October 2022: What’s new on social media this month?
It’s the end of October and there’s been a lot of social media updates this month. So, we thought we’d compile a handy list of all the noteworthy changes you need to be aware of!
Creator portfolio
Instagram is currently testing an in-app feature that will allow influencers to create their own professional portfolio using their dashboards in order to attract more brand deals. This portfolio will be a collection of an influencer’s best content which can directly be shared with brands on the app.
This feature is scheduled to launch next month.
In-app scheduling
Another feature currently available to select Instagram users is in-app scheduling. While this is not a ground breaking as the Meta Creator Studio has allowed for scheduling since 2020, it is a useful feature for those mainly focused on Instagram marketing.
This feature allows for the scheduling of static posts and Reels (currently there is no information around Instagram Stories) and is expected to be available for all Instagram users in the coming weeks.
Multiple links in bio
First spotted back in October of 2021, Instagram is working on allowing users to add multiple links in their bio. With the introduction of being able to add link stickers to Instagram Stories, it seemed like only a matter of time before Instagram introduced this feature.
While you still cannot add links to post captions, this could quickly replace other link hosting tools like Linktree which is very popular among creators. Currently, there is no specified release date for this feature so keep an eye out!
META
Advantage + shopping campaigns
Meta announced the launch of the ‘advantage + shopping campaigns’ marketed as an automated improvement of current ad campaigns on Meta. This feature allows users to simply upload their creatives and choose their date of launch and budget, with Meta taking care of the rest with its advanced machine learning algorithm.
It will create up to 150 variations of your creatives and recommend the best placement for it. This campaign will also handle audience targeting and has been found to increase ROI by 15%.
This feature was launched to combat the changes around user privacy and data collection by only using the consumer data that Facebook has available, thereby making sure that all audience segments that are targeted are done so in a safe way.
Group engagement updates
In order to increase engagement within its community groups, Meta has announced that members can now upload and share their own reels to their groups along wit being to customise it by adding filters, text, and audio.
Members can also share their Facebook group events directly to their Instagram accounts to increase cross-promotion and bring more people back to Facebook. Group admins will also get access to multiple new features like automated moderation, assign top contributor badges to group members and award them points for their participation. All these features were designed to aid community building and growth.
Co-author your Reels
Facebook users will now have the option to invite another user to act as a collaborator on their Facebook Reels. As video content is taking over all social platforms, this feature was announced as a way to increase collaboration and keep up with social media trends.
However, this feature has not yet been rolled out for public testing, and is still the development phase.
TIKTOK
TikTok Pulse
TikTok’s ‘Pulse’ program was announced as a way for the top creators on the app to earn ad revenue from any ads that appear before their videos. Said to replace TikTok’s existing ‘Creator fund’ which influencers have been unhappy with for a while now due to decrease in revenue, this feature will be eligible to creators who:
- Are 18 years or older
- Have at least 100K followers
- Follow all community guidelines
- Have posted at least 5 videos in the past 30 days
While this is still being rolled out, certain creators have already received eligibility notifications to join this program. Creators are reported to be able to earn 50% of ad revenue from Pulse ads if chosen. The ads can be a variety of categories ranging from beauty to gaming.
Photo mode
TikTok’s newest addition to content generation options is ‘photo mode’. Similar to Instagram carousels, photo mode allows users to share multiple images in a single post. But you can also add music, and let the images scroll both automatically and manually.
It seems TikTok is expanding their reach by allowing creators and marketers who may not want to post video content experiment with the app.
Video description
To further fuel TikTok’s slow entry into being used as a search engine, users can now add post descriptions to their content for up to 2,200 characters. This is a huge step for creators and social media marketers to increase brand reach and SEO by adding relevant keywords and phrases to their posts.
New link stickers
After introducing an option to include links to your posts a few months ago, LinkedIn has now added the ability to tag profiles and pages in your posts. Introduced as a way to boost traffic, this feature could really drive engagement and further LinkedIn’s new strategy of straying away from promoting business-only content.
Audio events
First announced back in January, LinkedIn audio events are now available to all users. This feature gives users the option to host a live audio event (similar to a podcast), where you can chat to your followers live.
These events can be simple conversations, interviews, or even a Q&A session. Events can be as short as 15 minutes, with attendees able to join and ask questions live. These sessions can even be downloaded and shared after it has ended.
YOUTUBE
Launch of @handles
Similar to other social media platforms, YouTube now allows creators to add @handles to their channels in order to let viewers identify them easily. These @handles are unique to every channel (unlike channel names) and will be available to all creators regardless of subscriber count.
This feature is part of YouTube’s bid to increase in-app engagement as viewers can now tag channels directly in comments, video descriptions, and community posts. This will also allow YouTube to crack down on fake channels and accounts in order to prevent scamming.
Community spotlight
Twitter users using the professional account can now spotlight a Twitter community on their profile as a way to bring followers into their niche. The Spotlight feature previously included location, shop, mobile app, and link options for those using Professional Twitter profiles.
This feature was added as a way to promote using ‘Professional profiles’ within the app.
Audio chats in Twitter Communities
Similar to Twitter Spaces, community admins will now be able to host live audio chats within their groups. Launching a Space within a Community will allow for members to connect beyond the 280-character tweets and better engage with other members.
This feature is currently only available to US users but is expected to be available to everyone in the coming months.
Conclusion
All these updates are geared towards retaining users and adapting to the shifting landscape of content creation and interaction on social media. With trends coming and going in a flash, it is important for social media marketers to stay on top these updates and be able to integrate them into their social media strategies.
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