Each month, our team of social experts dig through the trenches of the internet to find the biggest, best and most important news coming out of the social platforms we and our clients use daily.
More Shopping Capabilities Added to Instagram‘Tis the season to be shopping, and Instagram is making it easier than ever. Shopping is now available in every format on the app—In-Feed, Stories, Live, IGTV and in the newest update, Instagram Reels. This update comes as no big surprise given Instagram’s redesign last month that features shopping more prominently as a tab on the home screen.
What it means for brands: Instagram has long been used as inspiration for consumers’ future shopping carts, so these updates allow for a more seamless and streamlined shopping experience, shortening the path to purchase.
Twitter Announces New Integration with Snapchat and InstagramEarlier this month, Twitter announced new integration capabilities with Snapchat and Instagram, allowing users to share tweets to Instagram Stories or Snapchat. Users and brands alike have been “hacking” this capability, sharing tweets cross-platform. This update creates a smoother experience for users to share and link back to Twitter for interested users to view the entire conversation.
What it means for brands: Historically, social platforms haven’t played nicely, but we know consumers toggle between their social platforms in a fluid manner. This type of integration allows brands to behave similarly, paving the way for easier and more meaningful connections between brands and consumers.
Back in May, Facebook launched (via invite-only) its music collaboration app called Collab. This month, the social conglomerate made this new application available to all US users. It’s essentially TikTok for musicians, where music enthusiasts can make music together while being physically apart.
What it means for brands: While the app feels niche (and it certainly is), Facebook has put increased focus on features that create unique communities for users. If Collab is successful, we could see more nuanced social apps specific to consumer interests.
Following the rollout of Stories in September, LinkedIn announced it is testing ads in the same format. The initial launch will include 600 advertisers, with plans to launch the feature more broadly in the new year.
What it means for brands: LinkedIn was late, relative to other social platforms, in their launch of Stories—and while the new format is certainly interesting, LinkedIn has not yet released Stories usage data, leaving marketers in the dark for performance expectations.
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