Author: Jenny Connelly

The Power of Pinterest for your Retail Brand

Posted on by Jenny Connelly

First things first, if you’re not exactly sure what Pinterest is and how it differs from other social networks, here’s a little summary – Pinterest is basically a virtual pinboard, you can browse millions of images and add them to your virtual ‘board’. Pinterest doesn’t class itself as a social network like Instagram or Facebook – instead, it’s a platform that allows users to feel inspired and plan their dreams. They’re a personal media, rather than social media.

Brands can hugely benefit from Pinterest – firstly, it’s worth noting that Pinterest users visit the platform to get inspired and therefore they’re usually in a positive mindset. Pinners (a nickname for Pinterest users) are usually at the beginning of their buying or planning journey, therefore as a brand, it’s great to be visible at this stage. Pinterest states that 66% of Pinners have made a purchase based on the content they saw from brands on the platform – demonstrating the influence and potential for brands on the platform.

Here at Fusion Unlimited, we had the pleasure of attending an exclusive Pinterest workshop for some of the top independent agencies in the UK. The workshop enabled us to truly explore the ways we can maximize Pinterest’s offering for our clients. Read on to find out the key points we learnt and how you can apply them to your marketing strategy.

 

What makes a good pin?

Pinterest is a highly visual platform – the first thing to draw the user in is the creative you choose to publish. Therefore, it’s important to create images that are appealing to the user in order to generate as much relevant website traffic that can help you convert. The following tips apply to both paid and organic pins.

  1. High-res and high-quality photos – good quality photos always work best, they’re more aesthetically pleasing and allow the user to see the content best.
  2. Use lifestyle photography as much as possible – lifestyle photography showing your brand’s product is often more effective and attention-grabbing than studio photography.
  3. Seasonal content – Pinterest users often head to the platform to get inspiration for seasonal events like Christmas, interior design, party ideas, fashion advice and more. By creating seasonal content, you can tap into those users and appear for more keywords.
  4. Sized at 1000 x 1500 pixels – creating your Pin this size will ensure that your image is visible and not cropped.
  5. Discreet branding, or none at all – surprisingly the majority of pins (73%) are uploaded by brands. This has allowed brands to have a discreet and sustainable relationship with Pinterest users that allows them to play a key role in helping the pinner achieve their dream – instead of showering them with blatant ads.
  6. Text overlay for promoting content – adding copy to your Pin can give users a better understanding of what the image is promoting and the content behind it.
  7. Include keywords in your title and description – People are reading these, so sentences work best. But Pinterest’s robots are also indexing these, so make sure to include high volume keywords.

Promoting your product on Pinterest

Now that we know what makes a good pin, let’s put it into practice. As you can see, the image below is overly branded and doesn’t inspire the user in any way. This sort of image could be used for other social networks or ads but doesn’t work best for Pinterest and its audience. Pinterest users come to the platform to feel inspired, rather than to be advertised to.

The next two images are created with Pinterest in mind. Let’s assume that the image on the left is advertising the dress and the image on the right is adverting the trainers – the products are clearly on display in a non-branded and lifestyle environment. They resonate with the user and have the potential to inspire them, increasing the likelihood of them interacting with the pin.

 

When you click on an available product, the following appears for the user. Therefore the user can go directly to the brand’s website to buy the product or find out more.

 

Promoting content on Pinterest

Promoting website content is a little different than promoting a product. Using a text overlay can be a great way to let users know exactly what the content is about and direct users to your website’s content.

Let’s see an example of some creative with and without a text overlay. The image on the left doesn’t tell the user what the content is about, therefore you may get traffic to your website, but not necessarily relevant traffic from users that are willing to interact with your content.

The image on the right tells the user exactly what the content is about and therefore has a stronger CTA. Increasing the likelihood of directing relevant traffic to your website.

The shelf life of a pin is approximately 103 days, so it’s good to consider this when creating the content that will advertise your product.

If you want to start creating a Pinterest strategy or schedule, Pinterest has a range of resources for brands to utilize on their business website. Alternatively, if you’re interested in finding out about the power of Pinterest and what it can do for your retail brand, get in touch with our team today.

