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, video or you can listen to the Alexa Flash Briefing.
For those of you who missed last week's show with Nick Rishwain, Christian Karasiewicz and guest, Sarah Stahl, you can find it here.
We're also joined by this week's special guest, Morgan Harrell.
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
IGTV Long-Form Instagram Video
In Instagram news, they are launching IGTV, a new app for watching long-form video content on Instagram.
This is what IGTV looks like.
Why IGTV Long-Form Instagram Video Matters For Your Business
Instagram already boasts a community of over 1 billion users.
Today, they are launching IGTV, a mobile app for "watching long-form, vertical video" from your favorite creators.
With IGTV, you will be able to watch from the IGTV app as well as from the Instagram app.
If you're a creator, you can upload videos from 15 seconds all the way up to an hour long to IGTV. This can be done from your devices camera roll, Instagram Stories, or on the web.
A better way to put it would be to think of IGTV creators as channels. You can then follow your favorite creators from the IGTV app or on their Instagram Profile.
Here is what IGTV looks like once you set it up. Your Instagram Profile will get an IGTV badge that shows you have a channel.
From there, people can follow you on IGTV or access your videos from the IGTV option on your Instagram account.
We've already set up IGTV for Social Chefs. You can do the same for your business simply by downloading the IGTV mobile app.
From there, you can walk-through the process for creating a channel - it takes just a few minutes.
You can read the announcement about IGTV for watching long-form video content on mobile here.
New Ways to Build A Business On Facebook
In Facebook news, they are rolling out new ways to build a business on Facebook to include new Live video tools, video templates for Facebook Pages, Brand Collabs Manager and fan subscriptions.
Why New Facebook Tools For Building A Business Matters For Your Business
Facebook is rolling out a host of new tools to help you to build and grow your business on their platform. Here's a rundown on each of these new features.
Polling For Live and On-Demand Video For Live
Facebook is rolling out polling for live video. This new feature will let you add questions with a set of answers to get your fans' opinions.
These new features will help you make your Facebook Live videos more engaging for viewers.
Remember, you'll also want to be sure you're using great live video tools to take advantage of these features. This way you don't just have an engaging show, but you also look and sound your best on your Facebook Live videos.
Videos From Facebook Page Come to Watch
Facebook is expanding Facebook Watch to bring in videos from Pages. This should help you broaden your audience as Facebook continues to build out Watch and add more content.
Video Templates For Facebook Pages
Facebook is testing a new video template for Pages.
This new feature will help your Page put video "front and center."
You can find video templates under Settings > Edit Page > Templates.
Brand Collabs Manager
Facebook wants to help creators be discovered by brands. To do this, they are rolling out Brands Collabs Manager, to let brands search and find creators to work with.
You can sign-up to be a brand colas manager here.
Facebook Fan Subscriptions
Facebook is also testing a feature to let fans pledge $4.99 USD per month "in exchange for perks like exclusive content and a special badge highlighting their status as a supporter."
This feature is currently being expanded to more Facebook creators.
To read more about each of these new tools for Facebook creators to help you build and grow your business, click here.
Facebook Subscription Groups Pilot Program
Facebook is running a pilot program for Facebook subscription groups.
This new feature that they are testing is a way to help Facebook Group owners deepen engagement with their members and monetize their communities.
Why Facebook Subscription Groups Matter For Your Business
Many Facebook Group owners run two Groups - one that's free and another that is paid. This can require lots of resources to main.
According to Facebook "subscription groups were created to make it easier for admins to provide these experiences with built-in tools, and to save them time so they can focus on offering members-only content. For members, they're now able to sign-up and manage their subscription through the Facebook app for iOS and Android."
If your business currently runs two Facebook Groups and you're short on time, you should consider using Facebook subscription groups.
Currently, they're being tested with a small number of groups, but overall, they should be able to save you time (that you can invest back into your customers) if they do launch.
You can read the announcement about Facebook subscription groups for Admins here.
Facebook Partners To Build Privacy Into Your Business
This week, Facebook announced "two new partnerships designed to help small and medium businesses (SMBs) and developers build privacy into their services."
Why Protecting Customer Privacy Matters For Your Business
The first partnership is with George Washington University Law School. They're working with "Professor Daniel Solove and his privacy and security training company, TeachPrivacy, to bring privacy training to small businesses."
