Top 5 Social Media News June 2019 - Latest Updates

I have shared a lot about all the how's and the why's of digital marketing and other tactics.

So today, I thought of trying my hand at something different.

Today I am going to pen down about the top 5 social media news of June 2019.

Almost two weeks have passed since June began and the main social platforms that have made to the talk of the town are:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• TikTok
• LinkedIn
• Mobile devices over television.

Let us take a look at the top 5 social media headlines one by one.

1. Instagram launches branded content ad option -

Earlier in the first week of June, Instagram officially launched its branded content ad option. This new feature of Instagram will now give more opportunities to the marketers to increase their on-platform influencer partnership.

Instagram stated that, "Starting today, we're introducing the ability for advertisers to promote creators' organic branded content posts as feed ads. 68% of people say they come to Instagram to interact with creators. With branded content ads, businesses have an opportunity to tell their brand stories through creators' voices, reach new audiences and measure impact."

Earlier the brands engaged with influencer marketing on Instagram, but this limited the reach to the followers of the influencer alone.

This new feature of Instagram now enables marketers to engage with influencer marketing with a broader perspective. Now they can expand their horizons of advertisement and reach, like any other Instagram post.

1. After reaction emoticons, Facebook now comes up with 'Avatars' in Australia:

After the launch of social media reactions for the first time in 2016, Facebook now comes up with 'Avatars'.

For the initial stage, it has only been launched in Australia and will likely be available worldwide by the end of 2019.

The Facebook Avatar bitmoji is the new feature that allows the user to create a cartoon avatar of them self and use it on Facebook as well as Messenger.

Currently it is available only for Australian users. The avatars can be accessed at news feed, messenger or smiley face icon.

The feature offers 18 customizable options including hair, color, clothes, facial features etc.

During the launch Facebook states, "Facebook won’t be monetizing Avatars directly, at least at first. There are no sponsored clothing options from fashion brands, or ways to buy fancy jewelry or other accessories for your mini-me. Facebook is open to the idea, though. “It would help personalize it for sure and from a business perspective that would be smart.”

1. TicTock enhances its targeting tools:

TicTok is emerging as the best mode to reach out to the youth target. Keeping this in mind the platform is looking for ways to improve it's targeting tools and capitalize from its rising popularity.

Taking full advantage of the growing popularity of the trending video app, it is now working on strategies to lure marketers by testing new ad targeting options.

The new strategy now gives the opportunity to the marketers to make the most of their promotion by reaching out to the specific subsets of TicTok's youth audience.

Similar to the advertisement tools of other social media platforms, this initiative of TicTok also focuses on both, interest based targeting and pixel tracking.

Following the trail of Snapchat, TicTok is also working on introducing functions like segmented audience targeting. Like segmentation of groups on the basis of interests like, football fans, automotive enthusiast, etc.

According to the statement of TicTok, "These options would be in addition to targeting by age, gender, location, operating system and network on the device. Sales leaders at the short-form video app have been telling agencies it plans to release a beta version of its self-serve ad platform more widely in July."

1. LinkedIn announces the launch of two new marketing initiatives:

Widely and popularly used as a professional social platform, LinkedIn now launches new marketing insight series.

This is an initiative taken by the platform to enhance their user's experience and give them as much information and insights as possible to reach to their target audience.

Earlier in the first week of June, LinkedIn announced two new initiatives especially for the LinkedIn marketers.

One was - LinkedIn ad review.

Second was - Weekly Research and Insight programme.

The first initiative will take into the look of performance of all the brands. At the end of the month it will share the insights of the brand that has performed well, for other marketers and brands to learn from it.

In the words of LinkedIn, "Every month in the LinkedIn Ad Review will shine a spotlight on a top-performing piece of LinkedIn Sponsored Content. In the Review, we’ll analyze why the Sponsored Content’s headline, visual, and copy work together to get across the brand’s message."

The second initiative is all about research and facts and figures. In this weekly insights LinkedIn will share researched data like, "Who are the buyers on LinkedIn, why and how they buy, etc." These insights will be very precise and to the point, giving all the facts and figures.

1. Time spent on mobile devices overtakes TV:

With the advancement of technologies and services, the growth of mobile use is spreading like forest fire.

According to research and reports of 2019, it is for the first time that the US audience is spending more time on mobiles than on television.

The reports have stated that average audience is spending 2:57 time on apps compared to 0:26 on mobile browsers.

These numbers also predict that the audience is now shifting from desktops and tablets to mobiles. This should be a ringing bell for the marketers.

Another major reason for this shift can be the introduction of Amazon Tv, Netflix, etc.

According to the reports, "The average US adult will spend 3 hours, 43 minutes (referenced as 3:43) on mobile devices in 2019, just above the 3:35 spent on TV. Of time spent on mobile, US consumers will spend 2:55 on smartphones, a 9-minute increase from last year. In 2018, mobile time spent was 3:35, with TV time spent at 3:44."

These were the top 5 social media updates of 2019. Stay tuned for more digital news and updates.

Also, please do not forget to share any important digital news that you come across.