 

VoiceWorks Conference 2019 – the Growth of Voice Technology

Posted on by Jenny Connelly

ComScore predicts that by 2020 50% of all searches will be performed by voice. This prediction is the foundation of VoiceWorks as a company. It’s very apparent that voice technology is ever-growing and ever-prominent aspect of today’s society – as of this year, 40% of all homes owned a voice-controlled device.  Facts like these dramatically affect the way that marketing works presently, it means that instead of seeing an array of results ranked, with companies paying for their place in the ranking, we will now hear just one solid answer.

‘As technology continues to advance, the brands who are prepared for this shift will be the ones who win’ (AdWeek).

VoiceWorks offers 3 different products:

1 – Audio Content: recent years has seen a monumental rise in the number of podcast being created and listened to on a frequent basis. VoiceWorks can develop and produces podcasts, flash briefings and streamed audio for brands. A highly successful recent example of this is Pretty Little Things’ Podcast which received over 70,000 listens with just 3 podcasts.

2 – Audio Creativity & Branding: Possessing sonic branding allows businesses to exist within the world of audio. VoiceWorks helps brands find and develop their audio brand and sonic branding. Statistics say that 86% of brands rely on visual branding, whilst only 17% have audio brand guidelines. This means that brands savvy enough to focus more on audio have the potential to possess a wider portion of the market. Those with memorable jingles are those who stand out, the embedded memory of Hastings Direct’s telephone number is a testament to this.

3 – Voice Search & Voice Skills: VoiceWorks will develop Voice Skills for brands to interact and transact with customers and assist clients to navigate the use of smart devices. This allows your business to become the answer to Alexa’s questions.

The main message of the presentation stands; the audio revolution is nigh and only the savviest of businesses will find themselves on the right side of it

A Guide to Influencer Marketing on Instagram

Posted on by Jenny Connelly

Social media advertising has come a long way in recent years and has developed into a hugely lucrative marketing platform, whether that be through paid ads or through social media influencers.

Read on to find out what influencer marketing actually means, including examples of when it’s done the right way and the wrong way. We’ll also summarise the ASA’s influencer guide, so as an influencer or brand, you’ll know how to legally promote brands through social media without having the ASA slide into your DMs.

What is a social media influencer?

A social media influencer is an influential person who usually associates themselves with a particular niche like fashion, food, travel or something even more particular. The influencer will usually have some sort of authority, position, knowledge or skill associated with that niche which helps them generate a large following.

Originally, the influencer marketing job spec was very much associated with celebrities as it usually meant they came with a large following and therefore could influence those to make purchases for a particular brand.

However, nowadays brands are gravitating towards bloggers and micro-influencers (someone who has between 2,000 and 50,000 followers) to represent their brands as they usually have a more authentic relationship with their followers by often engaging and connecting with their audience, which means brands working with them could see a higher ROI. They also usually come with a much smaller price tag and therefore making it accessible for even smaller brands to advertise in this way.

Influencer marketing by the book

The discreetness around social media influencers is quickly disappearing – a 2018 survey by Bazaar voice revealed that 49% of people would like to see ad regulators, like the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), enforce stricter rules for sponsored influencer posts on social media platforms.

The ASA has now made a detailed guide which defines exactly how influencers should display their posts if they are advertising a product or working with a brand. Let’s have a look at some of the key findings from the guide:

  • If a brand pays an influencer to promote their brand – either in cash, products, gifts, services, trips, hotel stays etc. – AND asserts some sort of control over the post – whether that be how many posts and what time you publish the post, what’s included in the image or caption, hashtags to use, key messages or caption write up etc. – then this is considered an ad.
  • If the influencer has any sort of commercial relationship with a brand i.e. as an ambassador or even if someone was promoting their own brand on their personal channels, this also qualifies as an ad.
  • If a brand has provided some sort of payment to an influencer and has some control/influence on the post, the influencer must make it obvious to their following that it is an ad. The ASA recognises the following labels and hashtags to be used in a post where an influencer is promoting another product or business.
    • Ad/#Ad
    • Advert/#Advert
    • Advertising/#Advertising
    • Advertisement/#Advertisement
    • Advertisement Feature
  • If a brand has paid an influencer in some way, whether that be through free products or vouchers etc. but the brand has not asserted any control on what/if they post, this would not be considered an ad, but instead a sponsorship. The ASA is unlikely to pursue any complaints related to a sponsorship. But regulations still apply to these posts by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) who expects influencers to disclose when they have received any sort of ‘payment’ which gives them an incentive to post.  This is when you’ll see influencers use terms such as gifted/#gifted and gift/#gift.
  • The ASA recommends putting an ad label or hashtag at the beginning of your post so readers are fully aware of the nature of the post, the influencer guide states “burying the label in a sea of hashtags or putting it where it can only be seen by clicking ‘see more’ or clicking to view the full post, probably isn’t going to cut it. We recommend including it ‘at the beginning”.

