Last year was rough, but this is a new year and I'm not going to be languishing on what 2020 brought us. In fairness, some of it was actually good too. Anyway, it's a new year and we are now open to new opportunities, even if they're limited ones - am I right?
Last month unfortunately didn't bring about as much as I would have liked in the social media sphere. Things quietened down for many of the usual brands so this won't be a very large update this time.
New out early last month Mari Smith told us about this feature now available in Creator Studio for a wider audience. Its actually been available since September 2020. What it does is it helps you find out what aspect of your video will work better for your audience. So you prepare your video and post as normal and it will then prepare 3-4 ways to share it for you.
Facebook states, "Organic Video Post Testing in Creator Studio lets you test 2-4 variations of a non-ad video post to see which one your audience likes most. During the test, the posts are circulated to your audience, but not posted to your Page. When the test ends, the winning post is automatically published on your Page."
Facebook lists a bunch of 'Perks' -- a.k.a. the benefits of using the new Post Testing feature. These include:
▶︎ comparing any of the video aspects from title to thumbnail to descriptions
▶︎ testing up to four posts with the same video
▶︎ get results in as little as 10 minutes
▶︎ apply what you learn to future videos to keep growing your audience"
Learn more about it from Facebook here.
Over the last 3-4 months I've noticed that more and more functionality outside of Creator Studio is harder to access or even operate. As mentioned earlier this year I do feel that even posting to your business page via the front of it will become more basic over time as they try to encourage all to go
This was definitely needed as Tailwind is rapidly becoming the go-to for people scheduling and preparing content for Instagram. It's not fully tweaked out, just a bog standard calendar but I can see Facebook wanting to upgrade this quickly - if there is sufficient uptick of course.
To access it - all you need to do is go to Publishing Tools. Creator Studio and click on the Instagram tab at the top of your screen (as long as you have connected it) and you'll find the Calendar on the left hand side.
Yes, they're asking for people to considering getting more than one account! Very surprising I know but they have accepted that many people are already doing it so now they're giving permission too. So if there is something that you're passionate about and would like to separate from your current messaging on Instagram, then set up a new account!
I suppose it may also increase people doing ads as well?
Twitter is currently testing sharing tweets to your Snapchat stories (via iOS currently) and will be looking at sharing tweets to Instagram stories in the short term with a selected few. Not much to report from these guys at the moment....
This free tool from Google is growing from strength to strength - most especially this year. As more and more businesses adopt an online presence, its become more necessary to add maps to websites and this would be the go-to tool for website designers to do this.
GMB aren't ignorant of this either, they are updating and improving nearly every month now as more businesses are adding their presence to it. Look through your Google accounts today and see if you have an old Gmail address for your business and complete the process for your business soon.
I believe this platform is going to build and build over the next couple of years and as more and more people bring their business to it. It's truly the silent SEO partner out there at the moment.
Podcast 49 - What are the Benefits of Using Social Media Tools with Ravi Shukle
Podcast 50 - How and Why to Repurpose Your Content
Podcast 51 - Building Online Communities with Lucy Hall
Podcast 52 - What We've Learned in 2020
I'm sorry there's not much to share this last month of 2020 but I would imagine the innovation took a wee bit of a rest this month and frankly I don't blame them! I look forward to keeping you up to speed again this year and wish you and yours the best for the forthcoming year.
If you have any questions, then please just contact me!
Working with clients Nationwide from base in Mullingar.
