Welcome to this week's episode of Social Chatter, your weekly social media marketing talk show 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 Joe Wilson.
We're also joined by this week's special guest, Helen Blunden.
Watch This Week's Social Media Updates
Call-to-Action Buttons In Twitter Direct Messages
In Twitter news, they are adding call-to-action buttons to Twitter Direct Messages.
Why Call-to-Action Buttons In Twitter Direct Messages Matters For Your Business
Twitter wants to help your business improve the experience for your customers.
Starting today, they are adding call-to-action buttons in Direct Messages.
This is what the new call-to-action buttons look like.
These new call-to-action buttons can help speed up customer service issues or help someone complete a task.
For example, if you send a Direct Message on Twitter, a business might show a button to direct you to a website such as a payment page to complete a transaction.
With new call-to-action buttons in Twitter Direct Messages, this is just one of many ways your business can improve the customer experience for various points of the process.
You can read more about this new feature from Twitter, here.
Snapchat Ads Manager, Snap Publisher and Certified Partners
In Snapchat news, they have launched Ads Manager and Snapchat Publisher.
Why Snapchat Ads Manager, Snap Publisher and Certified Partners Matter For Your Business
First up, we have Snapchat Ad Manager.
We discussed Snapchat Ads Manager on a previous episode of Social Chatter.
At the time, they only announced their self-serve ads tool.
Now it's official and your business can begin to create ads using Snap's ads tool.
You can buy, manage, optimize, view analytics about your Snapchat campaigns, spend as little as you want with no minimum,, use all of Snapchat's ad formats and targeting and more.
Like Facebook, Snapchat also offers a mobile dashboard for tracking campaigns.
They also have Business Manager as well if you work with different team members.
To get started with Snapchat Ads, simply fill out this form.
The second update announced this week by Snapchat is Snapchat Publisher.
With Snap Publisher, rather than using expensive video software, you can create your own vertical videos.
Starting in July, advertisers will be able to use the Snap Publisher tool.
With Snap Publisher, you will be able to import your brand assets, trim horizontal videos to fit Snapchat's vertical video format, use Snap templates based on your objectives, add motion to stats photos, run A/B testing and more.
A third update announced by Snapchat this week are certified partners.
According to TechCrunch, "with the new Certified Partners program, its given extra training to a select set of its top ad tech partners and will favor them when referring clients."
Basically, if Snapchat wants to get a piece of the digital ads pie, it will have to show that running ads can generate ROI.
Only time will tell if that is the case.
You can read more about Snap Publisher, Ads Manager and the Certified Partner program here.
Templates For Facebook Canvas Ads
In Facebook news, they have added templates for Canvas ads.
Why Templates for Facebook Canvas Ads Matter For Your Business
If your business is buying Canvas Ads, in Facebook Ads Manager, you'll have three Canvas templates available to you depending on the business objective that you select.
These include the following templates: get new customers, showcase your business and sell products.
Each of these templates has placeholders for you to add your own branding or to customize the text and images.
Here is an example of what Facebook Canvas ads to sell products looks like.
To use the new Facebook Canvas ad templates, go to your Facebook Page and click on "publishing tools" and then select the "canvas" option.
From there, click on the "+ create" button to start working on your first Canvas ad.
You can read more about the templates for Canvas ads here.
Add Relevant Groups In Facebook Groups
This week, Facebook also rolled out the ability to add relevant groups within Facebook Groups.
Why Adding Relevant Groups In Facebook Groups Matters For Your Business
Do you manage multiple Facebook Groups for your business?
Instead of keeping those groups hidden from your customers, you can link them together by adding relevant groups to an existing Facebook Group.
Many of you will see this when you visit your Facebook Group.
From here, you can click on the "link group" option.
If you don't see this when you visit your group, you'll have to look under the … option for the "link existing group" menu item.
As a business, if you also manage multiple Facebook Groups, you can link them together.
This way when someone joins one Facebook Group, they can also see that you have additional Facebook Groups that might be worth joining.
For example, we have a broad Social Chefs Facebook Group for Social Media Managers and other marketing professionals.
We also have additional niche groups for areas such as real estate, direct sales and more.
This way, if someone joins one group, they may see another one that they are interested in.
To start adding relevant groups to your Facebook Group, click on the … option and select "link existing group."
Animated GIFs In Facebook Comments
Also this week, Facebook rolled out animated GIFs in Facebook comments.
