Social Media News Worth Knowing in October
Let’s get right into the social media and influencer news you can use to start your weekend. We’re covering TikTok's positioning itself to take on Amazon, Snapchat’s unique audience compared to other social platforms, and strategies you can implement to increase engagement.
Want more social media news worth using? You can read more of my latest social media updates and more deep dives on specific topics on my blog if you’re new to my website.
TikTok is Copying…Amazon?
We've talked about TikTok in previous blog posts, often focusing on how companies like Meta, Google, and Spotify try to incorporate replicas of the app's distinctive features into their platforms. But now, we're seeing TikTok looking to take on Amazon.
As they move forward, TikTok is turning the trend on its head and establishing the foundation to compete with each of those companies. Here's how:
Search: Young generations use TikTok, not Google, to find restaurants or recommendations. And TikTok is already enhancing its search functionality to match that need.
Music: According to 63% of TikTok users, the app is the first place they go to get new music. TikTok is now discussing with record companies to quickly grow its music platform, Resso, internationally.
Commerce: This Axios article reported earlier this week that TikTok is establishing product fulfillment facilities for eCommerce and has Amazon in its sights.
Snapchat's Unique Audience
When businesses create paid advertising campaigns or even manage organic social media accounts, Snapchat may appear to be an overlooked channel. Even though the platform is frequently ignored, Snapchat has a power that no other social media platform can match, thanks to its distinctive audience.
When examining Snapchat users between the ages of 16 and 24, Forbes and GWI found that:
70% of users do not use Twitter every day.
63% do not use Facebook every day.
42% of daily users do not use TikTok every day.
To target a younger audience, brands should evaluate if Snapchat is a better fit for their campaign than other youth-oriented social media platforms like TikTok.
Tips to Increase Social Engagement
Nowadays, everything in the digital world revolves around engagement, and it is more crucial than ever to monitor if and how users engage with your content. Fortunately, here are 10 strategies for encouraging engagement with your digital and social media content.
One of the best methods to increase interaction is by incorporating question boxes into your posts or stories. Mainly, if it is a subject that people are passionate about. Alternatively, you can invite questions from your audience to gauge their level of interest.
Giving away free stuff and promoting engagement with free stuff is another fantastic strategy. Who doesn't enjoy free things, after all? A giveaway is an excellent approach to highlight a company and market its goods. The user typically needs to like, follow, and comment on the post to enter a prize. By taking these actions, you can boost engagement and expose your work to a larger audience.
The importance of engagement levels will only increase as the digital world develops.
Social Media News You Can Use In October
Let’s get right into the social media and influencer news you can use to start your week. We’re covering the latest news in Elon Musk’s Twitter deal, how influencer marketing is improving from a measurement standpoint, and TikTok’s addition of the dislike button.
Want more social media news worth using? You can read more of my latest social media updates and more deep dives on specific topics on my blog if you’re new to my website.
The Twitter Deal is Finally Happening
It's a done deal! Elon Musk is finally purchasing Twitter—and this time, it appears to be for real. The controversial billionaire intends to proceed with the equally contentious deal, his representatives informed Twitter in a statement on Tuesday, confirming prior rumors that things were back on track.
Initially, Elon Musk said that Twitter had misled him about the number of bots on the social network, and the two parties headed to court over the initial offer.
Although it's unknown what caused Musk to change his mind, there have been some surprises in the days building up to the trial, which was scheduled to start on October 17. Visit the link below to learn more about the Musk and Twitter controversy:
Influencer Marketing Brand-Lift Studies are Improving
Influencer marketing, a $13.8 billion sector of the economy in 2021, is maturing in terms of measurement, and it's snowballing that it requires regulations. Influencer marketers received their first organic measurement standards from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).
Brand-lift studies are nothing new for advertising; for a very long time, marketers have used them to assess the efficacy of TV commercials and out-of-home (OOH) advertising. For influencer brand lift studies, questions go a level deeper. These studies are more concerned with consumer sentiment or brand affinity. Examples include "Is the brand cool? Is it viral? Is it current? Read more from Marketing Brew here.