You can read the ASA’s full influencer’s guide here.

Now that we know the gist of the guide, let’s put the ASA’s regulation into practice. Firstly, let’s look at a couple of examples of when an influencer has promoted a brand the correct way:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuKKqOnnMMM/

And now, a couple of examples of when influencers haven’t quite followed the rules and as a result, have been warned by the ASA:

The ASA gave Louise an official warning as she had not followed to official guidelines by letting her followers know that her post or story was an ad. She then changed the post to ensure it followed the guidelines and displays Instagram’s paid partnership with function.

Important takeaways for brands

  • Ensure you are clear with the influencer and advise appropriately when you brief them to ensure the ASA can’t blame you in any way if the influencer has decided not to follow the guidelines.
  • With more people becoming aware of advertising, it’s important to choose influencers that you think would genuinely be interested in your product or brand – this usually means that you’ll get a higher engagement rate and potentially bigger ROI.
  • Choose an influencer that engages with their followers and provides quality content – ultimately someone that you would be happy to represent your brand or product and that demonstrates the same values as your brand.
  • Look through the influencers previous ads to see how they display the content. Ads that are a lot more discreet tend to do better than just a picture of your product.
  • Finally, influencer marketing is hugely successful and can completely transform your brand when done properly. Try it out and see how well it works for you.

Head over to our Fusion blog for more information and updates on all things SEO, PPC, social media and marketing.

Instagram Market Updates: Recent Updates and Changes Coming Soon

Posted on by Jenny Connelly

September saw some significant updates arrive on Instagram.

Though many of the changes focus on improving the experience of regular Instagram users, there’re also several changes of note to help marketers and businesses perform – and convert – on the channel.

Let’s have a look at some of the key changes, as well as what we can expect to arrive on the channel in the near future.

Recent updates

Convert from Stories with product tagging

Instagram Product Tag for Stories

One of the most significant updates on the channel is the introduction of product tagging in Story posts.

This’ll work similarly to product tagging on regular IG posts. Businesses can directly link a URL to the product that appears on their stories, and users can then click on the tag to be re-directed to the product landing page.

This functionality creates an easy buying experience for the user, and a brand new avenue for businesses to gain sales with vivid creative content. It’s just another sign of Instagram becoming a highly viable choice for marketing!

GIFs slide into the DMs

GIFs in direct messaging Instagram GIFs in Instagram DM

When direct messaging, users can now choose from a selection of trending GIFs.

Simply type a word or phrase that is relevant to the GIF you wish to send and suitable options will appear.

Alternatively, users can click on the mysterious ‘random’ button for an Instagram generated GIF, passing the creative baton over to the algorithm…

New nametags let you connect with friends more easily than ever

Instagram name tags

In an effort to put more users in touch with each other, you can now create an Instagram nametag, which works a little like a business card. Simply scan another user’s and you’ll follow them!

This new feature is particularly handy when meeting someone new as you can easily exchange details and follow each other with a simple scan. It’s an incredibly intuitive new addition to the app’s UX.

What’s next?

As well as new updates, there are also plenty of Instagram changes in the works.  Let’s have a look at a few of the things that’re keeping the Instagram team so busy:

Shopping channels arrive in Explore

shopping box in Instagram explore

You will soon be seeing a shopping box in the explore section of Instagram. It will potentially put more e-commerce businesses in touch with relevant users. It will also allow users to explore and gain inspiration from exciting, unfamiliar brands.

Instagram takes stand against bullying

Instagram bullying comment filter

A few months ago, Instagram introduced a bullying comment filter which proactively hides and detects negative comments from feeds, profiles and the explore feature.

The bullying comment filter allows users to customise their blocking preferences or leave it to Instagram to automatically filter offensive comments out.

