Facebook and Instagram continue to evolve and make changes....most being good for marketing purposes! Here's a few of the latest key changes for Facebook and Instagram.
Admin privileges within Facebook Messenger give you more control by allowing you to approve new members of a Message Group, remove members, and change any other person in the group chat as an admin. It’s very similar to what exists in Facebook Groups currently.
It means Messenger is growing up and becoming more of a broader mass chat tool. It is helpful for larger message groups, to be able to add team members who can approve members before they join your chat. This is a move by Facebook to make group chat more of a business tool, a way for a business to have a “quick access” communication method to their core clients/community. Think of it as a new tool more narrowly focused than an email marketing blast and definitely more geared towards interactive exchanges.
Joinable Links allows easy access for people to join your Messenger chat group by creating custom links to share with others.
Note the theme of new Messenger tools to make Messenger more mainstream for Page use and group chat? You can give share link to a person or group of people to join a conversation and they can be added to the group automatically or by admin approval with just one tap. Keep your eye on Messenger as it becomes a new means to communicate. Think of it first more for small groups, like your team, or a customer testing group for new products, etc. A way to offer personalization and fast communication.
Facebook is adding a feature to help people have more accurate information to decide what to read, trust and share in their news feed. Can we say “Fake News Reaction”??
Facebook knows they have lost trust and ground with missteps on the security of information and ease of fake news being published. This is a corrective measure. This helps people verify stories they read by providing more context about the article, publisher, the same topic, how many times it’s been shared, and ability to follow publisher’s page. Not really a business-specific tool at this point but an important move and one to watch.
Get ready for more of a “seamless store experience on Instagram.” From Instagram:
“In November, we began testing a new shopping experience that made it easier for people to find, evaluate and track relevant products on Instagram. Posts with tags have an icon that makes discovery simple. If a product catches your eye, there’s a space to explore, where you can easily tap to see more details from products featured in posts, and even click to a business’s website if you’re ready to buy.”
Now expanding to more businesses are product tags that provide more detailed information on the product when tapped and allow for a smooth way to see products and make purchases.
This is BIG! This was only available to a few select businesses, but with its success, it will be expanding to more businesses. You still must be approved in order to have this feature. Details here. This will begin a big move to enable e-commerce on Instagram. There is a setup curve that businesses will face but this is a big leap forward and change for Instagram as a whole. What would it be like for your business to have an easy way for Instagram followers to swipe, click, view, and buy right on Instagram!
This takes the businesses ad post and automatically provides a full-screen option of the content in Instagram Stories fashion. Via the Instagram Blog:
"When a business uploads a single photo or a video under 15 seconds within Instagram Feed aspect ratios, Instagram will automatically provide full-screen support for this content on Instagram Stories."
It’s never been easier for businesses to create Instagram stories from their posts. A nice innovation and it makes advertising on Instagram a more attractive destination for businesses. This is something we’ll be experimenting with.
That’s the bottom line on a few of the latest social media updates that I believe can impact your business and organization marketing! Check out the links for more information. My aim is to give you a quick “cheat-sheet” that adds value!