TikTok Adding A Dislike Button To Help With Content Moderation
TikTok now allows all users to dislike comments after testing with a select sample of people earlier this year. Next to the like button, TikTok has officially introduced the dislike button.
In doing this, TikTok seeks to more quickly identify spam or offensive comments made by users and, at the same time, encourage more sincere interactions within its community. TikTok users should still use the previous procedure to report any hateful comments, according to the platform spokesperson.
How does this compare to other social media platforms? This feature has been available on YouTube and Reddit for a long time. While Reddit's dislike count is visible to users, YouTube's dislike count is private. Like YouTube, the number of disapprovals a comment receives will not be displayed on TikTok. Don't worry if you dislike a comment by mistake. You can retract your disapproval by hitting the thumbs-down button one more time.
Thanks for taking the time to read my latest blog post! If you’re looking for more social media and influencer news, visit my blog.
Joining Learning Brew's founding Alumni Advisory Board (ALBAB).
Last year, I was committed to continuing my education and doing so in a fashion that made sense to me. As a social media professional, I didn't know educational opportunities would provide me with true value.
I was excited to hear that one of my favorite newsletters, Morning Brew was expanding its offerings through Learning Brew with the Business Essentials Accelerator (BEA).
Grateful to be joining a group of professionals that built authentic relationships that go from virtual to in-person.
After graduating in their 5th cohort, I knew there was more in store for me. So I'm excited to be a part of Learning Brew's founding Alumni Advisory Board (ALBAB).
I look forward to helping Learning Brew build out the Eduverse, pioneer the future of learning, and accelerate the careers of top-performing professionals.
Social Media News For You In October
Let’s get right into the social media and influencer news you can use to start your week. We’re covering TikTok’s attempt to tap into the BeReal app, Instagram announcing its new Collabs feature, and how Content Creator satisfaction on Instagram is lacking compared to other platforms.
Want more social media news worth using? You can see more of my latest social media updates and more deep dives on specific topics on my blog if you’re new to my website.
TikTok BeReal Imitator Launches
Over the weekend, TikTok released TikTok Now, a standalone mobile app throughout international regions outside of the U.S., mostly on iOS. TikTok Now is a BeReal clone, and the app has features similar to the TikTok Now app recently released in the United States. Even if they have their TikTok alerts turned off, users of TikTok Now's standalone mobile app can choose to get push notifications for these social check-ins.
This move by TikTok represents yet another instance of social enterprises and conglomerates copying their burgeoning rival, BeReal. Being copied is flattering, or you could just be keeping up with the market.
Learn more about the new TikTok functionality and standalone app here.
Tips for Instagram Brand Collabs
Have you seen Instagram posts published by two users in your feed recently? That is the new function on Instagram, their Collabs feature. Instagram Collabs essentially offers posting credit to two users while allowing two users to upload the same content. Brands can now easily partner with influencers with the Collabs feature, making it easier for partnerships.
Why should brands look to tap into the collaboration feature? It will first increase overall reach by a brand’s sponsored content. And both usernames will be visible to anyone who comes across said social post. Additionally, brand collobartions like this should lead to higher engagements. Last but not least, it will aid Instagram in removing “duplicate” posts, improving the overall user experience.
There are a few instances where Instagram Collabs makes sense. My favorite would be for when a brand has a new product releasing. An Instagram Collab could be ideal for broadening your brand’s audience and increasing overall engagement. Learn more here.
Instagram Creator Satisfaction Is Lacking
According to a recent survey by Adobe, the creator economy expanded by over 165M people worldwide in the previous two years, a rise of 119%. Globally, 23% of people identify as creators, meaning approximately one in four people make an artistic or creative contribution.
However, internal documents highlight Meta's concern around its social platforms regarding creator satisfaction. Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri says that surveys of creators showed that Instagram "lag[s] behind TikTok and YouTube on all the dimensions that are most important to creator satisfaction," including several unrelated to the ability to make money, such as "fun, reach, fair algorithm and care."
