Social media marketing often has to evolve with the times, and nothing evolves more than the internet. World events, user habits, and advances in technology are all big factors in how the internet shifts and therefore shifts marketing. The latter is the one we’ll be focusing on here. There are a lot of new advances coming into fruition as social media platforms evolve over the past few months.
We’re breaking down all the biggest changes on the biggest platforms that will only aid your social media marketing campaign.
LinkedIn and Twitter expand into podcasting
Podcasting is a very popular means of content creation for a number of reasons. It is easy to create, with limited editing involved, it allows a deep dive into a subject and, crucially, it allows for better marketing engagement, due to the nature of the content.
So, marketers will be pleased to know that a lot of social media platforms are inching their way closer to the format, most recently Twitter and LinkedIn.
Twitter is currently testing a podcast tab that has been added to the app in the sidebar. Although details are few and far between, it is expected to function like their newsletters, wherein a creator can create active links to their podcasts and users can more organically come across podcasts that might interest them.
Meanwhile, LinkedIn has dove in and created the “LinkedIn Podcast Network”, which is essentially the same concept as Spotify, minus the music.
LinkedIn being LinkedIn, you can imagine the topics stick to B2B content. This is proven by the top industry experts they have commissioned to make content for its launch, but it will be a wealth of useful information that furthers LinkedIn’s aid for businesses.
Instagram and Facebook expand their short-form video content
Both Facebook and Instagram, sisters of the overall Meta, are making heavy pushes into short-form video content. Instagram already had Reels that were ultimately the same format as TikToks, and only marginally different from Stories in how it was used, but Facebook has taken its time to embrace the same concept. They have now launched Reels to all customers, finding the Reels concept to be well received on Instagram.
Meanwhile, Instagram is making moves to make its Stories more useful to creators and marketers. Engagement was previously a mystery on Stories. Sure, you knew people watched and you knew who they were, but you never knew what they thought of your concept, or if they even watched past the initial second.
Instagram is now installing likes into their Stories so that users can tell their creators if they have enjoyed the content that they are watching. Stories aren’t public, in comparison to Reels, which are open to everyone, so only the creator will know the engagement they are getting. It would be useful to know when you are controlling a branded account.
Snapchat allows mid-roll ads for top creators
Snapchat is quickly becoming the site for people looking to be informed. Their Discover page has only gotten more popular over the years since its launch, which is simply another feather in their cap of being the “fun” platform. Snapchat was doing short-form video content and the equivalent of stories long before Instagram took notice or TikTok even existed.
So, it’s surprising that their latest update has taken so long to come out. Snapchat is now allowing mid-roll ads on creators’ Stories content. Creators will be able to switch the feature on and off as they please, with revenue from ads then sent back to the creator.
This will be a good opportunity for social media marketers looking to reach the Snapchat audience better. It has never been held up as the most lucrative social media marketing opportunity, but it does have a dedicated audience that is always expanding.
YouTube expands their analytics options
YouTube is making a few different moves to improve its platform, the first being that they have given an even greater focus to Shorts. The desktop version of the site now has a dedicated Shorts segment featuring the trending shorts on the site, much like the trending long-form videos on the homepage.
Considering these Shorts are getting views that are in the trillions, with a “TR”, and Shorts are appealing to the Indian public, in particular, there are a lot of opportunities to market with short-form video content on the site.
Meanwhile, the platform has also offered a new analytics option to creators, which allows for more insight into content analytics. This is useful for creators and affiliate marketers. Creators can use it for a whole host of reasons, from understanding their audience to judging what performs better, but affiliate marketers will be able to know more about the creator and their reach when they partner in affiliate marketing.
TikTok expands its time limit on videos
TikTok seems to have looked around at all the short-form video content features hitting other platforms like Meta and YouTube and decided they need to be an all-rounder too. With that in mind, they have once again expanded the time limit on their videos, this time to 10 minutes.
It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a lifetime on TikTok, where users are used to snappy, quick explosions of information.
Marketers have already had to adjust to the smaller format and new ways of making a point, and now they have more room to breathe, allowing them to say more.
An additional piece of knowledge that will be useful to marketers is the sites’ recently released infographic which breaks down just how powerful marketing around major events can be. By studying activity around “tentpole events”, in this case, the Super Bowl of 2022, they have concluded that TikTok content with the hashtag #SuperBowlAd grew 4x throughout 2021.
If you’re interested in social media marketing, take a look at our blog, or book a free call with a member of our team for a more personalized experience.
