Social Media Stories You Need To Know In May
May is in full swing, and here in Chicago, that means the weather is changing and people are spending time outdoors. Enough about me, here are some of the latest social media news that I think you can use to support your brand or organization. This week, we’re talking about the value of community management, the latest updates on Instagram and partnership opportunities, and Amazon releasing a TikTok imitator.
Before you dig-in, you can read more of my writing, like covering my favorite social media tools to use, like GoCharlie.ai. and more deep dives on specific topics on my blog.
What is Community Management?
Community management is when a brand interacts with audiences on social media to increase brand loyalty and foster authentic connections. Regardless of platform, staying top of mind with your consumers is more than just pushing out your own content. Great social and community management is about joining conversations and building on them. Conversations about community management help establish an online community while generating brand advocacy. A good community management plan will foster consumer relationships, boost brand visibility, and enhance brand authenticity.
Want some community management best practices and tips? Check out a few below:
Set up notifications, watch your social channels frequently, and arm your Community Managers with the greatest tools, such as access to Subject Matter Experts, to ensure they can handle incoming inquiries (both good and bad).
Reward your superfans by identifying and thanking users who constantly engage with your content. Consider sending these users a virtual “thank you,” with promo codes, gift cards, merchandise, or even custom stickers.
Create a feedback loop for content development to ensure that your future content leans into the conversations that your followers and target audience are having. If your team is spread across multiple departments, Community Managers should be interacting with Social Media Strategists and Content Creators regularly.
Instagram Expands Content Collaboration Features
Instagram has expanded its approach to branded content for advertisers and influencers this week, with the company announcing new methods for both groups to collaborate on the platform. You've probably seen partnership collabs on your Instagram feed in the past, and brands use them because they enable brands to amplify content from the handle of a content creator or influencer by cross-posting on the feeds of both accounts.
With the new update, brands can now boost more types of organic Instagram content as partnership ads, including branded content with the paid partnership label, Instagram Collab posts, @mentions, people tags, product tags, and other content without the paid partnership label,
Instagram is attempting to improve on a feature that has already shown to be successful, with campaigns that combine partnership ads with “business-as-usual” (BAU) ads drove 53% higher click-through rates (CTR), 19% lower cost per actions, and 99% probability to outperform BAU ads alone.
Amazon Launches TikTok Competitor, Inspire, for Influencers and Shoppers
Amazon has launched a new short video and photo feature called Inspire, now available to US customers. The feature allows users to watch and shop for products featured in videos created by influencers. Amazon hopes to attract more influencers to create content for Inspire and plans to add more creator features and shopping options in the future. \
Inspire is Amazon's latest attempt to compete with TikTok, which has become a major platform for social media influencers and businesses. The company also plans to launch a new live shopping feature called Amazon Live later this year.
It remains to be seen whether Inspire will be successful in competing with TikTok. However, Amazon's investment in the feature suggests that the company is serious about becoming a major player in the short-form video and social media spaces. Find out more here: https://tcrn.ch/3NHuTbS
