Welcome to Social Media Buzz Weekly, your weekly bulletin of the latest social media updates. With the social media landscape evolving with each passing day, it can be challenging to keep a tab on the rapid developments. Well, not anymore, as we have taken it upon ourselves to keep you abreast of every happening in the social media space.
So, without any further ado, let’s look at some of the most significant developments from the last week in the world of social media.
1. TikTok Announces New Webinar Series for Black Business Month
TikTok has announced a new two-part webinar series, which is designed to showcase some of the most innovative and successful Black-owned businesses in the app, and provide inspiration to all business owners on how to make the most of TikTok to broaden their reach and resonance.
Held over the next two weeks, the webinars will include a range of speakers from Black-owned brands, who’ll discuss how to get the most out of TikTok, and what they’ve learned from using the app. There will also be direct input from TikTok’s training and sales teams, which could make this a great opportunity to hear direct from those working on the app, and get a better understanding of how to implement key best practices to increase your presence in the app.
2. TikTok Publishes New Playbook for Travel Marketers
TikTok has published a new travel marketing playbook, which is designed to help travel-related businesses tap into the rising interest in holidays in the app.
The report looks at overall engagement trends in the app, underlining its growing relevance as a key connection platform. The report also looks at key travel trends in the app, and the types of holidays TikTokers are looking for. There’s also a range of tips on the types of travel content users are consuming.
3. Instagram Expands Song Lyrics in Reels to More Regions
Instagram’s expanding its test of song lyrics in Reels to more regions, providing another music engagement option in the app.
With the music + lyrics option, you can display the lyrics to your song of choice on-screen, in variable fonts, which will add another element to your Reel. It also makes it a little easier to find the section of the song you’re looking to use, with the lyrics appearing on screen as you scroll through the track. Instagram’s been testing the Reels lyrics option in selected regions over the past few months, which is an expansion of its option to lyrics in Stories, which has been available since 2019.
4. Instagram Announces That It’s Testing Audio Clips for Notes in the App
Instagram has officially announced that a new audio clip option is coming to Notes in the app. The new audio option for Notes will provide another way to engage via the group prompt option, which displays a Stories-like bubble at the top of the IG inbox for all of your contacts to see.
Audio notes could be particularly popular in regions where many languages are spoken, as it’s often more common for people to be able to understand various types of spoken language than it is to actually write them. That could make it a big update for users in India, and other areas of significant cultural diversity.
5. Instagram Is Testing a New Reels Display for Multi-Advertiser Ads
Instagram is testing a new ad format for Reels ads, with a new variation of Multi-Advertiser display now appearing for some users.
The new multi-ads format groups a selection of related brands onto a single screen, which is then displayed between Reels posts. The concept itself is nothing new. Instagram first launched Multi-Advertiser Ads for its main feed back in October, with a side-scrolling display of related ads shown based on user engagement.
6. X Moves Forward With New ID Confirmation Elements to Tackle Bots
X continues to experiment with ID verification, with new code added to the app now pointing to the coming addition of verification elements.
X is looking to add a new element to its account details pop-up which would confirm whether an account has verified its ID. X is also looking to add a new screen which outlines its ID confirmation requirements (via Nima Owji). Users would need to provide both a current selfie and their government-issued ID, with X reportedly looking to outsource its ID confirmation to a company called au10tix.
7. X is Limiting the Reach of Some Links and Mentions in Posts
A new report has found that X is throttling links to rival social media apps, as well as news outlets that owner Elon Musk doesn’t like, which could be of relevance for your posting strategy in the app.
There could be some element of truth in this news as X is now seemingly delaying load times for links to The New York Times and Reuters, among other media outlets that have been regularly singled out for criticism by Elon in his posts. The delay affected the t.co domain, a link-shortening service that X uses to process every link posted to the website. Traffic is routed through the domain, allowing X to track, and, in this case, throttle, activity to the target website, potentially taking away traffic and ad revenue from businesses Musk personally dislikes.
8. LinkedIn Adds New AI Discovery Tools to Sales Navigator and Recruiter to Highlight Opportunities
LinkedIn’s adding some more AI-powered tools to help professionals maximize their use of the platform, with both Sales Navigator and Recruiter getting some new elements that will better highlight members of interest, in order to boost efficiency and engagement.
Firstly, on Sales Navigator, LinkedIn’s added a new account prioritization feature, which will highlight key users to contact for your sales pitches, based on a variety of signals. Along the same line, LinkedIn’s also added more signals to its buyer intent markers, including website visits for companies, and new connections among colleagues, which will provide more context as to whether a potential buyer may be interested in your solution.
LinkedIn’s also added a new “Likelihood of Interest” element, which will highlight members that are more likely to engage with you, and respond to your outreach, based on various elements.
Wrapping Up
And that was a wrap of this week’s Social Media Buzz. We’ll be back next week with more news and updates for you from the social media world. Till then, stay tuned!
If you want to read more on the latest developments taking place in the social media space, take a look at ClickInsights’ Social Media Buzz, wherein we bring to you monthly reports on everything going on in social media, ranging from platform updates to policy changes that influence the way we market.