Is This The Future Of Social Media?; Predicting The 2023 Boss Social Media Visual Format; An Actually Useful New Facebook Feature, And More...

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What is the future of social media marketing? That is this week’s theme. If you only have a few minutes, jump over to Mosseri’s vision of the future of social media, below. But here’s what’s new and happening:

• It’s Official: Instagram Is Working On The 9x16 Image Feature
• Instagram’s Mosseri Paints Platform-Agnostic, Creator-“Obsessed” Future Of Social Media
• This Platform Helps Companies Improve Retention, Through Better Software Updates Comms
• This Week's #YNTK: Twitch
• Zeta Marketing Platform Becomes The First Marketing Cloud Natively Available To AWS Customers
• Facebook Has A New Promising Messenger Communication Feature?

and more...

Reminders: Google Is Sunsetting Expanded Text Ads And Universal Analytics, And Here’s Why That’s Important

Don’t forget to do these asap or just forward this to those in charge of your marketing:?

• Starting June 30, Google will no longer allow the creation and editing of expanded text ads. Search Engine Journal published a few useful tips to manage this transition.?
• Google will replace GA4 a year from now, July 1, 2023. And at that point, you will lose past data. You won’t be able to run a year-over-year comparison, for example. Now it’s the time to set up your GA4 if you haven’t already.

Got Updates to Communicate? Take Advantage of this New Facebook Messenger Feature

Meta announced the introduction of recurring automated messages on Messenger. Think of these as... newsletters. So if you want to keep your email-hating Facebook-loving audiences updated, consider adding this to your comms strategies. By opt-in only.

Prediction: The Most Consumed Social Media Content Will Be 9x16 by 2023

I’m going to be bold and put this in writing: by next year, the most common social media visual format will be mobile full-screen, with most of it in a 9x16 ratio. In the last edition, I shared Facebook data that showed the top viewed content in Q1 was 9X16 videos.?

And here, Instagram’s Mosseri confirms that they’re working on a 9:16 image sharing format.?

So we will have stories, reels and now images in 9:16 on the platform. TikTok is all 9x16, YouTube keeps expanding its 9x16 features and Facebook’s most viewed videos are 9x16. I may actually be late on my prediction and this is already happening.?

Instagram’s Mosseri Paints Platform-Agnostic, Creator-“Obsessed” Future Of Social Media in TED Talk?

We HAVE to listen to this and talk about this. If even just a portion of this becomes a reality, it’s huge and will massively change the game for marketers.?

What’s the future? “A world for anyone with a compelling idea to turn their passion into a living,” he said in his April TED Talk.??

It is very hard to explain the role of decentralized systems in layman’s terms. Right there, I said something that many can’t visualize. But Mosseri does a GREAT job explaining this in his talk and how it will impact our individual ownership of digital communication.?

You may have noticed that Instagram is releasing more and more features tailored to help and reward creators. TikTok started the trend, but Instagram is practically redesigning the platform in front of our eyes (frustrating for many who still want it to be a photo platform) and turning it into a creator economy. In his talk Mosseri says that his team is obsessed with creators. He sees creators as those who build culture.?

Here’s how this would go, for those who don’t want to watch the talk:?

Right now, the social networks own what you built and your relationship on the platform. You heard that right. If Facebook shuts down, you lost everything you built, photos you shared, contacts, followers, and the only thing that helps you remember people’s birthdays. The same happens to Jen the creator. If that network goes away, she loses what she built, her followers and subscribers.

But what if ??:

• We build systems through which Jen, the creator, can directly OWN the relationship with her followers and subscribers??
• There’s a token, accepted by all social networks, through which Jen can bring her subscribers with her independently of a platform.
• You are able to sell equity in your future as a creator on your own terms. And your community will gain by investing in your success.?

Mosseri says, “if we build this on the blockchain, no company can take this membership away from her.”

This vision overlaps with Jack Dorsey’s vision of Twitter becoming a protocol, like email, where users control their spaces and on which others can build their own social networks.

And why does this matter to Mosseri?

“The more art there is, exchanges of ideas, creativity, the better of we are. But we haven’t seen the world this way.”

Until now.?

Are brands and marketers ready to accept and embrace this future? Are you able to let get of control and participate in creating art, and exchanging ideas? Will you focus your online presence on making the world a better place? Yes or no, all of these also apply today, so you can start now.?

This Platform Helps You Improve Customer Retention Through Better Communication of Your Software Updates

I can’t talk enough about my vision for a world where customer communication becomes a unified cross-departmental priority for every business. You’ve heard me talking about the necessity of merging marketing, sales, customer experience, etc into one commercial engine.?

And then I heard about LaunchNotes and I realized there’s also a tech and product dev tie-in here - how we communicate software updates to our customers and how we collect their feedback is critical to customer retention.?

According to Tech Crunch, “[LaunchNotes] sees this as a customer experience or success kind of tool, including getting feedback from the customers as a key part of the product.”

Here’s what users say about LaunchNotes:

#YNTK: Twitch

Twitch is a live streaming platform owned by Amazon, featuring mostly game live streaming, eSports but also recently more and more music, DIY, creative and lifestyle content.?

User demographics are as follows:

• 65% of Twitch users identify as male?
• 35% identify as female (non-binary currently isn’t reported).?
• 73% of Twitch users are aged 16–34.

Is Twitch a Social Network?

While it didn’t start so, it is. You can follow and DM other users. Streams have chat rooms where users can connect. And the Pulse feature functions just like a Facebook or Twitter “feed”/timeline, with status updates, and the ability to like, share and comment.?

What’s In It For Marketers?

Elena Sinekovich called Twitch “a reality show without editing.”?And that says a lot.

The number 1 thing to keep in mind is that Twitch is different. It will require creativity. And guts.?And relentless audience focus.

Here’s an example:?

Cash App. They hosted an 8-hour event. Yes 8 hours. Live! They invited 21 top content creators as guests and co-hosts of #CashAppPayDay. The event included a rap battle, a quiz game, a UNO championship, and of course, lots of interaction with the viewers.?

The results? 1.3MM views and almost 484K new followers of the Cash App channel.?

Zeta Marketing Platform Becomes the First Marketing Cloud Natively Available to AWS Customers

“AWS and Zeta are delivering a simplified and effective path for enterprises to modernize their marketing stack and create more opportunities to acquire, grow, and retain customers with a more efficient return on investment,” said Mona Chadha, Director of Category Management at AWS. “The ZMP is an omnichannel marketing platform that orchestrates the entire customer experience, including managing data and identity within its Customer Data Platform (CDP+), acquiring new customers, and managing and growing existing customers.”

If you have at least $580,000 a year ?? to invest in your marketing stack, head on over to the AWS Marketplace.

Hootsuite Adds Tiktok Publishing Feature?

Cats, it’s getting serious. The TikTok game, I mean. All signs point to you needing a strategy today.?

With the new Hootsuite features you will also be able to:

• Plan your calendar alongside your other social networks
• Build reports with success metrics
• Insights into followers and demographics
• Respond to comments and messages

Got thoughts? Drop them in the comments ??

And stay safe my friends ??