Filters
- Launch Snapchat
- Take a photo with part of the sky visible
- Swipe left to apply the sky filter
You'll be able to add sunsets, starry skies, rainbows and more to photos with Snapchat sky filters.
To get Snapchat sky filters, you'll need to update your iOS or Android app to the latest version of Snapchat.
Google Removes YouTube From Amazon Echo Show
In YouTube news, Google has removed YouTube from the Amazon Echo Show.
Why Google Removing YouTube From Amazon Echo Show Matters For Your Business
In an abrupt move, Google has removed access to YouTube on the Amazon Echo Show.
The Amazon Echo Show allowed users to pull up videos from YouTube.
By removing access, this means that if your YouTube subscribers were tuning in to your videos through the Amazon device, they won’t be able to now, which could lead to a drop in views for your channel.
We’re wondering if the sudden removal of YouTube from the Amazon Echo Show signals a new device is on the horizon from Google.
Chances are, there will be one very soon.
In the meantime, if you can read more about this change here.
Vimeo Acquires Livestream, Launches Vimeo Live
In livestreaming news, Vimeo has acquired Livestream.
Why Vimeo Acquiring Livestream Matters For Your Business
Vimeo, a popular video platform, acquired Livestream.
Not only was this their largest acquisition, but it’s also a very good one for business owners.
They’re also launching Vimeo Live, a live streaming product.
Here’s a short video about Vimeo Live.
With Vimeo Live, video creators will be able to capture, edit, stream and archive their live events.
As a business, if you’ve experimented with live video, you know that the software can be very expensive. You also need the proper equipment to help your streams look good too.
By launching their own live streaming product, Vimeo, which already offers a very powerful solution for video hosting and distribution, is adding another tool to their growing platform.
As a business owner, you have a solution you can grow into as your business grows.
Overall, this is a win-win for live streamers because you get a high-quality service, from a company that clearly knows video.
You can read the announcement about Vimeo acquiring Livestream 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.
Rocketium
The first tool that we have discovered this week is called Rocketium (iOS | Android).
Would you like to create more videos for your social media channels?
If you find editing video difficult, you should try Rocketium.
With Rocketium, you can make videos in minutes using text, images, video as well as voiceover audio.
Simply select the types of content you want to include and quickly assemble them right on your mobile device.
When you're done, you can preview your video and then save it or share it on your social media channels.
Rocketium is available as a free app.
You can download Rocketium from the link below.
Download RocketiumLinktree for Instagram
The second tool that we have for you this week is called Linktree (web).
Do you find yourself always swapping links in your Instagram bio?
With Linktree for Instagram, now you don't have to ever change your bio link again.
Simply connect your Instagram account to Linktree.
In Linktree, you can add and reorder multiple links.
You'll then get a unique URL to use for your Instagram bio link.
When someone clicks it, they'll see all of the links you set up in Linktree.
You can sign-up for Linktree for Instagram for free using the link below.
They also offer a Pro plan at $6 per month, that gives you insights about link traffic, along with the ability to retarget Linktree visitors on Facebook and Instagram using your Facebook pixel ID.
Sign-up for Linktree for InstagramWrap-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 to our Facebook Page to find out what's new in social media news!
If you have any questions about 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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