Social Media updates- June 26

Calling all entrepreneurs, business owners, and marketing professionals! Have you heard the power social media marketing can have for your business?

Pssssst! We’ll let you in on a little secret: The potential is pretty epic.

The key is to stay up-to-date on current trends, which, with rate our favorite platforms update, isn’t always easy.

That’s where we come in. We’re here to guide you to that epic potential by telling you each week what’s changed in social media. So take a scroll through and get ready to leave with lots of new ideas.

 

1. Snap Map via SnapChat

 

With the recent competition Snapchat has faced with Instagram stories, it was vital they diversified themselves. The Snap Map is an all new feature unique to Snapchat. With the new update, users will be able to see on a map where people around them are hanging out based on publicly posted stories.  
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Takeaway for your business:  This is going to impact the way snappers interact with one another because you can now publicly see where the hotspots are.

Why does that matter?  For concerts, events, and (soon) advertisers this is a new way for those near by to hear about your establishment. We’d like to call this the ultimate word-of-mouth.

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2. Self-Serve Ad Manager Tool via Snapchat

Ads are nothing new to Snapchat, but Snap Publisher, self-serve Ad Manager, and Snapchat Certified Partners program are. These new updates bring something unique to Snapchat’s advertisers that together make building campaigns more manageable.

Snap Publisher offers: help with sizing videos to fit Snap’s vertical format, templates for different objectives, the addition of movement to static photos, and A/B testing.

The self-serve Ad Manage offers a variety of new features as well. Some of the most exciting are the viewable analytics, that there’s no longer a minimum budget, the new targeting capabilities, and a Mobile Dashboard easy to use on the go. 

Lastly, Snapchat’s Certified Partners program will link up advertisers on their app to third-party tech companies with tools to elevate their ad game. Some partners already are VaynerMedia, Sweet IQ, and Resolution Media.

Takeaway for your business: Previously, advertising on the app has mostly been for the big dogs. Now, it’s more accessible for the smaller budget advertisers without a huge marketing team.

The ‘no minimum budget’ feature and ad templates provide a simpler way to build lower budget campaigns, while the tech partnership will provide more tools for ad strategy and execution.   

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3. Direct Messages with Smart Action Buttons via Twitter

It’s going down in the DMs! Similar to Facebook, Twitter has now attached Smart Action Buttons to their Direct Message feature.

Brands can include buttons in their messaging that ask customers to do something simple like follow their account, visit a web page, or tweet a message. Up to three buttons can be added to a single message and the copy is completely adjustable.

Focus has been using this feature to promote their new movie The Beguiled, with an automated game of trivia. After finishing the game, players are encouraged to share their score via Tweet.

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Takeaway for your business: The Smart Action Buttons are helpful when it comes to customer service and growing engagement. The more standard or dull interactions can be automated, while brands can get more creative and engaging with the fun stuff.

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4. Archive Feature via Instagram

Instagram recently gave users the ability to archive already published photos and videos from their feed. This way you can hide content that’s no longer relevant, or no longer fits your brand’s standards, but still, have the option to unarchive it later.

No more wrestling with the decision to delete a photo or not, instead, you can virtually save it for later with a single tap of a button:

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Takeaway for your business:  This feature will allow you to pull promotional content that is no longer valid for that day or given circumstance. Maybe you’ve run a special recently that has now ended. Instead of deleting that post, archive it and bring it back when you have that special going again. That way this content can still be found under the hashtags you used and under your profile.

Another takeaway from this update comes from the ability to ‘clean up’ your feed. You may have a few photos that do not “block” together properly on your grid, are low quality, or feature outdated designs. By archiving these posts you can make sure that everything in your profile is high quality, without deleting memories.

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5. Bilingual feature via Facebook Messenger

You can set a primary language on most apps and devices so that your preferences will be viewed in the same language.  Now on Facebook Messenger (finally) you can get suggestions in both English and Spanish so these preferences will show through.

Takeaway for your business:  Not diversifying your business is usually a downfall for most companies and Facebook has finally added a feature to adapt to users across the board.  

When connecting with customers on Facebook that are Spanish speaking, you will be able to correct spelling errors and have words translated more accurately than before.  

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Social Media Spotlight of the Week:

Our spotlight feature this week comes from a scheduling platform called Board Booster.  Put simply, it helps you put your Pinterest accounts on autopilot, helping you save time and resources.  

There are three main features to this scheduling platform: Campaign, Scheduler, and Looping and all three could increase engagement on your Pinterest without hand selecting pins. Board Booster will create secret boards that will be visible on your dashboard allowing you to place content you would like to have pinned eventually on your boards.

The Campaign feature allows you to create a single pin, set a time range you want it to go out, and the boards you would like it to appear on, then the site does the rest.

Scheduler has a similar idea in that you will set a number of pins per board to be posted, the time range and wa-lah! With the use of keywords and key boards, Board Booster will pull content specifically for your page without you having to manually schedule the posts.  

Lastly, Looping, this is a way to make your pins go ‘viral’ and use them to their fullest potential by continuously posting them at prime times to get the largest reach.  All of these settings generate content at the ideal time in your set range to increase your page’s engagement and views.

This is a platform is going to enhance your Pinterest without having to craft posts yourself.  You can set up a free month trial with 100 pins, then the lowest package is 5 dollars for 500 pins and increases from there.  

Pinterest is an extremely important platform for businesses and scheduling can be tough so don’t miss out on this tool to help make it effortless.

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Have some questions about a new update we didn’t cover? Give us a comment below and we’d be happy to answer. If not, check back in next week for your weekly update in the social media world!