Creator Studio Gets A Calendar View
It wasn’t so long ago that you couldn’t post to Instagram from the web at all, let alone schedule.
When Creator Studio came along and allowed us not just to post but to schedule, our lives became much easier.
We can now plan and schedule posts ahead of time. It gives us more time for thinking and means less time jumping in and out to post content.
And this week they are adding a new feature. You can now schedule to a calendar, making it much easier to see what is scheduled and identify gaps.
This will be such a timesaver for businesses relying on Creator Studio for their scheduling.
Instagram Steals Another TikTok Feature
Duets on TikTok allow you to record a video that runs alongside the original.
It can be used for competitions, for challenges, for reaction videos and way more.
And Instagram is stealing it for Reels. Just like Duets, Remix will allow people to make their own video that runs alongside the original.
You’ll be able to choose if you want your content remixed. For businesses, this could be a great way to encourage UGC and get your audience engaged with your brand.
What will you use it for?
Invite only groups for rooms
Online meetings have become our normal in 2020. Most of us use Zoom, or Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet.
Facebook launched its Zoom competitor ‘Rooms’ earlier this year to messenger and groups. The groups tool is getting an update that could make them more useful.
One of the problems rooms face is 1. Getting people to join in. 2. Stopping random spammers getting in.
A new update from Facebook will help curb this.
Rooms will become invite-only for groups with over 1,000 members, it’s not clear if it’s optional for groups with fewer.
You will be able to go live from your invite-only room and invite viewers to join in.
Rooms have the potential to help group members to get to now each other even if they don’t want to join in as a participant.
Facebook Challenges Are An Official Thing
TikTok is famous for its challenges. A quick flick through your feed and you’ll find lots of videos trying the same skill or gag.
Facebook is replicating this trend with hashtag challenges. To participate just add a tag to your posts. The results will appear in the hashtag feed.
Each post will have a call to action to add your own post to the challenge.
Challenges aren’t a new thing on Facebook. Users have started their own in the past, most famously the Ice Bucket Challenge. What is new is the hashtag feed and Facebook encouraging participation.
As a business, challenges could be a fun way to build awareness and gather user-generated content.
https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/quarantinefashionchallenge
WhatsApp makes shopping easier
WhatsApp is a convenient way to shop with small businesses. But if you want to buy multiple items it becomes cumbersome for both you and the retailer.
To buy you would have to send each item from the catalogue as an individual message. But not anymore. WhatsApp are adding a feature called ‘Cart’ where you will be able to select multiple items and send them to the business in one message.
This will make commerce much easier for retailers and shoppers alike.
https://blog.whatsapp.com/making-it-easier-to-shop-on-whatsapp-with-carts
Major Messenger Bot Changes In Europe
Messenger bots have been a wonderful way to connect with your audience. More and more people are taking their conversations into private messages, it makes sense to use bots to manage them.
But there are big changes coming to anyone using Bots who has an audience in Europe.
On the 16th of December you’ll no longer be able to:
Use One Time Messages. These allow you to send specific updates, like shipping info or notifications that users have requested.
Create, or use subscriber custom audiences in ads manager. You won’t be able to retarget or eliminate messenger subscribers with your ads.
See who is messaging you, or anything about them. (There may be a workaround on this)
Send or receive media files, except images.
And, buttons will only be seen on mobile devices.
Is it time to find a new place to manage your messaging? Or should we revert back to email?
How long is left to watch an Instagram story?
Would you be more likely to watch a story on Instagram if you knew it was expiring soon?
Instagram is testing a new feature that will show you how long is remaining on Instagram stories. The timer will appear underneath each tory.
The motivation behind this has to be the time people will spend on a platform. Rather than leaving Instagram, you could be tempted to click, in case you miss out.
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