Instagram will now be applying this feature to comments on live videos.

Tag followers in Videos

Instagram has confirmed that soon you will be able to tag followers in videos, similarly to how you would in photos.

Connecting Students

Instagram connecting students

The social network has announced that they are working towards making it easier for students studying at the same institution to connect via the social network. This is currently being tested at select universities the USA.

This feature will allow users to add their university details – including graduation year, course and any teams/societies they were part of. Instagram will then create a University directory that can be filtered by year, making it easy for current and alumni students to connect and message each other.

This is something that’s long been a part of the Facebook experience, so it’s cool to see it arrive on the Gram, too.

Channel bids #goodbye to #hashtags

According to a TechCrunch report Instagram is considering disabling hashtags from captions in an attempt to limit the heavy use of hashtags within the post caption, resulting in the text being incredibly hard to read. Instead, there would be a ‘add hashtags’ option under the caption composer, keeping any hashtags and text separate.

Geo-Restriction for posts and stories

 

 

Instagram is testing a geo-restriction feature which will allow users to restrict their posts and stories to selected countries, rather than being universally available. Marketers will be able to choose what countries they wish to show or hide their content to.

Now that you are officially clued up on the latest Instagram features – stay tuned for the latest digital marketing updates that can drive your website and sales.

Social Media Roundup: September

Posted on by Jenny Connelly

The biggest social media news of the month is that Twitter is looking for prospective buyers – and it looks like a bidding war might be hotting up. Current potential suitors include; Disney, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Verizon. Whispers of a buyout could be good news for the company, which this month reported UK revenue growth had fallen to 31%. However, not all the news is gloomy. Twitter’s market value has been estimated at £15.5 billion – hardly an insignificant amount – and a new buyer could bring a new lease of life to the platform which has struggled to expand growth in the recent past.

In lighter Twitter news, the 140 character count has been loosened, with users now able to add images or handles without eating into the precious character limit. This is great news for brands, as they are able to post enticing and vivid content without the necessity to restrict the amount of copy used.

Facebook this month has announced plans to develop a ‘Messenger Light’ app which will see the platform being able to be used on slower mobile phones. This is an important development for Facebook, as it reinforces its comment to making Messenger a key social media standalone platform. New Messenger Light will allow users access to messages on the go, on mobiles previously unable to maintain the app. Specifically, this will particularly effect emerging markets, where Facebook has made big in roads in the last few years.

It also came to light in September that Facebook has been overestimating video views on the platform. Facebook has admitted inflating the average time people spend watching videos for two years by failing to count people who watched for less than 3 seconds. This admission is important, because typically a user watching a video for less than 3 seconds will have not absorbed much (if any) of the meaning behind the video. Marketers would therefore be wise to note this trend, and make sure even the opening seconds of a video are eye-catching and memorable. As video views are often a key metric that marketers use to decide where to push posts further, this is shaky territory for Facebook and a backlash could be possible.

Instagram this month has reported more strong growth, impressively doubling the amount of advertisers on the platform over the last six months. Instagram has announced that the majority of advertisers on the platform are now smaller or local businesses. Brands, big or small, would be wise to advertise on Instagram to build up a presence on this ever-growing platform.

Social Media Roundup: August

Posted on by Jenny Connelly

There have been important updates for Facebook and its subsidiaries across August, which have wider implications for marketers and other businesses.

Facebook has branched into a new direction with its app that is aimed squarely at teenagers: Lifestage. Lifestage, currently only available in the US, is an app that relies heavily on user-generated video content and such videos are only visible to others at the same high school. Ironically, Lifestage replicates Facebook’s early days when it was used as an on-campus social networking service. Facebook has come under some criticism for not protecting vulnerable younger people. The app’s design, with lots of ephemeral video content, can be seen as a move against Snapchat and their current social media dominance over teens. Facebook is gradually falling in popularity with teen users, especially as more of their parents (and grandparents) move on to the app, therefore Facebook-owned Lifestage is an antidote to this trend. However, how well younger uses will take to the app instead of Snapchat remains to be seen.

