July is somehow over, so we’ve compiled some of our favorite digital marketing and social media marketing updates and trends from the month. These have been helpful on our most used social media platforms as we developed our social media marketing strategy. Say that three times fast! As a bonus we’ve included five neato free tools. Digital, social and content marketers alike, enjoy!
Browser-Based Redesign
Twitter released a browser redesign, and it’s good. It mimics much of the functionality from the app and allows for a much smoother user experience. We like the new look, but it has received mixed reviews. If you’re missing that old school look, here is how to get back.
Why is it cool?
Aside from the look of this redesign, the user experience is better. Bookmark access, account switching and more intuitive access to messages are our fav changes, and we think this will increase the amount of time users spend on the platform and how social media users engage with it overall.
“Hide Replies” Option Is Coming… Maybe
To limit the argumentative side of one of our favorite social networks, Twitter is testing a “hide replies” feature. It’s currently being tested in Canada, but could be coming to everyone eventually.
Why is it cool?
Over the past few years, Twitter has gained a bad rap for trolling and arguing. This option gives users the ability to take control back when comment wars breakout. This could be great, but we’ll see how it’s received in the coming weeks.
Targeting for Top Fans
This feature will allow pages with 10,000+ followers to share content with the most engaged portion of their audience. While it’s been available to some users for a few months, it’s now widely available.
Why is this cool?
The engagement rate on posts within the most active portion of your follower audience will be higher than it would be with your total audience, thus building a stronger and more loyal community among those followers. Read more from the platform here.
Mobile Ads Update
The space for a mobile ad is shrinking. The change will go into effect August 19. We wrote a blog about it, check it out here. In a nutshell, instead of the seven lines now displayed, the new design allows for only three lines of text before prompting readers to ‘see more’. The supported aspect ratio for images and videos will therefore also shrink – shortening to 4:5 from 2:3.
Why is it cool?
This is a benefit for both users and advertisers. Placing succinct ads will likely be an easy transition for advertisers, and this could marginally improve the user experience. Everyone wins!
Pages Updates
Pages has received another set of helpful updates for admins. In a stream of recent changes that we really like, this one includes custom CTAs and mobile editing. Now, a business page has the ability to add one of five “call to action” buttons. We recently switched to the “Contact Us” option and will be watching to see how it shakes out. Additionally, admins can now make changes to their company page on the fly in the mobile app.
Why is it cool?
The idea behind the newest iteration of LinkedIn Pages (launched roughly a year ago) is to give organizations the ability to engage more authentically, and custom CTAs and mobile editing definitely make that easier for brands.
Hiding Likes
As we’ve all been hearing for months, Instagram has started to roll out hiding likes. Check out our blog on the topic here. Initially only in Canada, the feature released in Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand in mid-July.
Why is it cool?
Instagram is trying to get away from the narrative that their platform is affecting users mental health negatively. There is a concern from influencer marketing, but there are multiple ways to measure audience engagement
BONUS!
In addition to these social media marketing updates and trends, here are five cool free tools we like:
Every emoji you could ever want, with one-click copy.
Email verifier to keep disposable and invalid address out.
We love color picker tools, here is one new to us.
