As a social media manager, staying updated with the latest platform updates is essential. Driving successful campaigns and engaging with your audience effectively relies on you being up-to-speed. In 2023, several social media platforms have introduced game-changing updates that can elevate your social media management strategies. Let’s explore the key updates across popular platforms that you need to know to excel in your role.
Instagram continues to evolve and offer new opportunities for brands. Recent updates include the Reels trending hub, updated analytics, and video editing improvements. It’s important for social media managers to leverage these tools to drive engagement, conversions, and brand growth.
Reels Trending Hub
Stay on top of what is trending on Instagram Reels including audio, tags, and topics. This tool is perfect for research and planning. It provides instant access to the numbers of plays for trending audio, and other relevant analytics.
Video Editing Updates
This has always presented a challenge to creators due it’s clunky format but Instagram has finally updated their editing for Reels. You can now edit video, audio, stickers, and text on the same screen. In Instagram’s own words, “This makes it easier to align and time elements of your reel to the right moments in a more visual way.”
Carousel Algorithm Change
In response to claims that Instagram was losing it’s original USP, Instagram updated their algorithm. It now pushes carousels as much as Reels. This gives creators the confidence to diversify their feeds, mixing video content up with static carousels, safe in the knowledge their content will still be picked up by the algorithm.
Facebook
Facebook remains a powerhouse in the social media landscape. New insights and analytics are now accessible through an entirely revamped Facebook page experience. This enables you to better manage your content and drive results.
Creator Studio Merge
You’ve probably already noticed the significant changes made to Meta’s Creator Studio. This has been merged with Meta’s Business Suite offering creators a more comprehensive admin experience, like insights, scheduling, and monetisation tools.
Reels
Following the general video-led content trend we’ve seen across socials over the last few years, Facebook has been pushing Reels on their platform. Facebook is using AI to recommend Reels, and allowing users to turn stories into the popular video format.
Utilising AI
As well as using AI to recommend Reels, Facebook is using the technology that has taken the world by storm for a heap of activity. It has expanded monetisation offerings, simplified the creator experience, and enhanced tools for short-form videos. This allows creators to reach a global audience, connect with communities, and earn income through ads and virtual gifting.
Twitter
Twitter has scarcely been out of the news recently, and there’s been a lot of uncertainty about the future of the platform. However it looks like it is here to stay, for now at least. Since coming on board, Elon Musk has announced a raft of changes, with more set to come over the course of the year.
The All New Algorithm
Twitter has released the source code for its recommendation algorithm, fulfilling Elon Musk’s promise. The algorithm works by predicting the likelihood of user engagement and sourcing tweets from both followed and unfollowed accounts. Twitter uses the information it extracts from tweet, user, and engagement data to rank them. It will filter out content you’re less likely to enjoy. URL-only tweets are down-ranked, while likes and retweets offer a major visibility boost.
Community Notes
Community Notes aim to create a better informed world by empowering people on Twitter to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading Tweets. Contributors can leave notes on any Tweet. If enough contributors from different points of view rate that note as helpful, the note will be publicly shown on a Tweet.
Verification Upheaval
As of 1st April, we said goodbye to Twitter’s old verification system. Twitter Blue was launched with a new verification criteria. Business owners must meet specific eligibility criteria, including active account usage, profile completion, and account security to maintain the blue checkmark.
TikTok
TikTok’s popularity has skyrocketed in recent years, making it a platform that social media managers have to pay close attention to. Recent updates include the expansion of advertising capabilities, collaborations with brands, and emerging trends. Used right, brands can create compelling content that resonates with your target audience and drives brand awareness.
New Keywords Insights
Marketers can explore trending script keywords and analyse keyword performance, including usage frequency and average click-through rate (CTR). It is also possible to refine their search results by various criteria. The tool provides details on specific videos and shows how advertisers incorporate trending keywords in voice-overs, ad text, or text overlays. This helps refine ad copy and inform campaign strategies.
The Secret Viral Button
TikTok and ByteDance have a practice called “heating” where staff can select individual videos for broader distribution, boosting their visibility, and view counts. This practice is aimed at promoting influencers, brands, and diversifying the content experience on the platform. TikTok has defended the practice, stating that only a small percentage of videos are promoted through heating. The platform is working towards increased transparency with features like the “Why This Video” info panel to explain the selection process.
TikTok shop Updates
TikTok have stepped up their shopping game. Creators can now link directly to products in the TikTok shop in videos, ads, and live streams enabling purchase within seconds.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the go to platform for businesses, and recent months have seen some small but major changes to how businesses can use the platform. From scheduling posts, to following other business pages, there’s a big increase in functionality for this popular platform.
Post Scheduling
Users are now able to schedule some forms of content on LinkedIn, allowing them to choose a preferred date and time for their content to be published. This gives users more control over their posting strategy and allows for better content planning. This feature does not currently apply to polls or multi-image posts.
Generate Video Captions
LinkedIn now automatically generates captions for uploaded videos. Users can edit these AI-generated captions before publishing their videos. Additionally, users can set videos to high contrast mode for better accessibility.
Pages Following
Business pages can now follow other pages on LinkedIn, allowing for B2B engagement on the platform. This is a major update for the platform
Want a more detailed run down of recent LinkedIn updates? Check out our dedicated LinkedIn blog.
By staying informed about the key updates across platforms you can leverage the latest features and trends to elevate your social media management strategies. Embrace these updates, adapt your approach, and experiment with new opportunities to achieve your social media marketing goals. Stay curious, explore platform-specific resources, and continually adapt your strategies to thrive in the ever-evolving world of social media management.
Not too sure which social media platform you should be on? We guide you in the right direction in our blog: Which Social Media Platforms Should My Small Business Be On to Make It to the Next Level?
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