Welcome to this week’s edition of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, a news show for marketers who want to stay on the leading edge of social media.
On this week’s Social Media Marketing Talk Show, we explore Facebook’s new video platform and Instagram’s IGTV video app with Ian Anderson Gray, YouTube Creative Suite for Marketers, and other breaking social media marketing news of the week!
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If you’re new to the show, click on the green “Watch replay” button below and sign in or register to watch our latest episode from Friday, June 22, 2018. For this week’s top stories, you’ll find timestamps below that allow you to fast-forward in the replay above.
Facebook Announces New Community-Centered Video Platform, Management Tools, and Monetization Opportunities: Facebook launched several new features to make its video platform more community-centered and engaging. Facebook is making Live videos more interactive with polling for live and on-demand videos and gamification for live videos. It’s also bringing videos from pages into the Watch tab and rolling out the “top fans” badge to more creators. (5:25)
Facebook is also testing a new video template for pages that “puts video and community front and center on a creator’s Page, with special modules for things like videos and groups,” and rolled out the Facebook Creator App for Android globally. The iOS version of the app initially rolled out last November.
Along with tools to help video creators grow their communities and manage their presence on Facebook, the company also shared three new monetization products. These include testing the new Brand Collabs Manager, which lets brands discover creators with whom they can potentially establish deals and partnerships, opening the Ad Breaks program to more creators in the U.S., and expanding the new Fan Subscription model to more creators.
Facebook is launching a limited program called Facebook for Creators Launchpad, another monetization program to support video creators it thinks fans will seek out on Facebook Watch. The program is focused on creators 1) with longer authentic content that brings people back, 2) who are focused on building a loyal community of fans, and 3) who meet Facebook’s standards and guidelines for monetization.
Instagram Debuts New Stand-Alone Video App, IGTV: Instagram announced IGTV, a new app designed for watching long-form, full-screen vertical videos from your favorite Instagram creators. The videos can be up to an hour long and can also be viewed from within the main Instagram app. IGTV will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks on Android and iOS. (23:35)
It’s a big day for Instagram. We’re launching IGTV — a new app designed for watching and creating video on your phone. The experience is native to mobile, with full-screen vertical videos, and the videos can be longer, not just short clips. It’s built on Instagram, so you’re already connected with your friends and favorite Instagram stars from the start. We also announced today that Instagram has reached 1 billion people. There are few products this widely used — congrats Kevin, team, and the whole community who use Instagram every day to inspire, educate and entertain each other. I’m excited to see the new ways all of you will use IGTV.
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday, June 20, 2018
YouTube Launches New Creative Suite for Marketers: YouTube rolled out a collection of resources to help advertisers tell great stories on YouTube, test creative variations, and measure creative impact. The Creative Suite will focus on delivering insights for brands with the new Video Experiment and Video Creative Analytics tools and storytelling with YouTube Director Mix and Video Ad Sequencing. YouTube is currently working with select brands and agencies to test these new tools and will gradually roll them out soon. (41:05)
Facebook Pilots Subscription Groups: Facebook is testing a new paid subscription program that gives admins the ability to create and manage separate, subscriber-only groups and charge members a monthly fee for accessing the exclusive content. Members will be able to sign up and manage subscriptions through the Facebook app for iOS and Android. Facebook states that subscription groups are part of their “overall approach to helping creators and leaders to financially support the work they do to engage their fans and communities.” Facebook is currently testing subscription groups with a small number of group admins.
Facebook Offers Autoplay Video Ads in Messenger: Facebook will slowly begin to roll out autoplay video ads inside Messenger this week. The company began selling static ads within Messenger a year and a half ago and is now looking to expand its portfolio to include video ads. Facebook states that these video ads will roll out “gradually and thoughtfully” and Messenger users “will remain in control of their experience.
Google Released Dedicated App for Podcasts: Google released Google Podcasts app for Android devices. This new dedicated app for podcasts includes access to a vast library of podcasts (over 2 million) and will sync across virtually everything Google, including Assistant, Home speakers, and search. Engadget reports that Google is planning to release “multiple AI-driven features in the months ahead” such as automatic transcription that adds closed captioning to podcasts, the ability to see what’s coming next in the episode you’re listening to, and proactive suggestions for material related to an episode in case you want to dive deeper into the subject.
Snapchat Adds Weather and World Effects to Snap Maps: Snapchat is adding two new features to Snap Map: Weather and World Effects. With the new Weather Effects, users can include animations on Snap Maps based on the weather wherever your friends are. This can include animated raindrops, sunshine, or snow depending on their location. Similarly, World Effects adds “culturally significant” animations to mark nearby events like confetti on your birthday or other holiday-themed effects.
Snapchat Launches First Docu-Series: Snapchat is expanding its original programming to include its first-ever docu-series starring teen YouTube personality Summer Mckeen. The “soft-scripted” show is currently in production and is expected to premiere in September. Variety reports that “Snap wants to build a slate of character-driven serialized narratives focused on the stories of ‘compelling people around the world as they go through dramatic life moments, incredible journeys, and challenging relationships’” and the docu-series format has a huge appeal among Snapchat’s most active cohort, 18- to 24-year-olds.