- Aubrey Lehrmann
GENERAL NEWS
Facebook Adds Carts to WhatsApp
With this new feature, people can browse a catalog of products, select multiple items and send the order as one message to the business to fulfill. For more info on how this works, check out this handy infographic. As a business owner, all that’s needed to enable carts is that you first establish a catalog of products for customers to view.
Report: TikTok Users Around the World
eMarketer predicts that TikTok will continue to be a social powerhouse in 2021. Their updated forecasts assume there will not be a US ban to contend with, and shows that TikTok users are expected to continue to increase through 2024 in many countries around the world (including the US). In the US alone, TikTok’s user base grew y more than 85% this year.
Snapchat Acquires Music App Voisey
Described as a “TikTok for music creation,” Voisey provides a range of vocal effects and backing track options or lets you record your own vocal tracks. Snap may start adding Voisey elements into their main app next year, tapping into the music creation trend on the coattails of TikTok.
Reddit Buys Dubsmash to Compete with TikTok
With significant growth of video on Reddit, this acquisition allows Dubsmash’s video tools to be integrated directly into the social platform’s website and app. The video platform is popular with young, diverse audiences and its users are largely female. According to Reddit, the partnership makes perfect sense as the number of videos posted to subreddit threads doubled in 2020, and the success of TikTok has changed the industry focus entirely.
Introducing Snapchat Spotlight
Late last month the platform rolled out a new tab in the action bar that allows Snapchatters to choose content to feature in Spotlight. The platforms algorithms will then surface the snaps most likely to entertain users, based on their preferences and favorites. While no ads will appear in Spotlight to start, it’s likely that this new feature will become available as a placement for full-screen ad units early next year.
BETA Alert: LinkedIn Story Ads
The Closed BETA program is allowing advertisers to test tapping into their new content format with full-screen video and single-image ads served in both vertical and square orientations as an additional placement from existing sponsored content campaigns. Stories can be used to drive traffic to landing pages, feature industry topics and news, provide product announcements and customer testimonials, or promote upcoming events. Additional BETA testers will be announced in January, with a more broad launch date for all advertisers coming next year.
LinkedIn Report: Understanding the Rising B2B Decision Maker
LinkedIn recently conducted a study to analyze the changing behaviors and attitudes of 17,000 knowledge workers in 10 different markets, age 12 to 40. The thought being, these are the professionals who will influence the structure and behavior of enterprises most in years to come as they move through the ranks and take on more leadership roles in the workplace. This report contains some really interesting insights on how these individuals make decisions around hardware, software, employee perks and benefits, and company events—as well as what is most important to them in the workplace today.
Twitter Integrating with Snapchat, Instagram Coming Soon
iOS users will now be able to add tweets directly into Snapchat snaps, providing more options for sharing tweet conversations. This new feature could help drive users back to Twitter to participate in expanded discussions. For Instagram, Twitter will be testing the ability to share a tweet as a sticker in a Story.
2020 LEARNINGS/RECAPS
Facebook Report - Road to Recovery for Small Business: This report shines a light on some of the biggest challenges facing small and medium businesses around the world today, and discusses whether or not the situation as improved at all over the course of the pandemic.
Twitter’s Best Tweets of 2020: There are some great examples here of how brands leveraged the unique situations 2020 brought us all to connect with people on a deeper level.
Reddit Year In Review: Highlighting the communities and conversations that were front and center in 2020.
TikTok Holiday Guide for Small Businesses: I actually don’t think this one is just for 2020; there are some good tips in here around how to set yourself up for success any time of year.
TikTok Top 100: Get inspired for 2021 by reviewing the top 100 TikTok moments of 2020.
2020’s Top Trending YouTube Videos and Creators: This year’s top videos show how creators adapted to the challenges of 2020 and how they’re preparing for 2021.
What We Learned from UGC in 2020: In a year where UGC was more important than every before, there are some great learnings available that can help set you up for success next year.
2021 TRENDS & PREDICTIONS
eMarketer Report - US Social Media Advertising in 2021: This report shares predictions for how much marketers will spend on social media advertising next year (11.4% more) and breaks down growth for each platform, in addition to talking about what challenges marketers are likely to face in 2021.
Hoot Suite 2021 Trends Report: Download for free to read about how brands will use social media to create new customer experiences and conversation next year.
Social Media Today’s 25 Predictions for 2021: Click through for platform by platform predictions for what’s coming next for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
Making Standout Video Content for Facebook: Something to work into your 2021 goals – take these free Facebook blueprint courses to learn more about how to take your content to the next level!
2021 Pinterest Moments Planner: A comprehensive guide to reach Pinners during meaningful moments.
Pinterest Predicts: Providing a window into what trends people will care about in 2021 related to fashion, beauty, travel, food and beverage, home, wellbeing, parenting, hobbies, finance and more.
