September has come and there have been quite a few social media updates that you should know in the recent weeks! It’s my aim to keep you aware of the critical ones for marketers to let’s dive in. Here we go...
Facebook recently announced new business tools and changes for their Facebook Messenger app including lead generation flows, appointment booking, and an update to the initial messaging window that will only be allowed in the first 24 hours. As well, Facebook is removing the Discover tab.
Out of the four major changes, the first three will be the most important for you and your business. Creating automated lead generation flows can help you save time while still giving your customers a top messaging experience. Second, being able to schedule appointments through messenger can improve your lead generation flow to have potential customers schedule an appointment directly in messenger while also improving your current customer's experience. The phase-out of the Discovery tab is nice in that it is one less competing option for your business within Messenger.
This all started back in the spring and now it is officially rolling out! Facebook started to preview and test the updated desktop layout back in May and now it is getting the full push. This update reflects the design of Facebook’s new mobile version having a greater emphasis on Stories, quick navigation, and a crisp white theme.
Not a huge deal for marketers but something to be aware of. If it helps users stay longer and use Facebook more, it’s valuable to the social media marketing community.
Facebook is testing a new feature in Facebook Stories called slideshows. This new feature allows you to choose multiple pictures from your camera roll to engage further with your audience. This feature is currently only available on the Facebook app for IOS.
Previously, you could post multiple images to your Facebook Story, however; this new feature makes it easier. This seems to be another push by Facebook to get more people to use Stories. If your business is not using Stories I highly recommend you get started as it can boost your engagement with your followers. This can be another nice addition to showcase products, events, and beyond-the-scenes content.
Facebook may soon hide total like counts on posts, mirroring the test Instagram is running. They did confirm that they are “considering hiding total post like counts” when questioned by TechCrunch. This test is identical to Instagram’s as it removes the total number and lists one or more people who do like it and says ‘others.’
With Instagram’s like counts being hidden in multiple countries and now Facebook considering doing the same, it seems that the initial Instagram experiment is showing promising signs. This may mean that sooner rather than later like counts will be removed from both platforms though nothing has been announced. I will keep you informed as new changes come. It will remove a metric many marketers use to test the quality of their content and will mean we’ll have to shift to looking at other engagement metrics to truly understand the impact of posts.
Facebook updates its facial recognition permissions to provide more control to users for what they get tagged in. Users now have the option to opt-out of the ‘tag suggestions.’ Facebook says that when you opt-out they will delete any previous data they had of you for facial recognition.
This step seems to be a step in a positive direction for Facebook regarding privacy and the storage of personal data. Previously, Facebook would use vague terms with privacy updates and continued to track it just not publicly. We will have to see how Facebook continues to handle privacy.
That’s a wrap on some of the key updates in social media from the past few weeks. As always, I’ll keep watching the trends and by subscribing here you can stay in touch with the latest social media updates!
