Welcome to this week’s episode of Social Chatter where we cover the latest social media news from this past week.
Each episode of Social Chatter is available as a blog post or video.
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
Facebook Unified Inbox for Facebook, Messenger and Instagram
In Facebook news, they are launching a unified Inbox.
If you’re a business, this is fantastic news.
Previously, you had to open separate apps to respond to customers on Facebook and Instagram.
Now businesses can respond to comments from the Facebook Pages Manager app (iOS | Android).
The Inbox will include a unified stream of all of the commentary across your Facebook Page, Messenger and Instagram.
This includes comments on Facebook posts, posts made on a Page, messages and comments on Instagram and videos!
There will also be individual tabs for the individual channels as well so you can filter them.
Why a Unified Facebook Inbox Matters
Having a unified Inbox on Facebook is going to be especially helpful for businesses because now you won’t have to switch back and forth between accounts.
Instead, you can manage everything from the Facebook Page Manager app.
This will help to cutdown on missed messages and comments because everything will be accessible from one place.
As a business, you should also look to change when you respond to messages and comments.
With everything in one place, we recommend scheduling a time to respond to all of the conversations that come in during a sitting.
This way you can respond and get them done and move on to the next thing you need to work on for your business.
You can read more about the new unified Inbox in this post.
Facebook Messenger Rooms
In Facebook news, they have added a new feature called Rooms to Messenger.
With Rooms, users can create their own rooms via the Messenger app.
They can also invite members, approve new members, configure notifications, set a nickname for themselves and more.
What makes Rooms different from a group chat is that conversations can be centered around a specific topic.
Groups are primarily focused on family and friends.
Why Facebook Messenger Rooms Matter
When Rooms get added to Facebook Messenger, you will be able to set Rooms to private.
You can also determine who can join because requests have to be approved by an administrator.
This will be particularly useful for groups because you won’t have to be friends with someone. It can also be a way to connect with people around a specific topic or to help bring together a group of people who need help with the same issue.
You can read more about Rooms for Messenger here.
Run Facebook Ads to Promote Facebook Groups
In #FacebookAds news, you can now promote Facebook Groups! #FacebookTips #socialmedia #smm pic.twitter.com/z2oPWNI17h
— Social Chefs (@socialchefs) November 16, 2016
Also this week, Facebook rolled out the ability to run Facebook Ads for Facebook Groups.
This way you can begin to promote your Facebook Group to bring in new members or re-engage members who haven’t been very active in your group lately.
Why Facebook Ads for Facebook Groups Matter
Facebook Groups can be a powerful way for your business to build a deeper connection with customers.
By adding the ability to promote Facebook Groups using Facebook Ads, this means your business will be able to advertise your group to other Facebook users so that you can build up a core audience.
This way you can recruit the right members into your group.
If your group is inactive, this can be a way to reactivate them and get them to come back to the group and participate.
To promote your Facebook Group, simply go to your Facebook Group and look for the “promote group” button located in your cover photo area.
Here is what that looks like.
Facebook Shop Product Tagging
This week, Facebook also started rolling out Facebook shop product tagging.
This means you can now tag products that are available in your Facebook Page “shop tab.”
Here is where you can tag products available in you Facebook store.
- Photos
- Posts
Why Facebook Store Product Tagging Matters
By adding the ability to tag products from your Facebook store in photos and posts, this means you can work to increase your sales.
This is because customers who are seeing your Facebook Page posts will now be able to link directly off to a product that you tagged.
The more engaged your audience is with your Facebook Page, the more chances your business has of making a sale now.
This image shows you where you can tag products from your Facebook shop.
Vertical Instagram Ads
In Instagram news, they have rolled out vertical Instagram Ads.
This is great news, considering portrait photo posts have been available on Instagram for a long time.
Why Vertical Instagram Ads Matter
Now that vertical Instagram ads are available, advertisers will have greater flexibility when creating their Instagram ads.
Based on feedback from Instagram testing, businesses are seeing improved viewing rates using the vertical Instagram ads format.
When running Instagram ads, be sure to experiment with vertical, square and landscape images to see which one delivers the best results for your business.
You can read more about vertical ads here.
Twitter Mute Words
In Twitter news, they are taking a stance on online abuse by rolling out mute words.
According to Twitter, “we’re expanding mute to where people need it the most: in notifications. We’re enabling you to mute keywords, phrases, and even entire conversations you don’t want to see notifications about.”
Here is a video about Twitter mute words.
Want to stop getting notifications for Tweets that contain certain words, usernames, or hashtags? We're giving you that control. pic.twitter.com/awoNHUYbTG
— Safety (@safety) November 15, 2016
Why Twitter Mute Words Matter
Twitter mute words are Twitter’s way of reducing online abuse.