Another of Facebook’s subsidiaries is also taking on the Snapchat market, this month Instagram has launched Instagram Stories. This in-app feature allows users to post pictures that will disappear after 24 hours, thus not appearing on (or interfering with) their perfectly-curated home feed. As Instagram stated in their introductory blog, “you don’t have to worry about overposting”. Users can edit their Instagram Stories with Emojis and their own drawing edits. Instagram Stories allows brands a major opportunity to create exciting video and image content that has a more authentic and ‘live’ feeling than a regular Instagram post. Brands will not have to worry about negative comments or responses, as this feature has been disabled on Stories. Particularly, businesses would be wise to be an early adopter of the Instagram Story, and post engaging ‘behind the scenes’ content which further humanises the brand.

In an attempt to reverse long-term trends of user growth stagnation, Twitter has introduced greater user controls over their own notifications. Users are able to select to receive notification from people they follow. This will help remove spam notifications that many users find an irritant. Other changes include adding a ‘quality filter’ to users’ home feeds. The algorithm behind this change will theoretically remove ‘spam’ tweets, which include automated tweets, repeated content, and account origin. Users that turn on this feature will see more content from accounts that they have previously interacted with and only people the user follows. Businesses and brands would be wise to keep posting varied content, as this algorithm could reduce reach if it deems content too similar and filters it from users’ feeds.

Social Media Roundup: July

Posted on by Jenny Connelly

Twitter announced this month that it would be widening the use of verified accounts – now it is not only celebrities and major brands that will be able to get the accredited ‘blue tick’. Twitter has demystified how to get the elusive blue tick, and blogged about the accreditation process. Now that brands will be able to get accredited (if they meet the criteria) profiles will have more of an air of authority around them. This is an important step for Twitter, as it recognises that users crave the blue tick and will add gravitas to marketing tweets and promotional posts. Facebook has long had a clear policy on verified accounts, and has encouraged all businesses and brands to gain a verified account. Twitter is finally catching up on this – recognising that users inherently trust accounts more with that little blue tick.

In order to reverse a long-term slowdown in signing up new users, Twitter has released a ‘back to basics’ video in order to explain what Twitter is actually for. The video explains that Twitter is the premier platform for the most up-to-date news and commentary. This video is aimed towards tackling a general confusion in some people’s minds about what Twitter is about, and attempts to reposition itself as a tool for all, not just those whom have a lot to say.
Another major milestone has been reached by Facebook this month – with the Messenger app surpassing one billion regular users. This means that the top three downloaded apps, Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp, are all Facebook-owned, and all have over one billion users.

There was also an important technical announcement to Messenger this month that hit the headlines. Facebook outlined plans to introduce end-to-end encryption of some messages, meaning users can send messages to other users which will later completely disappear. This move follows Snapchat from a user perspective, with no trace of a message once it has been read by the intended recipient. In a culture of hacks and leaks, Facebook is taking the lead in protecting users’ data and creating a sense of security.

After the news that Instagram lengthened the amount of video users can upload, the tech giant has continued to push video as its centrepiece. Instagram has introduced a ‘videos you may like’ function – pushing videos selected by its algorithms to create a “seamless viewing experience”. Interestingly, the videos in this feed will be from accounts that a user does not (yet) follow. Videos will automatically load after the previous video finishes, rolling seamlessly from one to the next. Using video as an immersive experience, with a view to push new follows, is a canny move that will encourage users to spend more time within the app. Brands would be wise to create video content that mixes seamlessly with user-generated content, as Instagram’s algorithms will link brand content to native content.

Social Media Roundup: June 2016

Posted on by Jenny Connelly

In the biggest social media news of June, Microsoft announced it was to splurge £18.5 billion on purchasing LinkedIn. This equates to roughly £45 per user. This is a bold buy for Microsoft as it tries to move into the lucrative world of social media. The buyout can be seen as a recognition of potential in LinkedIn – the social network has shown weak growth over the year so far. However, the pairing of Microsoft and LinkedIn can be seen as particularly on-brand; each has a specific business focus that other competitors lack. How Microsoft will influence LinkedIn remains unclear, but with a big cash injection, the potential for change is ripe.