This is concerning because Instagram was once seen as the main competition for TikTok. Throw in the recent announcement that Instagram was no longer a photo-sharing app, and the app has lost its appeal to many longstanding users. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/3C0fz2E.
Until next time! If you’re looking for more social media and influencer news, visit my blog.
Why I Started A Cohort-Based Class For Social Media Professionals
As a subject matter expert, I enjoy sharing my experiences and turning them into actionable insights. This is why I'm proud to announce I'm launching the 1st cohort of my Maven class: "SocialMedia Skills To Master.
Whether you work at an agency or are on the brand side, there is always an ask to connect better with one's target audience. Easier said than done, right?
The latest data from Social Media Week stated that the average attention span of consumers is roughly 2.5 seconds.
How can we, as digital marketers connect authentically with a consumer when you have the same time it takes for a human to take a breath?
So I set out to create a class at "Social Media Skills To Master” at Maven to help those working daily to succeed on #SocialMedia.
I've been fortunate to work on iconic brands like Oscar Mayer, Clorox, Kingsford, Burt's Bees, Triscuit, and Kool-Aid to develop and execute social media content strategies that have reached millions of consumers across the globe.
But I've also applied those strategies to challenger brands and small businesses.
Leading to speaking opportunities at Chicago Social Media Week, SocialRock Conference, and most recently, partnering with @bipocann and Colorado's Office of Economic Development.
This cohort will get started on 11/3 and includes four weekly sessions, ending before the holidays.
Have questions? Ask away but be sure to check out the FAQ here.
Social Media News Worth Knowing In September
Let’s get right into the social media and influencer news you can use to start your week. We’re covering why YouTube’s strongest asset is its ever-growing library, 23 useful Instagram Story hacks you can use today, and how Tik-Tok’s thunder is being stolen by content creators making the switch to YouTube Shorts.
If you’re new to my website, you can see more of my latest social media updates and more deep dives on specific topics on my blog.
Why YouTube's Best Weapon is its Asset Library
In 2021, Amazon, Disney+, and Netflix spent a combined $55B to enrich their content libraries, which roughly equals:
50k hours for Amazon
4.5k hours for Disney+
40k hours for Netflix
But what if I told you that over 500 hours of video content is uploaded to YouTube every minute? How many hours do you think that is per year? 262,080,000 hours of content, to be exact.
Every three hours, YouTube adds as much content as Netflix and Amazon's entire catalogs combined, or 20x Disney+'s.
That amount of content means there's something for everybody on the app, across generations. A recent poll states that 95% of teens use the app.
23 Instagram Story Hacks For You and Your Brand
With a 24-hour lifespan, Instagram Stories may seem insignificant, yet many brands and consumers love using them to share content. Are you maximizing your brand's use of Stories? Most likely not, as these various Story hacks from Business Insider can assist you in using Instagram's top feature to create more intelligent, imaginative, and exciting content.
For example, using closed captions, adding a background image, or hiding hashtags "off-screeN' are a few worth implementing regularly. Visit the link below on how to make your Instagram Stories, both personal and professional, stand out.
YouTube Shorts Stealing Content Creators From TikTok's
We are all aware of TikTok's growing popularity, and it's here to stay. Other social media platforms have also taken notice of this trend. With its YouTube Shorts feature, YouTube is one of the most well-known platforms that has dabbled in the "short-form video" field. Over the past two years, they have been developing this feature and recently announced a monthly user base of over 1.5 billion users.
In essence, YouTube Shorts is an app within the YouTube platform, where users can shoot and share short videos, similar to TikTok. However, YouTube is stepping it up by generating additional revenue from its content. On their platform, they're introducing a new ad option that will offer content creators up to 45% of the money generated by ad sales.
According to executives from YouTube, they want their creators to "make more money under this new advertising strategy, which is geared for long-term sustainability." TikTok and other short-form video platforms do not currently offer their producers as much revenue. If this trend continues, YouTube will be one of the best places for creators to make a career.
That's it for this week's social media news worth knowing! What other marketing or social media tips do you know that would be helpful to other digital marketers? Be sure to visit my blog for more social media-related content.