As a business, you can also use them to help clean-up your notifications.
This means you can use mute words for words, hashtags and even entire conversations.
Here is a quick overview on muting words, phrases, usernames, emojis and hashtags.
Muting words, phrases, usernames, emojis, and hashtags overview:
- Muting is case-insensitive. For example: If you add “CATS” to your mute list, any mention of “cats” will be muted from your notifications.
- You can include punctuation within a word or phrase when muting. Punctuation at the end of a word or phrase is not necessary.
- Muting a word will mute both the word itself and its hashtag. For example: If you mute “unicorn”, both “unicorn” and “#unicorn” will be muted from your notifications.
- To mute Tweet notifications that mention a particular account, you must include the @ sign before the name. Doing this will mute Tweet notifications that mention that account, but won’t mute notifications from the account itself. Learn about how to mute accounts here.
- Words, phrases, usernames, emojis, and hashtags up to 140 characters can be muted.
- Muting is possible across all Twitter-supported languages.
- Muting cannot be set for a particular time period. Words and phrases will remain muted until manually deleted from your settings.
- You can view a list of your muted words (and unmute them) in your settings.
To mute words and hashtags in the Twitter mobile app, follow these steps.
- Go to your Notifications tab
- Tap the gear icon
- Tap Muted words
- Tap + Add muted word or phrase.
- Type in the words or hashtags you’d like to mute.
- Tap Save.
- Tap Done.
- You will see the mute icon next to each entered word or hashtag.
You can also use Twitter mute words in conversation too.
When you do this, your business will stop receiving notifications for a particular Twitter conversation.
To learn more about using mute words, go here.
Twitter QR Codes
Also in Twitter news, they have rolled out Twitter QR codes.
These are similar to Facebook Messenger codes.
With Twitter QR codes, people can scan these and immediately get to your Twitter profile.
This way they can quickly follow you or your business.
Here is a video on Twitter QR codes.
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Why Twitter QR Codes Matter
Facebook has Messenger codes. Snapchat has their own codes as well.
While having QR codes aren’t new, it’s time that Twitter had their own as well.
These are important because now you can make them your Twitter profile photo and people can easily scan them and follow you.
They can also be added to your businesses website.
It’s one less click. Instead, you can scan the code using your mobile device.
If you’re a business, you want things to be frictionless for customers.
Twitter QR codes do just that.
You can create your own Twitter QR code, add it to your website, and people can quickly scan it in seconds.
In order to create a Twitter QR code, you will need the Twitter mobile app (iOS | Android).
Pinterest Explore
In Pinterest news, they have launched a new feature called Explore.
What Pinterest Explore does is it is a feature that helps surface trending pins and native videos.
Why Pinterest Explore Matters
Pinterest Explore is important because it will help you surface trending pins that you can share.
You can also see new videos from your favorite brands and publishers.
This way you can keep up with topics that interest you and find new ones to share!
Here is a video showing you more about Pinterest Explore.
You can read more about the Pinterest Explore feature here.
Tools
In addition to sharing the latest in social media news from this past week, we also highlighted some great tools and apps to check out.
Pie
Pie is another fascinating app.
If you have been looking for a way to take Facebook 360 photos, you know that you can use a 360 camera.
But what if you don’t want to buy a camera?
With the Pie mobile app, you don’t need to.
What Pie does is it let’s you create 360 videos with or without a 360 camera!
With Pie, you “swipe or spin your phone to watch 360 videos and what they call slices on Pie.”
A few other exciting features included with Pie are 360 filters, emojis and the ability to add text to your 360 video slices.
Pie is available as a free app. You can download the Pie mobile app and start creating your own 360 videos below.
Download PieGoogle Photoscan
The next tool we wanted to share with you is called Google Photoscan (iOS | Android).
Google Photoscan is a mobile app for scanning your physical photos.
With Google Photoscan, you can scan and save your favorite photos.
Photoscan scans your photos in seconds, glare-free.
It will also crop, enhance and rotate your photos for you.
Google Photoscan is a free mobile app. You can download it here.
Download Google PhotoscanPreview for Instagram
The last tool we wanted to share this week is called Preview for Instagram (iOS | Android).
Preview for Instagram is an all-in-one Instagram tool.
It can help you plan, design, edit, theme, caption and schedule your Instagram posts.
Normally, you would need to purchase multiple applications and Instagram tools.
With Preview for Instagram, you get everything in one convenient app.
This way you can create and schedule your content in one place instead of having to switch back and forth and run the risk something doesn’t get done.
Preview for Instagram is a freemium app. You can download it below.
Download Preview for InstagramWrap-up
That’s it for this week’s episode of Social Chatter.
Be sure to tune-in to our next episode of Social Chatter 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.
