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.
We're also joined by this week's special guest, Joey Vitale.
Joey runs India Law Firm.
Let's see what's new in social media this week with your hosts, Christian Karasiewicz and Nick Rishwain.
Watch This Week's Social Media Updates
New Facebook Group Features
In Facebook news, they have rolled out new features for Groups to help you build a stronger community.
Why New Facebook Group Features Matter For Your Business
In an effort to help you build a stronger community, Facebook is rolling out new Facebook Group features.
Here's a rundown on these new features for your Groups.
Welcome Posts For Facebook Groups
This particular feature will make it easy for you to welcome new members into your Facebook Group.
When you create a Facebook Group welcome post, this will automatically tag new people who joined your Group.
Badges For Facebook Groups
Next, Facebook is adding Group Badges.
Group admins, moderators and new members will now get a tiny badge next to their name in your Group to make it easy to identify who you're having a conversation with.
Facebook Group Member Profiles
Another new feature for Facebook Groups are member profiles.
Member profiles will make it easy for you to get to know who your members are in your Facebook Group.
According to Facebook, when "when group members click on another person's name they will be directed to a group-specific profile, based on publicly-available information like things they may share in common and a feed of that person's activity in the group."
Facebook Group Insights
The last new feature for Facebook Groups are Facebook Group insights.
Facebook Group Insights can help you learn more about the correct times to post in your Group.
Group Admins will also have the ability to temporarily turn off a member's ability to comment in a Group.
Admins can also remove members who violate their Group rules across multiple Groups with a single click.
Overall, these new Facebook Group features should make it much easier for you to manage your groups and build a stronger community with your members.
You can read the announcement from Facebook about new Group features here.
Facebook Testing View Ads Tab For Pages
In Facebook news, they are testing a new 'view ads' tab for Pages.
Why A View Ads Tab For Facebook Pages Matters For Your Business
Similar to the Twitter transparency center for ads mentioned below, Facebook is testing a 'view ads' tab feature on Pages.
This is what it looks like on Facebook Pages.
This new feature is currently being tested on Pages, but should be launching next month.
With the 'view ads' tab, you will be able to see all currently running campaigns running on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Facebook's Audience Network ad network.
The benefit here is that it will be easier for you to see the campaigns you've previously run.
You'll also be able to quickly see the average amount of money spent on ads, the number of times it was served and demographic information along with your target audience.
This move is in regards to election-related ad issues.
You can read more about new Facebook Ad features here.
New Facebook Marketplace Features For Car Buyers
In Facebook news, they are adding new options for US car shoppers in Marketplace.
Why New Options In Facebook Marketplace Matters For Business
Facebook Marketplace is introducing new features to make it easy to buy a car.
Here are the new features you can expect.
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- Browse the inventory for automotive dealers (Edmunds, Cars.com, Auction123, etc)
- Filter car listings by year, make, model, mileage, vehicle type and transmission
- See trusted car values from Kelley Blue Book
- Communicate directly with the dealership via Messenger
As a business, if you're in the automotive industry, you know how difficult it can be to reach car buyers. They have a lot of options to choose from.
With these new features in Facebook Marketplace, you'll be able to make it easier (and more seamless) for customers to quickly find the vehicle they are looking for and to minimize a lot of the communication with car dealerships, which are often frowned upon by customers for being too pushy.
Here are some additional screenshots showing the process of buying a car using Facebook Messenger.
You can read the announcement about new Facebook Marketplace features for car buyers here.
Facebook Testing Live Producer
Facebook is getting set to bring additional tools to these Facebook Live video tools.
Why Facebook Live Producer Matters For Your Business
With Facebook Live Producer, you'll get a host of new features.
Some of these include multiple inputs, the ability to choose different formats for displaying video (split screen, picture-in-picture, etc).
Facebook is also set to bring overlays to your streams.
We currently use Wirecast to accomplish a lot of this.
Now that you'll have a better platform for running Facebook Live videos, we suggest checking out these Facebook Live video tools to ensure you're recording video and audio at the proper levels.
You can read more about Facebook Live Producer here.
Twitter Transparency Center For Ads
In Twitter news, they are rolling out a transparency center for ads.
Why A Twitter Transparency Center For Ads Matters
In an effort to better handle political scrutiny over how Twitter Ads helped influence the election, Twitter is rolling out a transparency center.
The Twitter transparency center "will offer everyone visibility into who is advertising on Twitter, details behind those ads, and tools to share your feedback with us."
According to Twitter, you'll be able to see all ads that are running on Twitter, including Promoted-Only ads.
Twitter is also going to provide how long an ad has been running for along with the creative used with that campaign.
This is great news for more transparent advertising.
In fact, as a business owner, it should help you be more ethical in your marketing as this information will now be available to everyone.
You can also use the Twitter transparency center for additional benefits.
For example, if you're not sure what types of creative are being used on Twitter, you can look at what others are doing to see if anything appeals to you or sparks your creativity.
While the Twitter transparency center isn't live yet, it will be available in the coming weeks. Be sure to check your ads at Ads.Twitter.com.
You can read more about Twitter's transparency center for ads here.
Larger Previews of Instagram Stories
In Instagram news, they are increasing the size of previews for Instagram Stories.
