View Instagram Stories on Facebook (without cross-posting)
We’ve been able to cross-post our Instagram stories to Facebook for a long while. This gives us the chance to reach even more people with the content we create and means that Facebook has more content and more space to place ads.
But this week Instagram and Facebook started a new test where people will be able to watch the original Instagram story on Facebook.
Only the people who follow you on Instagram will see the stories, the privacy settings for your story remain in place and the story will be highlighted with a Insta pink ring rather than a blue one.
This means you Instagram stories get put in front of more or your audience even if they don’t visit Instagram. You stats on Instagram will include views from Facebook.
For us as businesses this could be an excellent way to grow our reach.
But why would Facebook do this? Could it be a way to reactivate lapsed Instagram users? Or could it be a signal that there will be a deeper integration of the two networks in the future.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/4/21423002/instagram-stories-new-test-views-from-facebook
Never forget a Facebook message again
Did you ever get a message on Facebook, have a quick look and then completely forget about it?
It’s happened to me so many times it’s embarrassing.
Thankfully Facebook is testing a new feature for messenger that will set a reminder to reply to the thread.
It’s in the thread settings alongside ignore messages and secret conversations.
New Facebook Topics For Watch
Wouldn’t it be great if your videos appeared in front of the right people? Algorithms are designed to make this happen but they don’t always get it right.
That’s why, when I click the ‘Watch’ tab on Facebook all I seem to see are funny meme videos, which is great but a little repetitive.
Facebook is introducing topic feeds to the Watch tab making it easier for people to find the content they want. Videos will fit into categories including. Live, Music, Shows & Food.
Will your Facebook videos fit into any of these categories? Could it? I’m looking forward to seeing a marketing news tab!
Instagram Highlight Reels In The Feed
If you want to get a lot of extra reach on Instagram right now use Reels.
Reels is Instagram’s answer to TikTok and they really want you to create them.
This week they are testing adding suggested Reels to the Instagram feed, much like stories.
It’s great to get more eyes on your Reel but it disturbs the Instagram feed. It’s one step closer to the clutter we see on Facebook. I miss the simplicity of Instagram’s pre-story days.
https://twitter.com/LindseyGamble_/status/1303479465142616065/photo/1
Add Links to LinkedIn Stories
One of the frustrating things about Instagram stories is that you can’t link offsite unless you have 10,000 followers. I find this limitation bizarre.
LinkedIn is suddenly going to seem more appealing to businesses that want to link to content, sales pages and products. It’s adding the ability to link from a story.
But when will we get LinkedIn stories in Ireland and the UK? Will allowing links turn informative stories into a feed full of sales posts (much as the LinkedIn feed is)?
Twitter trends with headlines
What makes someone click a link on social media? Many times it will be down to the headline.
Last week Twitter announced updates to trends including representative tweets and descriptions that would make it easier to understand what the trend was about.
This week they’re adding headlines.
Headlines may not only make it easier to understand a trend but they will also get more people clicking and staying in trends for longer. More time in trends could = more time on Twitter which makes the network more valuable for users and advertisers.
New TikTok tool remixes clips from others
If video is the future of online content as Mark Zuckerberg once predicted TikTok has it sorted.
This week TikTok added a new tool ‘Stitch’ which lets you take a clip from another user and add your own ending.
It’s a fun way to create content, to get people to contribute to your own posts (like Instagram polls and questions) and to share with your own commentary (a bit like a visual version of a quoted tweet).
You’ll be able to choose if your videos can be stitched and by who.
https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/new-on-tiktok-introducing-stitch
Get a headstart on Google Analytics 4 & understand the lingo with the GA4 phrase book
