Social Media News March 2023

Hello Social Media Marketers! We hope your new year started off in an amazing way, with lots of fun new projects and experiences. While it’s still a bit cold over here, we are not taking a break from supplying you with the hottest social media news. Get ready for a tasty and informative morning crunch on what’s happening in the world of LinkedIn, TikTok, Meta & Co.!

The Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report outlines Pinterest’s various efforts to address workforce diversity, product safety, environmental impact and internal governance and the company has published its the very first one in early February.

The 30 page report also includes data on Pinterest’s growth, the firms own internal staffing approach as well as its environmental impact goals and much more.

You can find the whole ESG Report, which is planned to be updated on a yearly basis,here.

Everyone knows that the use of the right sound in a Reel can go a long way, but fanpage
karma wanted to know the positive effects of the song choice in more detail. Here are their
findings:

• Reels with music generate higher engagement rates
• Proper music/songs generate better than random sound effects or background noises in the video
• The right music pick can increase interactions up to 200%
• Reels with sentimental music have a higher reach than Reels with energetic songs
• Reels with energetic songs on the other hand generate higher interaction numbers than
Reels with sentimental music
• Reels that are “aesthetically pleasing” to the ears and eyes perform best (= if a Reel is cut
“on-point” to the change of the beat that you hear in the song)

A verification tick is a nice add-on. It verifies the business account and lets followers as well as
potential clients know, that this account is genuine and can be trusted. The question is, is this blue, or in Twitter’s case golden, tick worth to pay money for?

Elon and Co. certainly think so, as they have communicated to some brand partners in early February, that they intend to charge $1,000 per month for the golden verification tick. In one year, that would sum up to $12,000, a big lump of money most businesses do not have or most likely wouldn’t spend on this particular expense.

To clarify, this costly verification for brands on Twitter isn’t final. It is very likely that Twitter is simply trying to see where the market is at and will go lower once they receive feedback from their brand partner

TikTok added a couple of new functions to its on-platform advertising program Promote, which are meant to support small and medium-sized companies to build and expand their TikTok presence.

Let’s take a look:

Location Targeting
• Creation of a custom audience with TikTok Promote based on various characteristics
• It is now possible to select gender, age, interests and location
• Particularly interesting for companies with a physical shop, as this feature allows to address the
local community
• Usage of location tags is advised by TikTok for local businesses
• A “local feed” is in the works that will show content from the users current location

New Goal: Increase Number of Profile Visits
• This is now a specific goal which can be selected for marketing purposes in TikTok Promote
• With this goal, users can be directed to a businesses profile in order to convince them there
• Campaigns with this goal have a large red button labelled “View TikTok profile”
• The profile should either be aesthetically pleasing or include an interesting brand story to tell the user
• According to TikTok companies that present a range of products can also benefit

New Goal: Receive More Client Messages
• Interesting for companies and self-employed people who rely on direct interaction (e.g. artists,
hairdressing salons, life coaches etc.)
• B2B brands can also benefit from the new goal objective

Promote The Content of Other Creators
• Companies that work with creators can ensure that their content gets even more widespread
• Before promoting someone elses content a request must be submitted and can’t be promoted until the creator authorizes the promotion
• Selection of which video or live-event to promote is done organically, then a campaign can be set up around that video with additional goals and personalized budget

There have been a lot of guides floating around the internet on how to use Chat GPT, Open AI‘s new chat bot, and to make use of all its possibilities.

We have found, that Sam Szuchan‘s guide is one of the most reliable ones out there. On his LinkedIn profile he shared a simple manual on how to unlock the Chat GPT‘s enormous potential. Sam divides his guide into the following three steps:

• Prompting
• Playing the role
• Even more examples

In the beginning of February, Google announced ‘Bard’, its very own conversational AI service that looks a lot like the new Chat GPT system.

As per Google:

“AI is the most profound technology we are working on today. Whether it’s helping doctors detect diseases earlier or enabling people to access information in their own language, AI helps people, businesses and communities unlock their potential. And it opens up new opportunities that could significantly improve billions of lives. That’s why we re-oriented the company around AI six years ago – and why we see it as the most important way we can deliver on our mission: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

While Google is busy incorporating Bard into their systems, they have also been criticizing
Chat GPT for its inaccuracy in information, most likely in the hopes that people will turn their backs away from the new famous chatbot and give Bard a fair chance.

Bumble on Snapchat

Virtual dating has taken off during the lockdown era and while there are tons of dating apps out there, the dating app Bumble, where women message first, has gone on a mission to normalize virtual dating even more and has come up with very interesting Snapchat campaigns.

For one of their Snapchat campaigns, they partnered up with Cosmopolitan magazine and created short movies which resorted with the younger demographic, who are looking for culturally aware and socially responsible ways to date and connect.

Here are some examples on what these movies included:
• Lockdown love lessons
• Own experiences with online dating from Cosmopolitan employees
• Online dating experiences from women who have used Bumble
• Women sharing real-life relationship stories
• Women sharing their honest opinions on what it means to be single, in a relationship, married or divorced

Clemens Brock on TikTok

Clemens Brock is a German content creator on TikTok and his videos have been going through the roof in the recent months. With 1.7 followers he has a huge fanbase who enjoy his parody
videos in which he acts as a “typical German dad” and delivers relatable and funny content.

Mr. Brock has understood that a high number of people visit TikTok in order to relax and be entertained and knows how to deliver his comedic lines perfectly for his viewers.

Tasty on Facebook

Anyone who spends time on Facebook has most likely come across Tasty at least once. This Buzzfeed owned brand focuses mainly on the production of short video content in which they share quick and easy recipe’s with there viewers.

With a total number of 97 million likes, their page is one of the most successful on Facebook. This isn’t only because their main focus is food (and everybody loves food), but mostly because
they have figured out how to use this particular social media platform in the best way possible. Here are some of their main points, that have helped them succeed:

• Primary medium is engaging video content
• Videos don’t require audio to engage the viewer (audio independence)
• Content is readily available on their Page or the user’s feed
• Production of visually appealing videos

Amazon’s Super Bowl Ad

The super bowl season is always a great time for brands to release new advertisements. Some rely on comedic effects, others on plot twists. Amazon however decided to go with a sentimental point of view.

In its ad, Amazon told a story from the dog’s perspective, the family’s loyal companion, and made viewers revisit the biggest shakeups of the era. The company points out the struggle of adapting to change, in us humans and in our beloved house pets alike. But the ad takes a positive turn and reminds us that creative solutions are just around the corner and that hard times don’t last forever.

From a marketing perspective, this ad is perfect in reminding us, how important compelling storytelling is, especially if it is told from the viewpoint of a collective experience such as life during the COVID era.