Social Media Friday Four

It was a big week for Facebook! Between the introduction of Facebook shops, a new way to sell products, and more testing of a potential loyalty program, a lot is changing. Instagram, too, updated shopping capabilities in more than one way. 

Let’s jump in ⬇️.

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The Launch of Facebook Shops

The introduction of Facebook Shops came this week, and it’s one of the many ways social media platforms are trying their best to help small businesses during these unusual times. The new feature is simply an updated version of what was formerly the “Facebook Page Shop.” 

This newer version will allow retailers to upload their product catalogs directly to their Facebook page, and users can stay on the Facebook app or website to browse these catalogs and purchase items. It’s not yet clear how many users have access to the feature, though Facebook stated that it would be fully rolled out over the coming months.

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Instagram Launches Shops; Shopping Capability from Explore Tab

Similar to Facebook Shops, Instagram’s new feature Instagram Shops will allow users to browse and purchase products on the app. The feature will allow businesses to feature product catalogs in their entirety for the first time on the platform, as they were previously only able to feature one item at a time. 

The new feature can be accessed either directly via the profile of the business, where there’s a new section made for showcasing their catalog, or on the explore page. Products and businesses will be featured on the explore page, though there isn’t yet any information regarding how the app selects which businesses will appear for users. 

Just as Facebook’s feature, Instagram Shops is being released in a phased manner and should be fully rolled out by the end of the summer.

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Facebook Introducing Selling Capabilities on Live Video

As part of the company’s effort to make shopping a seamless, in-app experience, Facebook is testing a new feature called Live Shopping. Currently, however, the feature is only available to select businesses on Facebook. 

If rolled out, the feature would give users the ability to tag products from their catalogs, which the aforementioned Facebook Shop would allow them to upload, before streaming. Then, during their live video, viewers will be able to see and access the links to their products while simultaneously watching the stream.

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Facebook Facilitating Connection of Loyalty Programs to Profiles

In an extension of what Facebook has been doing with businesses like Sephora, the platform will be allowing select businesses to have customers seamlessly connect their Facebook accounts to loyalty member programs. This new connection feature, while still being tested, would give businesses the ability to manage loyalty programs via Facebook Shops.

The first round of this program was launched in March, but this week’s new extension of the program is helping small businesses get involved. As of now, there are no further details about whether the program will be officially rolled out or to whom it would apply. 

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Social Media Friday Four

The Social Media Friday Four is back, and it’s time to go through what’s new in the social world!

Facebook users now have the capability to delete messages in Messenger, Instagram has added new e-commerce features to the platform, LinkedIn has unveiled its new and improved “LinkedIn Pages”, and Snapchat has released its Creative Partners Program.

Let’s jump in ⬇️.

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Facebook’s New “Unsend” Feature

Have you ever sent a message you didn’t mean to send? Or a picture? Or a made a typo that you wish you could fix? Well, Facebook has been listening to customer feedback, and has implemented an update, which will allow users to delete messages that they’ve sent in Messenger - woohoo!

Upon review of the deletion process on their app, Facebook’s VP of Messenger shared that most message deletion attempts were legitimate and due to mistakes made or content that wasn’t meant to be sent in the first place. The global rollout of this feature has already begun, and many users are already seeing the new update.

With “unsend,” users will have up to 10 minutes to delete a sent message, and once removed messages will be erased from the chat. When a message is removed, a “tombstone” placeholder will appear stating, “user removed a message”. The message recipient will be able to see the “tombstone,” and will be enabled to report the content removal if they feel that the message was sent maliciously in order to combat online bullying.

Let’s hope the feature is as helpful as it sounds, as this could be a huge help to those of us who don’t always proofread our content before hitting send!

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Instagram Is Building Out its E-Commerce Features

E-Commerce businesses rejoice! Instagram is building out its shopping features even further with the announcement of three new product updates. Did you ever wish you could buy something straight from a video you were watching? Save items to a “shopping collection” for later? More easily shop from business profiles? You’ll soon be able to do all three.

Have you ever used a shopping aggregate tool that saves all your favorite items (usually on sale!) all in one place? These tools are GREAT because you can browse and bookmark all your favorite items, then revisit them all in one place once you’re ready to compare and make purchases. Well, now you won’t need to leave Instagram to do this!

We also love Instagram’s shoppable posts, which are now being integrated into videos! It’s the worst when you see something you love and want to buy while watching a video, but then need to stop the video, open a new window, and search for that item online. Thankfully, soon enough you’ll be able to click right on items within a video, and make a purchase.

And if Instagram wasn’t making this whole shopping season easy enough for us, business profiles are also getting a slight redesign so that their shoppable posts will be organized under a new “shop” button and organized into one area.

Instagram’s new features will provide users a more fully formed shopping experience where they’ll never have to leave the platform... just in time for the holidays this year!

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New and Improved LinkedIn Pages

“LinkedIn Pages” was just rebuilt from the ground up, and we’re excited because this business network hasn’t always been the most intuitive platform to use. But, thankfully with this rebuild, LinkedIn has just gotten MUCH easier for both small and large companies alike to engage in constructive conversations with employees, customers, and followers within the community.

Pages were originally created to make connecting organically with other organizations simple and to make it easier for users to build lasting connections with one another. But, the platform didn’t quite hit the mark in terms of ease-of-use. One of the best things? Community management for admins will now be significantly easier!

Admins will be able to post updates and respond to comments through Pages, listen and respond to conversations surrounding their brand or relevant topics, and share documents, like PowerPoint presentations, Word Documents and PDFs to tell richer and more compelling brand stories. There’s also a new Hootsuite API integration, and a Crunchbase partnership that brings in funding insights and key investors on the professional social network.

LinkedIn spokesperson said, “We believe that individuals make up a business, but it’s the community that brings them all together.” Hopefully the new improvements to Pages will make our lives easier, but only time will tell!

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Snapchat Launches Creative Partner’s Project to Team Up with Brands

Just when you thought that Snapchat was done improving upon augmented reality, they step up their game!

The company introduced its Lens Creative Partners program on Monday, offering brands a way to find certified AR Lens creators. With more than ⅓ of its 186 million daily users interacting with AR Lenses, it’s no wonder they’re casting an even wider net.

Almost a year ago, Snap Inc. launched Lens Studios, allowing anyone on the platform to create AR Face Lenses. Now Snapchat is offering companies, both small and large, connections to AR content creators who will be able to help develop AR filters for their brands. According to Snapchat, they have selected the first 30 creators, that were put through an extensive Snapchat development course in order to learn about ad policies and buy models before starting AR creation.

For now there are only 30 Snapchat creators for companies, but in the next few months they are looking to add more than 100 creators. According to Snap, Nielsen Catalina measured 22 campaigns from different consumer-packaged-goods brands, and found that the AR Lenses used led to an average sales increase of 10%, along with increased ad awareness and brand life.

Snapchat’s AR camera features are a cornerstone of the app, so it’s only natural that they would expand the program. We’re really looking forward to having even MORE options coming through!

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Did you enjoy today's content? Leave a comment below, and check back every Friday for the latest in social media!