Social Media Changes – Summer 2016
With everything going digital, online marketing is becoming increasingly important and more emphasis is being placed on social media due to the exposure that it has. With more content targeted at users, some social media networks are making it easier for companies to market themselves while others are making it more difficult.
“Friends and family come first” is the motto that Facebook is now placing emphasis on and the reason why your timeline looks a little different. Facebook will now be displaying content shared from your friends and family FIRST and then will display only some content from brands. Facebook will also be making changes to its community standards and will allow users to share graphic and violent videos.
The new algorithm is mostly a positive change for users, but a negative for brands. The content brands produce have a greater probability of getting lost, but there is a way to avoid this as explained by NBC2. The price of ads will most likely go up making it harder for small businesses to use Facebook as a platform for advertising. Even with the changes in community standards, videos will still be reviewed. Overall, the change in community standards is intended to give more power to users and to show immediate reporting of an event.
An up-to-date algorithm is one of the changes that Instagram was looking to implement this summer. The new algorithm, much like Facebook, will be displaying content that it believes will be more appealing to users. Instagram decided that timelines in chronological order was something of the past and wanted to make Instagram targeted towards the user experience instead.
The change will mean less clutter for users, but will also mean lost content to users who follow brands with the intention of seeing their posts. This led to the creation of new business tools to help brands address the problem.
Snapchat
You’ve probably noticed that you can now upload pictures from your camera roll onto your Snapchat story; this is thanks to the new update called Memories. Memories also allows for pictures taken to be stored in the app. Snapchat, in addition, will be displaying advertisements as transitions when users go from one user’s story to a story of a different user.
One of the biggest criticisms of ‘Memories’ is that it takes away from the “in the now” factor that Snapchat is known for. There will be a banner placed on pictures that were taken in the past and that are being uploaded to a story. As far as the addition in advertisements, greater opportunity for brands to display their company will exist.
Twitter recently added #Stickers, a new feature that allows for stickers to be placed on images. The feature also allows for users to search by sticker just like hashtags. Twitter also tapped into displaying more live content and is looking into partnering with different networks. The Republic and Democratic National Convention were recently played live on Twitter.
#Stickers is great for both users and companies because it adds creativity to pictures while stickers can be associated with brands. On the other hand, live information means easier access to information for users.
Marketing is extremely vital to companies, and social media is constantly changing, making it hard for businesses to keep up. It’s easy to lose track of changes that are affecting brands and those that are not. If you need help managing or rebranding your social media, contact us at Ruby Porter today!