Facebook

Facebook has rolled out new features throughout June that are perfect with the barrage of upcoming summer holiday snaps. Users with a smartphone with a panorama camera are now able to upload 360 degree photos to Facebook. The marketing potential for this feature is incredible; businesses would be wise to put decent thought and effort into creating beautiful original content with this feature. However it might be hard to beat NASA’s 360 photo from the International Space Station…

The tech giant has introduced visual changes to its Messenger app that indicate towards its long term goals. Messenger now no longer displays all chats in simple reverse chronological order; chats are ordered into groups, and then sorted by favourites, and broken up with birthdays and ‘active now’ friends. These changes align with Facebook’s longer term plan to urge users to spend more time within the app, therefore making Messenger a destination in itself, which is able to do much more than simply host private messaging.

Instagram

The Facebook-owned app has now rolled out to users its new algorithm-based newsfeed. This means posts will now be viewed out of real-time in an order of how Instagram believes users want to see content. Users have generally reacted negatively to this change, yet businesses believe it will mean strong content will now no longer go unnoticed. This roll-out, which had been announced in March, was merely a blip in an otherwise strong month. Instagram proudly announced, via an Instagram video of course, that the number of users had finally topped half a billion. Over 300 million of these users are said to use the app on a daily basis. This is a huge achievement for Instagram, as they have doubled the amount of users in the last two years.

To mark further this shift from picture-sharing to app to global giant, Instagram has now unveiled automatic translations for posts in another language. Similar to Facebook, a user will now see posts in other languages automatically translated to their own preferred language. This is in part a recognition that users no longer follow local friends and family, or even just users from their own country. This is great news for companies who post content to followers around the globe.

Continuing this transformation, Instagram announced in June new functions for Business accounts. Business profiles will be able to add ‘Contact’ buttons to their page, meaning customers will be able to direct queries in a more effective way. New ‘Insights’ tab will let users know more about their followers and their posts; from which posts are more popular, and more advanced demographic user data. In another positive move, organic Instagram posts will be able to be pushed with a ‘Promote’ function, in a very similar way to Facebook. This means that popular posts can become ads and will also stay on a business’ home page indefinitely. Instagram swings from strength to strength from both a user perspective and a business perspective.

Twitter

Following a large data leak at the beginning of the month, Twitter has been vocal in their crackdown on security practices. High profile data breaches and account hacks, including Canadian rapper, Drake, prompted Twitter to take action. Twitter has notified all users with the most recent security information. After a difficult few months for the company, this is yet more difficult press.

Twitter has introduced stickers in June – similar to emojis and Facebook reactions. These stickers will be used in conjunction with users’ own images; Twitter stickers can be placed over an image to further personalise content. Tapping on a sticker will take users to a collection of where else the sticker has been used. The stickers are creating new avenues of communication and sharing. This is an interesting way to allow users to explore new content in a visual way (which has not been Twitter’s strong suit). Further changes to Twitter images include the ability to apply filters, crop the size, add tags, and alter accessibility options. Twitter stickers will allow businesses, publishers, and bloggers instant access to user-generated content, opening a host of opportunities for outreach and brand awareness.

Social Media Roundup: May 2016

Posted on by Jenny Connelly

Facebook has been in some hot water of late, with repercussions likely to be ongoing. The social media giant has been accused of censoring topics on its newsfeed, opening the company up to accusations of political bias. Accusations suggest that Facebook would not publish stories in its ‘trending’ feed despite high levels of sharing, and instead pushed stories they were more politically aligned with. What with the American presidential elections looming in 2016, it seems a critical time for Facebook to be accused of meddling, and puts Facebook on the defensive.

Facebook has developed an even more sophisticated ad targeting system that will strengthen relations with businesses. Rather than simply taking into account where users have visited websites, targeted ads will now take into consideration if the visitor is simply a ‘window shopper’, or have consistently looked at their website, for how long, and which items were looked at. This helps weed out real leads and helps businesses gain a higher conversion rate.

Finally in Facebook news; May saw a large extension of live videos across newsfeeds around the globe. Live video has now been enabled on desktop, and users are able to view live videos from across the globe. With high profile users engaging with live video, such as Jamie Oliver, Buzzfeed, and new star ‘Chewbacca Mom’ (who has already broken the live viewing record), it looks like Facebook’s newest feature will be a roaring success.