Why Animated GIFs In Facebook Comments Matter For Your Business
According to Facebook, "people on Messenger sent nearly 13 billion GIFs in the last year, or nearly 25,000 GIFs every minute."
With so many people sending GIFs, it was surprising that Facebook didn't offer animated GIFs.
Fortunately, today you can now add animated GIFs to your Profile, Pages and even in Groups.
Here is a short video showing you how to add animated GIFs in Facebook comments.
As a business, animated GIFs may come in handy to make your brand more human.
At the same time, be sure you think about the situation first before just using animated GIFs in Facebook comments.
it's a good idea to keep an eye on feedback you get from customers.
Remember, just because you can use them, doesn't mean they apply to every situation.
To read more about celebrating the animated GIF, click here.
Value Optimization and Value-Based Lookalike Audiences Come to Facebook Ads
Also in Facebook news, they have rolled out value optimization and value-based Lookalike Audiences to Facebook Ad campaigns.
Why Value Optimization and Value-Based Lookalike Audiences Matter
According to Facebook, "mobile has unlocked the possibility for businesses to reach people with ads in so many new ways. But with all of the options out there, it can be difficult to understand which will drive the most impact for a specific goal. "
With that, Facebook is rolling out value optimization.
Value optimization "enables advertisers to optimize their ad campaigns based on purchase value data passed through the Facebook Pixel. "
"Value optimization works by using the purchase values sent from the Facebook pixel to estimate how much a person may spend with your business over a seven-day period. The ad's bid is then automatically adjusted based on this estimation, allowing campaigns to deliver ads to people likely to spend more with your business at a low cost."
Eligible businesses will get value optimization over the next several months.
You can access these when you create a website conversion ad set, optimized for purchases in Facebook Ads Manager.
The second addition to Facebook Ads are value-based Lookalike Audiences.
Would you like to maximize your revenue on a minimal budget?
Facebook has rolled out value-based Lookalike Audiences.
The goal is to help you try and target users who are similar to your best customers.
"With this enhancement, advertisers are no longer limited to creating small groups of audiences based on their spend or LTV prior to creating a Custom Audience. Now, they can include a value column to their entire customer list, which Facebook can use to create an additional weighted signal for people most likely to make a purchase after seeing your ad. Value-based lookalikes can be found across all objectives in Ads Manager or Business Manager."
Both of these Facebook Ad enhancements are available today.
You can read more about them on the official Facebook blog.
Apple Adds Business Chat to iMessage
In Apple news, they are adding business chat to iMessage.
Why Apple Adding Business Chat to iMessage Matters
In iOS 11, customers will be able to start a support chat with businesses using Siri, Maps, Safari as well as Spotlight search.
Some examples of what customers can do include being able to ask questions, schedule appointments, make purchases and more.
When someone makes a purchase, they will use Apple Pay.
In addition, businesses will be able to let customers schedule events with their calendar.
This also presents an opportunity for businesses to show a list of products to customers to choose from.
If additional information is required, iMessage will offer extensions for tasks that require further assistance.
Overall, this is a clear shot at Facebook Messenger.
Here is an example of how business chat will work in Apple iMessage.
If you want to register your business for this new chat feature from Apple, you can do so 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.
Peeks
The first tool we have for you this week is called Peeks (iOS | Android).
Are you looking for ways to monetize Live video?
Last week on Social Chatter, your weekly social media marketing talk show, we discussed an app called Peep (iOS).
This week, we wanted to highlight an additional way to make money with your Live videos.
Peeks, this week's social media tool, is a "live streaming social network that provides crowd funding and peer-to-peer payments."
With Peeks, you can run your own livestreams.
You can quickly build up an audience of followers who like your live video content.
Viewers can then choose to send you cash tips that you can withdraw into your bank account.
Peeks is available as a freemium app. You can download it from the link below.
Crowd fund my live videosTweetdraw
The next tool we wanted to share with you is called Tweetdraw (iOS).
Would you like to save time pulling the winner for a Twitter contest or giveaway?
With Tweetdraw, you can quickly pull a winner in seconds.
For example, your Twitter contest might have a need to pull a random Twitter follower, retweet or hashtag.
Instead of spending time counting tweets, you can use Tweetdraw to quickly help you with this.
Tweetdraw is a free tool.
You can begin using it from the link below to pull your next Twitter contest winner.
Pull random Twitter contest winners with TweetdrawWrap-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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