Social Media & Digital Marketing September 2023 Roundup
Posted on 28th September 2023
We’ve reached the end of September, and across the month we have seen a number of updates on social media that could be handy for you to consider when it comes to your marketing efforts online.
Here’s all the latest news from the last month…
Instagram Launches Broadcast Channels
It’s likely that recently, you’ve been noticing a lot of invites from people you follow on Instagram to join their broadcast channels. Well, that’s because they’ve been rolled out towards the end of the month for users in Europe, giving them the opportunity to have a direct, DM-like connection with their followers. Users invited to join broadcaster channels will have the options to join or decline, and those looking to use them for marketing will be able to give those who are part of the channel exclusives and behind the scenes content.
In short, they’re like group-chat’s that only the person who made it can message, and everyone else can react to those messages. As DM’s become a extremely popular part of marketing and general social media use, this is another feature marketers can consider when it comes to creating their strategies.
Vertical Live Streams Tested On YouTube
With the success of YouTube Shorts – that are reported to be getting billions of views daily - and TikTok, YouTube have started to test the opportunity for users to live-stream using the vertical video format to give users a full-screen live experience from their favourite creators.
YouTube gave the following statement on their new initiative: “We’re running an experiment with a new full screen viewing experience on vertical live streams for mobile viewers. This new vertical live experience includes a scrollable live stream feed and easily accessible fan funding features. During this experiment, creators can stream vertically, either on mobile devices with the YouTube app or through desktop streaming software, and their vertical streams will be visible to eligible viewers browsing Shorts on the YouTube app.”
Google Using AI For Video Ads
If you’re using video ads on Google, then you can now use their ‘Creative Guidance’ tool to get tips on how to make your videos better for improved performance.
Google describes this new feature by saying: “To help customers better optimize their ads, we’ve launched creative guidance in both Recommendations and as a new feature in Video Analytics in Google Ads. Google AI now automatically provides dynamic best practice assessments for all of your videos, and notifies you when a key, data-backed creative best practice is missing. If you are missing a creative best practice, Creative guidance in Google Ads provides specific recommendations to help improve the effectiveness and performance of your video ad.”
Threads Add Further Features
The hype may have died down a little for Threads, but development still continues on the platform for those still using it, and with Elon Musk hinting at a possibility to charge all users for X, Threads is getting ahead of the curve whilst possible to prepare for a potential influx of users once again.
Firstly, you can now follow a thread without having to follow a specific-users, allowing you to keep up to date with conversations without having to see the other users posts all over your timeline.
Quoting a thread is now available on desktop, adding to the functionality of the platform for users not choosing to use it via the mobile app.
Post Activity display has been improved, giving users easier access to seeing separate reports for each thread you post when it comes to likes, comments and quotes – making reviewing specific details for your marketing reports a lot easier.
X Premium Users Get Even More Features
Users of X Premium will be getting more features added in the coming weeks, with the announced X Video Call function being heavily rumoured to be available for Premium users only, and other users can decide to only have replies from verified accounts should they choose on their posts.
There is now an ID Verification option for those looking to sign up to X Premium in order to limit Bot Accounts. ID verification has been a controversial topic in the past, but for now this remains completely up to the user, and those who choose it will get an extra note on their profile to state that their account has been verified using their ID.
Meta Multi-Profile
Meta has rolled out the multi-profile feature on Facebook where users can create multiple profiles to explore their different interests and share content with different audiences. The custom, interest-based profiles let users expand their engagement on the platform.
This was explained by Meta: Whether you’re new to Facebook or a longtime user, you may want to keep your personal and professional relationships separate, or you may want to keep one profile tied to a community you’re a part of and another profile just for friends. Creating multiple personal profiles lets you easily organize who you share with and what content you see for the various parts of your life. Think one profile for the foodie scene you love and another one to keep up with your friends and family.
That’s all for September! Keep an eye on the news over the next month for more updates in the social media world, and have a great October!
Finally, your social media tip is: Constantly selling your products and pushing your products in front of your "customers" on social media just doesn't work. Bombarding the newsfeed with posts of your product and service will just agitate your audience and have the opposite affect and drive them away.
Focus on providing value, educating your audience and showing them what you can offer to let them make the decision on how you can help them. Get your customers coming to you rather than chasing after them 🏃♀️
Need further advice?
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