Twitter

Twitter has announced a series of changes over the last months that it hopes will help its ailing user numbers. Firstly, changes to analytical tools will give personal and business users a greater insight into its audiences. Following in the likes of Facebook, Twitter now allows users to breakdown their audience into incredibly useful subsets; age brackets, interests, net worth, and consumer history. These powerful tools, when harnessed correctly, could really make Twitter into a sharp advertising tool.

Attempting to appear more flexible, Twitter has announced that adding media, or a poll, or reaction gif, to a tweet will no longer eat into the valuable word count. In making this change, Twitter recognises the power of image and video to create dynamic and engaging content online. Similarly, adding a @handle to a tweet will also not eat into the count – these changes allow for a much more detailed tweet that can help users expand their networking capabilities with ease. Twitter has also removed the necessity of adding a .@ in order for the tweet to be broadcast to all followers, rather than users who follow both the tweet-er and the tweet-ee.

Lastly, the rollout of the new ‘Connect’ feature will help users find new content and other relevant users to follow. Based on previous likes, follows, retweets, and local popular accounts, the new Connect tab hopes to keep users’ feeds fresh and up-to-date by making suggestions (it hopes) that will build up a user’s following number. Twitter is actively creating a more dynamic and less rigid user experience – will the results be what Twitter hopes for?

Instagram

Described by the Head of Design as a “balance between recognition and versatility”, Instagram’s new logo is certainly a marker of change for the company. The photo-sharing app had not changed its logo in the five years since its inception – in which time the company has undergone seismic change. The new app is simpler, contemporary, and vibrant. The new logo is greeted with changes to the visuals within the app; the sidebars and areas surrounding images are now simply black and white. The new logo, and in-app changes, reflect the cooler image and rapid growth the company has seen. Instagram is going from strength to strength these days, and any minor changes will hardly deter users from the ever-expanding app.

Social Media RoundUp: April 2016

Posted on by Jenny Connelly

Facebook launches Messenger Codes

Facebook is planning to extend its near-ubiquitousness with changes to its Messenger app. Users will soon be able to find new friends and add them with ‘Messenger Codes’. These codes, similar to Snapchat QR codes, will allow users to add people by scanning other users’ phones. This development is equally interesting from a business perspective; adding this technology to the Messenger app paves the way for businesses to allow users to scan codes directly in-app. This will help the Messenger app bring many other features ‘in house’, for example scanning boarding passes. Much like China-based alternative WeChat, the Messenger app will presumably change how and why people communicate via the app. WeChat has been a roaring success after users interactions with business – users can order takeaway, make store returns, as well as scanning the local area for new users. Is the Messenger app looking to follow suit?

Facebook looks at reading time

Facebook has also announced plans to tweak its algorithms relating to articles; it now plans on accounting for how long people actually stay reading the article when calculating users’ interests. Measuring how long users stay on articles, whilst also taking into account loading time, will help Facebook understand how much users did (or didn’t) engage with the content. The new algorithm will help overcome users who spend time reading content, but do not feel obliged to like or ‘react’ to the post. This is good news for publishers as ‘engagement’ with articles will no longer just be judged on likes, shares and comments and should still provide newsfeed visibility.
However, businesses and bloggers – be warned. If your article isn’t engaging, or the title isn’t reflective of the actual article, your engagement levels may be likely to drop and the new algorithm may push your content further down newsfeeds.

Is Twitter in trouble?

Twitter has actively pursued a younger audience – launching live-video platform Periscope, installing younger CEO Jack Dorsey, replacing ‘favourites’ with ‘likes’, adding polls. None of these initiatives seem to be translating into higher growth or profitability. After reporting another month of incredibly slow growth – just under two per cent – shares in the company fell by another 16%. That’s a total drop of over a third across the year. Just how well will Twitter fare in the coming months and years.

Video profile pictures

Following Twitter’s pursuit into video, Facebook has now launched a new video feature that may well take off in a big way. Users are now able to change their profile pictures to a video loop gif. Other apps, such as Vine and Boomerang (developed by Instagram), are able to load their content directly into Facebook profile pictures. This is an interesting development, and will create for some exciting creative opportunities. Just how well will businesses be able to harness the power and allure of video for their Facebook pages?

