Our new, bi-weekly summary will help you keep up with news and updates on Facebook and its owned Apps: Instagram and Messenger. We share these updates to help small business owners stay on top of the ever-changing digital marketing world, which in turn, will make your social media strategy more effective on these top platforms.
1. Slow-loading websites will be penalized by Facebook
Facebook Updates News Feed to Penalize Non-Mobile Optimized Websites (Social Media Today) http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/facebook-updates-news-feed-penalize-non-mobile-optimized-websites
News Feed FYI: Showing You Stories That Link to Faster Loading Webpages https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/08/news-feed-fyi-showing-you-stories-that-link-to-faster-loading-webpages/
2. Updates to Facebook Stories
One of the drawbacks to using Facebook Stories as a marketer (over Instagram Stories) was that Facebook Stories were only visible to your Friends. Instagram Stories are visible to everyone who follows your personal or business account.
Public Stories
Now your Facebook Stories can be seen by “Followers” of your Personal Profile. If you’ve turned on the Followers option on your personal Facebook profile, people who are not your Friends can see all of your public posts. And now your Stories can be included in that public content.
Facebook Stories Can Now Be Made Available to Public Followers http://www.adweek.com/digital/facebook-stories-public-followers
Stories on Desktop?
Another possible update to Facebook Stories is the ability to view them on desktop. Two articles confirm that Facebook is currently testing this:
Facebook Stories are Coming to Desktop – and Could Still Become a More Significant Facebook Element http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/facebook-stories-are-coming-desktop-and-could-still-become-more-significant-facebook
Facebook begins testing Stories on the desktop https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/03/facebook-begins-testing-stories-on-the-desktop/
(Testing) Going LIVE from Facebook Stories
Facebook tests ‘going live’ from Facebook Camera, Live Stories like Instagram https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/04/facebook-tests-going-live-from-facebook-camera-live-stories-like-instagram/
Are you using Facebook Stories for your business or personal branding? Until Facebook Stories comes to Facebook Pages, a brand will probably have more success using Instagram Stories on their business account.
But for personal branding or if you are the “face” of your brand and have an audience of Followers on your personal Facebook Profile, these changes may make Facebook Stories a good option.
3. New statistics on Facebook Video
This new report from Facebook is aimed at brands creating TV commercials, but there are some helpful insights for businesses who are using video in general too.
Here is some helpful information on why creating videos for a “vertical” view is best:
“Optimize your ratios for mobile – Square and vertical videos often perform better on mobile—people don’t have to turn their phones sideways to get the full effect. Brand lift tests show a 3 to 9 point lift for vertical videos compared to horizontal ones. We recommend a 4:5 ratio for Instagram and 2:3 for Facebook feed.”
Facebook Releases New Report on Maximizing the Potential of Your Video Assets (Social Media Today) https://buff.ly/2uaDOuS
4. Instagram Stats
As of July 26, there are now 15 million business profiles on Instagram! And 80% of users follow a business. See more statistics on the Instagram blog: https://business.instagram.com/blog/announcing-15-million-business-profiles
Instagram Stories turned one-year-old this week, and according to the platform:
“In the last month, over 50% of businesses on Instagram produced an Instagram Story. One in five organic stories from businesses gets a direct message.”
https://instagram-press.com/blog/2017/08/02/celebrating-one-year-of-instagram-stories/
5. Facebook Launches their TV-like feed “Watch”
This new feed is available to a test-group of users, so we’ll keep you updated as it rolls out to everyone.
Learn more from these resources:
Facebook introduces Watch, its redesigned tab for video programming https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/9/16122026/facebook-watch-video-tab-original-programming
Introducing Watch and Shows on Facebook [more from Facebook about Watch and Show Pages, including how to register your interest in creating a show] https://media.fb.com/2017/08/09/int…
6. Facebook Groups mobile app is going away on September 1, 2017
Say goodbye to the dedicated mobile app for Groups…did you use it?
Thank you for using the Facebook Groups app https://www.facebook.com/fbfacts/390237724681928
7. Add a guest to your Live Instagram Story (currently testing with some users)
Instagram Adds New Guest Option to Live http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/instagram-adds-new-guest-option-live
Go LIVE with a friend https://instagram-press.com/blog/2017/08/08/go-live-with-a-friend/
That’s it for this bi-weekly summary of Facebook and Instagram updates and news. Look for our next summary in 2 weeks – subscribe to the blog now so you don’t miss it!
About Terry League