Social Media Changes That Can Affect Your Business

Get up to speed on the biggest changes on all the major platforms

There have been numerous social media changes this year.

While the “regular” folks (and possibly your potential customers) are looking to use social media on a personal basis, savvy business owners leverage the popular platforms to build their customer base.

With most people dependant on their daily dose of social media, it’s clear that going all-in on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube can have a massive impact on growing your business.

In fact, Big Domino Marketing made it our goal for 2019! Catch up on our progress by reading this post.

The one thing’s for sure: these platforms are always making changes. Sometimes the changes enhance user-experience, and other times it’s because they’ve been slapped with a lawsuit (privacy concerns etc.)

Either way, you need to keep your finger on the pulse because changes can affect your content creation and digital marketing efforts.

Benefits of social media changes for business

We’re sure you know all this already, but in case you’re in any doubt, here are some reasons why social media is helping businesses flourish.

There are so many advantages for small and medium-sized business owners when it comes to using social media.

Here are some of the advantages:

• Swift and easy communication between brand and consumer
• Direct traffic to your website
• Increases engagement between customers and the brand
• It gives you a chance to be seen as human and trustworthy
• You can promote your brand at far less than traditional marketing
• Sometimes you’re able to see what your competition is up to
• Build brand awareness
• Helps you to build partnerships and network with others
• Sharing videos and interesting stories
• Get more email list opt-ins via your lead magnet

Now let’s see what they’ve changed lately…

Facebook Changes

Facebook is the biggest social media networks in the world. With over 2 billion users to date, it just continues to grow in numbers. Every business owner should use the platform to leverage its benefits and grow their business.

It is, if anything, affordable and offers many free perks.

Ads transparency

When it comes to the relationship between you and your customers, TRUST plays a critical role. They need to trust you to believe in your brand voice and become loyal. To this end, Facebook has launched greater ads transparency.

We did an entire article on the Facebook Ads Library which allows you to find all the ads that are running on Facebook.

In addition, Facebook now also shows users why they are seeing certain ads. The user can see business details such as the name, involvement in the marketing campaign, and some of the details of the other parties involved.

For business owners, the Ads Library means you can take a sneak peek into what your competition is up to.

Targeting restrictions

To prevent discrimination, companies can no longer use age, gender, or race to target certain audiences for housing, employment, and credit-related businesses. The networking giant implemented these changes “restrictions” as a response to civil rights complaints.

Great video editing tools

Video and picture quality is extremely important for all social networks. We cannot stress this point enough.

Thanks to the social media changes this year, Facebook added some handy tools to assist your video editing needs. Some of these improvements include video trimming, auto-cropping, a new set of fonts, seasonal templates, and overlays to name a few.

Appointment management

Appointment management is another excellent social media change for Facebook and it allows businesses to manage their appointments and time. With that said you can set up appointment reminders to ensure that you don’t miss any while staying sharp.

Customising options are now available for you to change in the menu listing your services. This will give your customers a better experience. You can also show your availability through your Facebook business page.

This is a welcome feature for small businesses and solo-entrepreneurs who don’t want the added expense of appointment-management software.

Additional changes

Apart from the transparent ads and various targeting restrictions, Facebook has had several upgrades that change how business owners can use the network.

These other changes include:

• Notification management
• Facebook cryptocurrency
• Change in the newsfeed algorithm
• Video algorithm changes

Instagram Changes

Promoting products through influencers

When it comes to popularity in the digital realms, we cannot deny the charm of Instagram, the second biggest social media network. The network boasted 1 billion active users in 2018 and that number is set to grow at an unprecedented rate.

People love influencers; they are inspired by them and can also use them to help grow their audience and popularity.

Instagram allows the user to create a sponsored ad out of an influencer’s post.

Both the influencer and business brand will need to set up this feature in their accounts.

Using influencers have many benefits including:

• Building trust with your audience
• Increases brand awareness
• Improves content strategy
• Brings value to your audience
• Builds great partnerships

Creator Studio rolls out Instagram and IGTV desktop publishing

Finally! For content creators and social media account managers, this feature is life-changing!

Now instead of huddling over your mobile phone, you can now upload and schedule posts and IGTV from your desktop. To use the feature, you have to connect your account in Creator Studio in your Facebook Business Manager, which is quick and easy to do.

 Google+

Alas, the internet giant announced the closure of Google+ accounts effective from 2 April 2019 due to the lack of use and low traffic.

You can find more in-depth details about the account closure and who it affects here.

Twitter Changes

Twitter is fast-moving and perfect for keeping your audience up to date. The social media network is one of the leading apps for sharing all things “newsworthy”. Users continue to enjoy the almost “hands-on” approach provided by the network.

The app is also very user-friendly and you can stay up-to-date with what people are talking about by simply using your mobile device.

You can access Twitter feeds without having an account; however, to use the full benefits, you’d have to create an account for your business.

Relocated navigation bar

For those of you who actively use Twitter, you’ll probably remember the navigation bar being at the top of the page. However, it has now relocated to the left sidebar. Maybe this takes a little getting used to but once you do it should be easy to remember.

New desktop design feature

The new desktop design has even more features and options to customise your account.

Limited follows

To combat spam, Twitter has resorted to limiting the number of users an account holder can follow. These numbers have dropped from 1K followers a day to 400.

LinkedIn Changes

Professionals all over the world resort to the advantages of using LinkedIn. It has over 500 million members and the number continues to grow. The platform is versatile and not only provides a social opportunity to meet other professionals but also to promote your skills.

Audience templates

The network introduced audience templates. These are pre-populated options that make targeting your audience a bit easier. Audience templates are great to help with your LinkedIn ad campaigns.

Better algorithms

Algorithms help software programs to function more smartly.

LinkedIn also introduced new algorithms as part of their social media changes in 2019. One of the new characters includes prioritising people you’re connected with and the topics that you find interesting.

Pinterest Changes

Pinterest is one of the least highlighted social networks but still a good one to use for business. The network also integrated some social media changes that include:

Better customer experiences

The shop brand feature allows the user to be able to explore even more of their favourite companies. This is found underneath the chosen product pin.

A brand or online shop can upload their products and arrange them into catalogues for easy use for consumers.

Users can also personalise their shopping recommendations.

The takeaway on social media changes

Every social media platform is different in its own way. After all, they do compete for more users to follow them. To achieve more followers, there are constant social media changes to help improve usability.

While not every change necessarily affects your business, you might just find that some of these changes can help you keep a competitive edge as you build your brand on the platforms.

Despite the complicated-sounding terminology used in digital marketing, using social media (an extension to digital marketing) can take your business to new heights.

Improve your online presence with skilled digital marketing professionals like Big Domino Marketing. We understand more than just the “lingo”, we get results.

Take action now

Apply for a FREE Strategy call if you need help with:
– content creation (blogs, email newsletters)
– paid advertising on Facebook & Instagram
– regular social media posting on various channels