The Latest Social Media News In February
Let’s get right into the social media and influencer news you can use to start your week. We’re covering the best ads from the Super Bowl, why brands should invest in their communities on social media, and Instagram testing out new features to boost user engagement.
Looking for more social media news worth using? You can see more of my latest social media updates and more deep dives on specific topics on my blog if you’re new to my website.
Best Super Bowl Advertising from AdWeek
The Super Bowl was last week, and for many in the advertising space, it's when we sit down and spend more time watching the commercials than we do the game. This year, I sat close to the food table, and I apparently missed big parts of an exciting game.
If you were like me and were looking to see what the most iconic brands, and their agencies have been working on, check out a few of Adweek's favorites:
Pop Corners: Walt and Jesse from Breaking Bad teamed up in the desert for a PopCorner spot that many view one of the best Super Bowl ads of the year. The teaser foreshadows what is to come from the snack brand, similar to what we saw from Bran Cranston and Aaron Paul during the legendary show.
Uber One: Diddy is asked to write one hit for Uber One, so he turns to a slew of one-hit-wonder artists for terrible, Uber-centric versions of their old hits. If you were watching this spot with a younger audience, they may not recognize artists like Montell Jordan.
Netflix & GM: The recession may really be here if Netflix was collaborating with GM to split the cost of a Super Bowl commercial. But this one's a keeper, with Saturday Night Live alum Will Ferrell being inserted into Netflix shows like Squid Game and Army of the Dead, promising that the streaming service will feature more electric vehicles in their shows.
Why Brands Should Invest In Their Social Media Communities
A strong social media following is not enough; brands must also have an active community to stand out against competitors. The Hubspot Blog polled 1,283 social media marketers worldwide to find out which trends they are leveraging, which channels they are using, and what their intentions are for 2023. Here's what they discovered:
20% of social media users had joined or engaged in an online community in the previous three months at the time of the poll.
Regarding the platform with the most growth potential in 2023, social media marketers rank Facebook third, after Instagram and TikTok. Here's why it's essential to invest in one's online community.
Customers can use these active, online communities to ask and respond to others' issues, reducing the overall demand on customer support employees. They can help cut support expenses – one research found that answering a question in a community was 72% cheaper than submitting a ticket to a support team.
Instagram Testing New Features to Re-Ignite User Engagement
Instagram is testing a new "Memory" feature within app to help boost engagement and persuade users to share old posts, taking a page from Snapchat's playbook. Oustide of Reels, which continues to be prioritized in-feed and in turn, gain popularity, Instagram has seen a decline in usage over the past few months and is searching for methods to boost that. Internal data seems to even suggest that usage of Instagram's story feature is down 10%.
Meta is also looking to update the archive tool on Instagram to improve engagement. If rolled out to all users, expect to see a new "Memory" story prompt. You will see additional Stories you shared around the same time when you tap on the “Memory story.” Although this idea is very similar to Instagram's previous archive feature, this new update does not offer users a more direct and frictionless means of resharing.
If you’re looking for more ways to build advocacy for your or your client’s brands, check out the latest of my freebies. I even created a quick infographic that contains a five-step framework for building brand advocacy on social media.