Why Larger Previews of Instagram Stories Matters For Your Business
When you launch Instagram, you might notice Instagram Stories are 2X larger in your feed.
This is what they look like.
If you're using Instagram Stories, the benefit to having larger previews in your feed is that they'll standout more.
This can help you get more visibility on your Stories.
Right now, there's not anything you need to do except update your Instagram app and create engaging Instagram Stories.
You can read more about the larger Instagram Stories here.
Instagram In Arabic, Hebrew and Farsi
This week, Instagram also announced language support for Arabic, Hebrew and Farsi.
Why Instagram For Arabic, Hebrew and Farsi Matters For Your Business
In Instagram news, they have rolled out language support for Arabic, Hebrew and Farsi.
Here is what this will look like on Instagram.
This is good news for business owners.
If you conduct business in countries where these are the primary languages, you'll now be able to communicate with your audience in their desired language.
For those of you who don't speak Arabic, Hebrew or Farsi, this will be of value to you as well because you'll have the opportunity to reach more people with your business on Instagram who might be outside of your location, especially those who are overseas.
Here is how to change your language on Instagram to Arabic, Hebrew or Farsi.
How to Change Your Language On Instagram
- Tap on settings
- Tap "languages"
Your app will then update from right to left, as is normal for these languages.
To read more about this announcement, check out the Instagram blog.
Instagram Testing Stop-Motion Camera
Another update from Instagram is that they are testing a stop-motion camera effect for Stories.
Why Instagram Stop-Motion Camera Effects Matter For Your Business
The stop-motion camera effect is a new camera tool that lets you take a series of photos and turn them into an animated GIF.
From there, you can add text or stickers to your stop-motion image and then add it to Instagram Stories.
As a business, there are plenty of exciting ways you could use the stop-motion camera in Instagram.
For example, you could use it to make a stop-motion video of your product moving from the shelf to a bag.
While this feature isn't available to everyone yet, you can begin thinking how you would use stop-motion in your business.
To learn more about the stop-motion camera affect for Instagram Stories, click here.
Superzoom On Instagram
Also this week, Instagram released a new feature called Superzoom.
Why Instagram SuperZoom Matters For Your Business
Instagram is releasing a new feature called Superzoom.
It is a new camera format and this is what it looks like.
With Superzoom, you can record a video with sound effects to heighten the mood.
Superzoom let's you choose a point to focus on. When you press record, Instagram will automatically zoom in on the chosen area.
One way a business owner might consider using Superzoom is if they've been featured in a publication.
They could start by showing the wider show of the publication and then zoom in on the title, your photo, etc.
Here's how to use Instagram's Superzoom feature.
How to Use Instagram Superzoom
- Launch Instagram
- Open the camera
- Look for the "Superzoom" setting next to "Boomerang"
- Tap a spot and press record
You can then send your Instagram Superzoom via Instagram Direct or Stories.
To learn more about these new Instagram features, click here.
Delete WhastsApp Messages
In WhatsApp news, you can now delete unwanted messages.
Why Deleting Unwanted Messages In WhatsApp Matters For Your Business
WhatsApp is finally adding the ability to delete messages.
Here's how to delete WhatsApp messages.
How to Delete WhatsApp Messages
- Launch WhatsApp
- Open a preview WhatsApp message
- Tap and hold on a message
- Tap on the delete button (trash icon) and select delete for everyone
When you delete WhatsApp messages, they will disappear from a chat thread as well as from the notifications center.
Here are a few things to remember about deleting WhatsApp messages.
You have seven minutes until a message has been sent to delete it. After that time, you won't be able to delete them.
Also, both users will have to be using the latest version of WhatsApp and have the "delete for everyone" option enabled.
You can read more about the unsend feature in WhatsApp here.
Snapchat Pixels For Tracking Ads
In Snapchat news, they are now letting you add a tracking pixel to improve Snap ad targeting.
Why Snapchat Pixels Matter For Your Business
Snapchat is finally going to let advertisers install a tracking pixel.
This tracking pixel is similar to the ones from Facebook and Google, that follow you around the web and retarget customers based on items they viewed.
For now, when you install a Snapchat tracking pixel, it will only be able to help with measurement purposes.
Later this year, they're planning to roll-out retargeting capabilities, presumably once they've ironed out all of the kinks.
A few good things about using the Snapchat tracking pixel are that users will be able to opt out of retargeting.
You can read more about Snapchat tracking pixels in this article.
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.
Owler
The first tool that we have discovered this week is called Owler (web).
Do you find it tough to keep up with the latest news on your competitors or other companies that you follow?
Some businesses might post some news on their social channels, but other information directly on their website, which can make it difficult to keep up.
With Owler, you can stay informed about over 1 million businesses.
Owler will send you curated news about the companies you are interested in.
This way your company can know what is going on with other businesses in your industry.
Owler is available for free. You can sign-up using the link below.
Sign-up for OwlerCutStory
The second tool that we have for you this week is called CutStory (iOS).
How would you like to extend your Facebook or Instagram Stories?
With CutStory, now you can.
Take a video and cut it into pieces to post on your Instagram or Facebook Stories.
With CutStory, you can quickly take a long video clip and send it to your camera roll in 10 second fragments that you can then use in your Stories.
CutStory is available as a freemium app.
You can download it from the link below.
Download CutStoryWrap-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 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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