Social Media Roundup: March 2016

Posted on by Jenny Connelly

Facebook Expands

In big collaborative news, Facebook has announced plans to further integrate its Messenger app into users’ lives. Facebook can now boast over 800 million users on the Messenger app, and wants to keep them there for longer. Big names in technology, namely Uber and Spotify, are now able to integrate their services into Messenger. Users will be able to share songs with friends via Spotify, and order cabs on Uber, without ever having to leave the Messenger app. Allowing users to send songs, make payments, order cabs, and play games within the app helps Facebook maintain its position as the preeminent social media platform.

Not all the news is rosy for Facebook. After the devastating terrorist attacks in Lahore, Pakistan, Facebook was caught short as it used its ‘check in’ feature to ask people thousands of miles from Pakistan if they were affected by the attack. Described by Facebook as a “bug”, many users were left confused and frightened after a Facebook push notification asks if they are safe. However, users were mostly satiated by Facebook’s subsequent apology. Facebook began the feature in 2014, following a large earthquake in Nepal, and has been widely hailed as a success. Mark Zuckerberg issued the apology from his own Facebook page.

Twitter’s Big Birthday

The tenth birthday of Twitter fell in March, with users using the hashtag #LoveTwitter to reflect on iconic, funny, and outrageous tweets from the last ten years. However, as Twitter enters a double-digit age, difficult times lay ahead. There has been backlash to Twitter’s move away from a chronological Timeline and towards a personalised feed that isn’t in real-time. Users even started the hashtag #RIPTwitter. These users felt the very essence of Twitter lies with a real-time chronological feed. Twitter CEO @Jack has responded (in a series of tweets, fittingly), explaining that the new out-of-sync is an optional feature. Therefore, users now have the ability to decide whether or not to use this new feature, or use it alongside the traditional chronological feed. The best of both worlds, perhaps?

Instagram Changes

Similar to Twitter, Instagram has changed its users’ home feeds from their current chronological feeds to a personalised algorithm. Based on users’ likes and pre-existing relationships, Instagram has introduced the new feed to overcome the 70% of content that users miss whilst they are not online. The move will widely be welcomed by advertisers but not, perhaps, by companies and individuals who don’t have available budget. Organic reach, as we know it, is becoming a thing of the past. The changes make Instagram more sustainable and profitable as it overcomes the problem that comes with ever-expanding amounts of content; in 2015 Instagram boasted over 400 million users. It seems unlikely that general disgruntlement at changes will materialise in any mass exodus. After all, people still use Facebook following the change to a personalised-feed years ago.

We’re Going Through Instachanges…

Posted on by Jenny Connelly

Instagram has announced yesterday that they are following in the likes of Twitter and parent company, Facebook, by changing users’ feeds to a personalised algorithm. A user will not wake up to a reverse chronological order of posts that reaches back to where they last logged in. Instead, posts will be ordered by relevance to the specific user. In practice this means breakfast posts will be mixed with sunset posts. Instagram is now truly a global platform, with more than 75% of users living outside the US. The countries with the strongest growth in 2015 were Brazil, Japan, and Indonesia. Users typically follow other users from all over the world.

Instagram’s new algorithm reflects that rapid growth and internationalism – users are no longer typically following only those whom they know personally. In theory, new feeds will contain less pictures of forgotten school friend’s brunch snaps, and will include more relevant content tailored to the likes of the user. Businesses can take advantage of this change, and continue to create dynamic and inspiring content that will now flow more seamlessly through users’ feeds.

Should Instagram be prepared for a backlash? Users have been positively engaged with the format currently, as it places celebrity, news, and friends in simple chronological order. Backlash surely depends on how accurate the new algorithms are able to show engaging and desired content to users. The feature could theoretically be tweaked and users could be sated with a ‘see more posts like this’ and a ‘see less posts like this’ feature attached to images on their newsfeed.

Critics of the move seem to overlook that this is a natural progression for Instagram. In September 2015, the social media platform surpassed the 400 million users mark. The site now has over 3.5 billion likes daily. This means an incomprehensible number of images passing through an ever-growing amount of screens. A curated feed on one’s homepage means that superior content will get through to the user, and drive up engagement and reach, should it be relevant for the end user.

However, this means that organic reach will presumably dwindle on Instagram because of this move and is a stumbling block for businesses looking to organically reach their followers. Content, once again, has to get smarter and advertising has to be employed to reach new (and now, already engaged) fans when campaigns or content need to be amplified.