When you’re using social media for business, it’s really important to keep up to date with the latest trends and platform changes. We understand that the changes to social media channels are constant and aren’t always easy to keep up with. So, to make things easier for you, we’ve written this blog post with all the latest social media news and updates.
Our monthly social media round-ups are usually a feature of our Facebook Lives, but this change of format is due to our upcoming office move. But don’t worry, if you’re a fan of our Lives, we’ll back as normal next month in our shiny new office!
Facebook has solved the problem of the lengthy process of approving group members. Admins can now set up certain criteria required for approval and those who meet these criteria will automatically be approved to join the group. Admins can set a certain location as approval criteria. The new feature also assesses the authenticity of the user’s account by looking at factors such as how long the user has been a member of Facebook and if they have any friends in the group.
Instagram users now have the capacity to create and schedule content natively from the Creator Studio app. This update means that brands can now schedule IGTV content and traditional grid posts. However, the capacity to schedule stories is not yet available. Through this scheduling tool, users can see what their content will look like before they post. There have been concerns that content posted using this method won’t receive as much engagement, however it is still too early to tell if this will be a shortcoming. Another shortcoming is that once a post is scheduled or posted via this scheduling tool, it can then only be edited via the Instagram app once it has been posted.
Pinterest has provided additional insights into its ‘pin classification process’. The process is an algorithm which decides whose newsfeed content should end up on. It factors in topics which the image and the caption cover. For businesses, this means that they will be able to understand how to better target their ideal client.
Twitter has previously offered businesses information from third party data suppliers when they are creating their ads to help them better target their promotional content. However, due to the increase of public concern about data privacy, following Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, Twitter have now dropped third party data suppliers. This means that brands will need to factor this change into their ads creation and targeting process.
Facebook is changing its group privacy settings. The current settings feature ‘public’, ‘closed’ and ‘secret’ groups. This change will not affect ‘public’ groups but will mean that ‘closed groups’ will change to ‘private’ ‘visible’ groups and ‘secret’ groups will change to ‘private’ ‘hidden’ groups.
We have been aware of Instagram’s plans for Spark AR studio for a few months now, but in August it finally launched. This means that brands and individuals can create custom filters (like on Snapchat) which support their image and raise brand awareness. Examples of Spark AR studio include Kylie Jenner’s try-on lipstick filter, designed to promote her Kylie Cosmetics brand, Pride filters and the save the planet filter.
Facebook has stopped users from communicating with other group members via messenger within the group. This is to limit the number of spammers present in Facebook groups. Group members can still see their previous messages but will no longer be able to send messages. For businesses who use groups to promote their brand, this is something that they will need to be aware of.
So, there it is, all the previous month’s social media changes in one place. We hope that this has helped you with your social media presence and has given you some ideas for how you can use your business’ social channels.
If you enjoyed this blog post, then be sure to tune into our Facebook Live next month which will be taking place in our new office!
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