What this is is a way to cover 10 key things small business owners need know about protecting their customers' privacy.
Facebook also "partnered with HackerOne, a company that advises some of the world's best security teams, to help educate mobile startup developers in their FbStart program."
The aim of this program is to "help early-stage mobile startups build and grow their apps securely."
As more and more customers become interested in privacy, Facebook is working to help educate businesses on the importance of this practice. Business owners need to begin to pay more attention to their customers and how they are protecting their data.
To read the announcement about new ways to improve customer service for Facebook advertisers click here.
Facebook Removes Gun-Accessory Ads For Children
Facebook is removing gun-accessory ads for children - likely because of a rise in gun violence.
Why FacebookRemoving Gun-Accessory Ads For Children Matters For Your Business
If you're in the business of selling gun scopes, holsters, gun-mounted lights, belt extras, safes and more, Facebook is removing gun-accessory ads.
If you're in this industry, you already know that Facebook already doesn't allow the sale of weapons, ammunitions, explosives and magazines. Adding gun accessories to the policy makes sense.
With these new restrictions in-place, one thing you'll want to look at if you're in this field is to look into building a stronger community of customers. This could include setting up a Facebook Group or a membership site on your website.
If you can't advertise to reach your customers, you'll have to develop a more engaging place to meet them.
In the meantime, if your Facebook Ads selling gun-accessory suddenly disappear, don't be alarmed, as it is expected from Facebook.
You can read the announcement about Facebook removing gun-accessory ads here.
Facebook Messenger Autoplay Video Ads
Also this week, Facebook began rolling out autoplay video ads in Facebook Messenger.
Why Autoplay Video Ads In Messenger Matters For Your Business
Facebook has been running out of places to display ads. As a result, they have had to find other places to run ads.
They're currently working on adding autoplay Messenger video ads.
As a business, this is a good thing, because it will give you more opportunities to get your message in front of customers. At the same time, it could backfire.
Facebook Messenger already shows you Facebook Ads in Messenger. We currently hide these messages. Adding video ads just makes Facebook more frustrating to use.
The good news is you can report them to Facebook, but you cannot currently turn this feature off.
Our recommendation is to try running a few autoplay video ads in Messenger to see how your customers respond to them and then adjust from there once you have more data to help you make a more informed decision.
To read the announcement about Facebook Messenger autoplay video ads click here.
Snapchat AR Lenses and Sponsored Snappables
In Snapchat news, you can now access AR lenses from the Snapchat self-serve ad tool.
Why Snapchat AR Lenses and Sponsored Snappables Matter For Your Business
Snapchat is making AR lenses available in their self-serve ad tool.
These AR lenses have access to 500 preset audiences and provide real-time metrics.
Prices run from $8 to #20 depending on targeting and other options that you choose.
Snapchat is also rolling out sponsored snappables. These are a branded version of their AR selfie games that require users to make "funny faces in public" in order to play the game.
Snapchat is currently working with brands such as Bud Light, Dunkin Donuts and King, the makers of Candy Crush.
If your business is using Snap's self-serve ad tool, you may want to look into purchasing the AR lenses to see how your customers respond to them.
You can read more about Snapchat AR lenses in their self-serve ad tool 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.
Panda
The first tool that we have discovered this week is called Panda (iOS).
Would you like to make your photos or videos more exciting and engaging?
With Panda, you can talk and it will use your voice to automatically add AR effects based on what you're speaking about.
Panda is available as a free download. You can try it out from the link below.
Download PandaPostcron
The second tool that we have for you this week is Postcron (iOS).
Postcron is a social media scheduling tool.
With Postcron, you can save time and effort when scheduling posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. This way your business can focus on creating content to tell your story.
Most social media scheduling tools limit you to scheduling updates for Facebook and Twitter. Postcron is an effective Instagram scheduling tool and also works for Pinterest as well.
Postcron is comparable to scheduling tools such as Agorapulse and Hootsuite. They add a bulk uploader for scheduling 1,000 posts, pins or tweets along with the ability to automatically add a logo or watermark to your images.
Postcron offers a free 7 day trial. You can download the app from the link below to begin scheduling your social media posts.
Prices start at $12 per month for Postcron.
Download PostcronWrap-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.
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