04 Feb Your Guide to the Latest in Social Media: January Edition
New Year, same busy schedule.
We know you might have been very busy the last couple of weeks—new year, hopefully new clients and signed scopes of work—so we took some time to resume the latest social media happenings and get you up-to-date.
There’s no stopping social media’s growth, and businesses today know that it is a must to have a strong presence on many of the social media channels- so much so that many companies are dedicating significant resources to social media marketing.
This year will be no exception.
Snapshot of Pew Research Center’s The Demographic of Social Media Users
We’ve just wrapped up our first month of the year and many social media players have announced some major developments that could affect your online brand strategy. Here’s a recap of the changes that might be happening soon throughout the major social media platforms:
Facebook welcomes users to their Sports Stadium
Facebook will soon take over the world. A little over a week ago, the social media giant announced the launch of a “dedicated place to experience sports in real-time with your friends around the world.” This new development aims to connect its 650 million sports fans in a single place, where they can find all the content on Facebook related to certain games. All we can say is that it was great timing from Facebook to launch the world’s largest stadium, just ahead of one of the world’s most-watched sporting events, the Super Bowl. Touchdown!
Image sourced by Facebook
Game Changer Alert: Facebook adds native language posts
Facebook is currently testing a new feature, which will allow page managers to post in different languages based on the most relevant option for the user.This is not solely the auto-translate button but a way for posts and content to specifically show based on that language. This will definitely impact companies that have a global presence, as well as how marketers plan to sell pages to their clients.
Image Sourced from thenextweb.com
Pinterest will experiment with Video Ads
Sure, a lot of its rivals have experimented with video ads since long ago. You might even think ‘why is this relevant to us marketers when we have so many other outlets where we can advertise with/through? Well, Pinterest is now the 3rd most popular social network in the US with 100 million users, with the number of users doubling in the past 18 months. At this rate, and with the impressive numbers, Pinterest might become one of the top platforms for advertisers in 2016. It is still unknown when video ads will launch.
Twitter to change its character limit to 10,000
Between the 10,000 character limit outrage/reaction and the departure of big executives, Twitter has begun 2016 with drastic changes. There is no official date set in stone, but the news has already caused a strong reaction among users, who are not too happy about this social media giant getting rid of one of its biggest unique aspects.
Another big development from Twitter was bringing Periscope broadcasts straight into tweets. Now you can see live and replays of broadcasts on your newsfeed. Entre the Moments tab and Periscope broadcasts directly into tweets, we can assume that Twitter is trying to be the go-to social media platform to see what’s happening around the world in real time!
Image Sourced from Twitter.com
Snapchat might be adding video calls
Looks like Snapchat is experimenting with a new design, plus adding stickers, text messages and audio and live video features. Snapchat hasn’t commented on when this upgraded messaging experience will become public, but it certainly looks like the app is trying to become more competitive among its opposition. Watch out Facebook Messenger and What’s App!
Image Sourced from Snapchat
As you may have noticed, Instagram has definitely been showing more ads lately as you scroll through your news feed. Additionally, the company recently announced it would begin running 60-second video ads starting with T-Mobile and Warner Bros allowing companies to make a small transition from traditional ad spending to digital. The goal for brands making the switch- find a balance between making the most of the advertised spending while also making sure Instagram remains what the users have come to love.
Image Sourced from Techcrunch.com
As social media platforms continue to implement changes, it is important for marketers to be proactive and flexible to stay up-to-date and make the necessary adaptations in this evolving field. Brands will need to be proactive and capable of changing as these platforms continue to advance.
