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, Phil Gerbyshak.
Let's see what's new in social media this week with your hosts, Christian Karasiewicz and Mike Gingerich.
Watch This Week's Social Media Updates
Save Tweets With Twitter Bookmarks
In Twitter news, they are rolling out Twitter bookmarks to make it easy to save tweets and videos for later.
Why Twitter Bookmarks Matter For Your Business
Twitter has rolled out Twitter bookmarks, a way for you to save your favorite tweets and videos for later.
Previously, if you wanted to save a tweet for later, you had to either like a tweet to save it or use a tool such as Pocket.
You then had to remember to go back and review what you saved (if you remembered to).
By adding a "save for later" feature with Twitter bookmarks, you can quickly save tweets by following these steps.
How to Use Twitter Bookmarks
- In the Twitter mobile app find a tweet you want to save
- Tap on the icon with the up arrow
- Select "add a tweet to bookmarks"
To find your Twitter bookmarks, tap on your profile icon and look under the bookmarks section to see what you have saved.
As a business, you can now quickly save tweets for later - maybe you want to review a tweet and schedule it out on your channel when you're not so busy or you want to read an article later on.
Thanks to Twitter bookmarks, now you can in just a few taps!
You can read more on Twitter's new bookmarking feature here.
Snapchat Commerce
In Snapchat news, they are rolling out commerce features to make it easier to shop from Snapchat.
Why Snapchat Commerce Matters For Your Business
Snapchat has started to enable commerce in ads.
What this means is instead of seeing a Snap and then having to go visit a website, you don't have to.
Instead, you can see a Snapcode on Snapchat, scan it, and then be taken to a Shopify store within Snapchat to make the purchase.
While this is essentially a souped-up Snapcode, it's a big move for Snapchat. Previously, you could use Snapcodes to launch custom filters. Now, they're making them more functional by adding shopping.
As a business, if you haven't set up a store on your website - it can be time-consuming and costly to do - you may want to test out Snapchat commerce.
This way you can get a feel for Snapchat and make it much easier for your customers to see and purchase a product instead of trying to shop on your own site - this can be a hassle to do if your checkout process isn't easy for your customers.
Overall, this is a good move by Snapchat to monetize their platform and hopefully bring more users back to Snapchat.
Hopefully we'll see this type of functionality also come to Snapchat Spectacles in the near future as well.
You can read more about Snapchat commerce here.
Instagram Calling For Audio and Video
In Instagram news, they are testing making Instagram calls over audio and video.
Why Instagram Calling Matters For Your Business
Some businesses use Instagram as their primary social media channel. Instagram apparently thinks they want to use Instagram calling.
On the surface, this may seem like an odd feature, but it makes sense.
You can already add your contact number, why not make it easier for customers to contact your business and vice versa?
Right now, this feature is only being tested. While it appears to duplicate some functionality that Facebook already offers, remember, not everyone's business is on the same social media channel.
You can read more about making calls on Instagram here.
Facebook Voice Clips For Status Updates
In Facebook news, they are testing voice clip status updates.
Why Facebook Voice Clip Status Updates Matter For Your Business
Facebook is testing out a voice clip status updates in India.
When you go to post a status update, you may start to see a Facebook voice clip status update option as seen here.
What this means is instead of posting a text-only update or sharing a video with closed captioning, you'll be able to record an audio update - kind of like a podcast.
This should be a handy feature (provided you can listen to it from outside the app).
If it is released, it should also help you reach customers who cannot watch video or miss your text update.
To learn more about the Facebook voice clip status update feature, here.
Video Chat For Facebook Messenger Lite
Also this week, Facebook rolled out video chat for Facebook Messenger Lite.
Why Video Chat For Messenger Lite Matters For Your Business
Facebook wants to make it easier for everyone to stay connected. To do this, they are introducing a slimmed down version of video chat in Messenger Lite.
People with older devices or a slower Internet connection will be able to chat face-to-face live.
They'll be able to chat using text, photos, links and audio calls.
People using video chat in Facebook Messenger Lite can simply tap the video icon in the upper right corner. If you're on a slow Internet connection, you can start with an audio call and switch to video chat as your signal improves.
As business, you now have options to choose from when communicating with customers throughout the world. You'll no longer have an excuse not to connect with them, as you can use Messenger or Messenger Lite depending on where they are located.
To read the announcement about video chat in Messenger Lite, 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.
Square Sized
The first tool that we have discovered this week is called Square Sized (iOS).
Square Sized is an app to make it easy to post the entire photo or video to Instagram.
What this means is instead of having Instagram crop your image, they fit it into a square in its original format and add a custom background or color.
This way your audience can see your original work instead of just the parts that fit.
Square Sized also features a way to save your creation to your camera roll. From there, you can use it on Facebook, LinkedIn or other social media channels.
Square Sized is available as a freemium app.
Download Square SizedJuicer
The second tool that we have for you this week is called Juicer (web).
With Juicer, you can quickly aggregate your social media updates in once place instead of having to go and check each channel separately.
In addition to making it easier to view all of your social media updates in one place, Juicer also lets you embed your updates on your own website.
This way you can curate and share your updates with your customers.
Here is an example of Juicer.
Juicer offers a free plan. If you need to add additional sources or hashtags, prices then increase to $19 and up.
To create your own Juicer account, click the link below.
Try JuicerWrap-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 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.
