Guest blog post by Polly Reed
In the ever-changing world of social media, it can feel like changes happen overnight that can be easily missed. Keeping up-to-date with the new tools and social media updates across the platforms is essential for making the most of them for your small business. In this week’s guest blog, Polly Reed one of the Rimu Marketing team, will be taking us through some planned social media updates you need to be aware of this summer.
1.Facebook Collections – Shared Publicly
Facebook Collections allows you to save content such as posts, photos and videos and organise them into curated lists of content which can currently be shared with your friends. These lists are now going to be publicly shareable, allowing you to share them with not just your friends but also contributors and the public. Facebook is currently testing this feature in the U.S. before rolling it out internationally.
When it comes to using Facebook for business, these shareable collections offer a new way to make your business visible on the platform and open the door to influencer collaborations and business partnerships.
For example, if you sell products on Facebook Marketplace you could use this new feature to create and share a list of the products on sale. Or if you are a local café or venue you might like to compile a list of upcoming events which could be contributed to by the organisers and then shared publicly.
Whilst it’s not part of our daily social media life yet, it may soon become a key tool on the platform for businesses so watch this space!
2. Instagram Lives shared to IGTV
During the height of the lockdown, audiences were in need of entertainment and musicians, celebrities and brands were looking for a place to connect with their audience. The answer? Instagram Live! In March, the use of Instagram Live surged. In response to this, Instagram has allowed live videos to be shared directly to IGTV after you have finished recording. Whilst this is not the biggest update, if your business regularly live streams, this new update will be a useful one.
Previously, after recording your Live it could be uploaded as a Story but this would be broken up into 15-second chunks and then would disappear after 24 hours. Lives could also be downloaded onto your camera and then republished on Facebook or IGTV later.
This could be frustrating and result in low performance since users on Stories typically want fun, fast content, not a 20-minute live recording being hashed out in small chunks.
With the move to making IGTV monetised and it’s usage steadily increasing, having a quick and easy way to build your IGTV library allows you to make the most out of every Live you create. The perfect way to boost your Lives reach and longevity.
3. Tweets can be schedule internally
Have an idea for a tweet but it’s not the right time to send it out to your followers? Twitter has now introduced scheduling on the desktop version on the platform! If you do not want to commit to a scheduling tool and would prefer to schedule internally on the platform then this update which came in May is perfect for you.
When you start a new tweet, simply click on the icon that looks like a calendar and clock. It can be found next to the icons for uploading images, emojis and gifs. Click on the calendar icon and it will give you an option to schedule your new tweet anytime in the next 18 months.
Once you have scheduled tweets, you will be able to see your ‘Scheduled Tweets’ at the bottom of the scheduling box where you can edit the copy, deployment time and date or delete them.
4. Schedule Instagram Stories in Hootsuite
We are big fans of Hootsuite, using it to schedule content across Facebook, Linked In, Instagram and Twitter. Now Hootsuite is adding Instagram Stories into the scheduling mix with an Instagram Story composer. Scheduling stories is not new to other social media management platforms and Hootsuite has taken longer than others to introduce this feature but it is finally on it’s way this summer.
With this new tool you will be able to use Hootsuite’s collaboration features to ensure your story content is on-brand, prepare and schedule them in composer and then add your finishing touches in the Instagram app before sharing with your followers.
Currently in closed beta testing, the Instagram Story composer will allow you to manage your digital marketing all in one place, providing an overview of your content each month. Are you a Hootsuite user? Make sure to keep an eye out for this new update!
It is really important to keep on top of social media updates as the channels are always evolving and businesses need to pay attention to these changes as part of their long-term strategy, adapting to any updates which will allow you to grow your business. It looks like there are lots of really exciting changes on the horizon this summer, we look forward to testing them out!
Sources:
