Another month is coming to an end – but not without us giving you the latest trends, tips and updates in social media! If you’re a business looking to stay ahead of the curve – you’re going to want to read this!
Creators! Yep, a bunch of platforms are pushing their focus towards influencer marketing and creators. Influencer marketing can be a great way to reach a new audience and create more content. It also doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. So it’s definitely worth looking into!
Facebook has launched an initiative to pair top creators with partner marketing opportunities in a new video series. The series will be presented by a range of successful creators and will provide tips and notes on how to maximise your presence in the app.
Instagram is also jumping on this trend. Turns out “Branded Content Ads” are now called “Partnership ads”. With this name update, also comes a change in how it works. Brands can now promote more types of user content in the app.
TikTok is focusing on creators too! They’re working with a selected group of creators on a new programme that connects brands to influencer content. This update will allow creators to post videos based on a brief provided by brands.
Phishing and online scams are becoming more prevalent but don’t be put off from using your socials.
We recommend that you’re take extra care… Unfortunately, with the changes in verification across numerous platforms, scammers are now targeting users through verified accounts.
Top tip: if the URLs they’re signposting you to are not ‘facebook.com’, ‘fb.com’, ‘meta.com’ etc, then don’t trust them or click the link.
YouTube’s helping users maximise branding opportunities by adding more ways for brands to advertise via YouTube Shorts. The platform is adding Shorts into Video Reach campaigns, which use AI to place your ads to improve reach and efficiency.
YouTube is also looking to improve its channel display options to help creators maximise engagement. This includes bringing back ‘Sort by oldest’ as a channel filter and a section of personalised ‘For you’ recommendations (sound familiar?! 😉)
Shorts might be getting a further boost, with new analytics being added to YouTube Studio! The update includes new insights into audience behaviour, new tools for scanning through Shorts clips, and more ways to recognise paying subscribers in-stream.
Twitter’s latest update comes in the form of Twitter Highlights. This feature will let you showcase your best tweets under a new tab called “Highlights”. This could be another way to win over potential followers and highlight your best tweets, so watch this space!
You might remember back in our January update that Twitter was looking at freeing the usernames of 1.5billion accounts. That process was delayed after users raised concerns about memorialised accounts. Despite that, Elon Musk has now stated that Twitter is getting rid of inactive accounts and freeing up handles. It’s unclear if memorialisation has been resolved but this is great news if the handle you want isn’t available!
Nice to have an update from WhatsApp this month and boy is it a good one! You can now edit your sent messages up to 15 minutes after hitting send! (Mic drop.) We all make mistakes and there’s nothing worse than sending a mistake to a customer or colleague, so this update is welcomed with open arms.
Meta is adding new feedback options on Reels. Users will be able to state what they want to see more or less of in their feed. And, be prompted for direct feedback at the bottom of the screen. This update should improve the algorithm (fingers crossed) and help people’s content be reached more by the right audience.
Meta is also testing new AR and Reels ad options to help brands tap into the popularity of each format. This exciting new feature should give brands another, more immersive way to engage users!
Great news from Instagram… third-party platforms will soon be able to provide Instagram Stories scheduling! This will be a big help when it comes to planning and managing socials through platforms like Hootsuite.
A fun update from Instagram – you can now add Gifs in the comments. We quite like this update as it creates a new way to comment and engage with people.
Facebook is looking to help brands make more direct contact with consumers, with a lead generation form update! This update should make it easier for users to connect with businesses with simplified tools!
Last year, TikTok launched TikTok Pulse – an advertising solution that places brands next to the top 4% of trending videos on TikTok across a number of categories. TikTok is now launching a premium ad option called Pulse Premiere! Giving big brands the control to choose where their ads are placed to maximise results.
TikTok also launched a new ‘TikTok World Hub’ mini-site, The super helpful site provides a central space for all TikTok featured elements. This includes video presentations and guides to improve your social media marketing approach.
TikTok has announced a new partnership with Smartly.io! Smartly’s integration will simplify the shopping process, provide video templates and source creators for you to collaborate with!
You might see in a dip in your LinkedIn audience numbers this week. That’s because LinkedIn is no longer counting inactive or restrictive accounts in connection or follower stats. Take this as your sign to reach out to new people and build your connections again!
LinkedIn has also added new topic prompts called ‘Conversations Happening Now.’ This update aims to help guide creators in building their in-app presence. The prompts will be a sample of posts examples that might be relevant to you and your audience! For example, “how do you measure social media engagement” and “what are good tools to manage your social media account.”
Pinterest is simplifying! (Huzzah!) This includes combining all of its creation features into a single stream. Plus, all content creators will now be able to use features like music, text overlay, and stickers to their Pins
You can now add links to your idea pins! You can add links to your products or affiliate links (if approved by Pinterest) but, you can’t add links to blog posts or any other web page.
Pinterest has also launched a new system to provide greater representation within discovery elements. The system uses a “visual skin tone signal to support representation of a wide range of skin tones in recommendations” The aim of this update is to maximise inclusion, and give better user experiences for everyone in the app.
Not another one?!
And finally, there’s another app we’re keeping eyes on, and it’s called BlueSky! Jack Dorsey (ex-Twitter CEO) launched this social media platform earlier in the year. And apparently, it’s focused on “creating a better version of Twitter.” It seems to be picking up in popularity, so while we wouldn’t encourage you to jump on it just yet – we want to give you a heads up about it and let you know we’ll be bringing you any important updates about the app.
That’s our trends, tips and updates for May!
A lot happened of exciting changes in the world of social media this month so we hope you found this helpful. Don’t forget to tweet us to let you know your favourite update! And as usual, we’ll be back next month with another round up of updates from your favourite social media platforms.
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