This week, we’ve got new features from two social media platforms. Facebook has bolstered its business suite with new content tools and ways to be discovered. Meanwhile, TikTok is just launching its Business Creative Hub, complete with a content guide and inspiration from trending TikToks.

Let Me Check My Schedule: Upgraded Post Management on Facebook

Have you visited Facebook’s Business Suite to manage your business account? It allows you to see and respond to messages, view your ad campaigns, and go through how people are reacting to your content, all in one helpful place. A year after making the business suite available to business owners, Facebook is adding features that will help them schedule and manage content across Instagram and Facebook.

Business Suite is a great place to schedule or post content since it lets you knock out two platforms in one. Now, you can also use this power to schedule stories for Instagram and Facebook! This time-saving feature will make it easier for you to keep your story fresh with new content throughout the week. You can also edit scheduled content within the Business Suite now, in case you have a change of plans or notice a typo.

Facebook has also announced two upcoming features for the Business Suite: photo album management and draft posts. In the same tab that you use to schedule posts and stories, you’ll be able to create photo albums to group your content together. Additionally, when creating a post you’ll have a new option to “save as draft”, in case you’re not quite ready to send it into the world.

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

To take full advantage of the Business Suite, make sure your Instagram account and Facebook accounts are linked. Then, you’ll have access to all your content when you navigate to business.facebook.com while signed in to a Facebook account associated with your business page.

We love that Facebook Business Suite’s two-in-one scheduling has now been extended to stories. Stories are great for events, reminders, and keeping your audience involved in between posts. While you’re making social content for the month, throw in a few different stories that you can schedule ahead of time. These could be related to upcoming holidays or events, meant to drive engagement, or teasers for upcoming content. Have fun with it and get scheduling!

Getting Discovered: More Business Tools From Facebook

According to Facebook’s State of Small Business Report, more than half of small business owners were using digital tools to communicate with their consumers. Furthermore, those businesses that were able to offer digital sales during 2020 were able to maintain higher business volume than those that couldn’t. To continue making Facebook a great place for small businesses to promote themselves, the platform is giving small businesses more ways to use Facebook to gain and manage an audience.

The first new feature will allow businesses to be found by audiences that might be interested in them. Facebook is currently testing a feature that allows users to select topics that interest them while in the Newsfeed, which will then translate to more posts from related businesses in their feeds. This is a simple way for users to opt-in to learning about certain types of businesses. However, we haven’t forgotten about impending privacy restrictions that will restrict Facebook’s ability to collect data from iOS users. Is this a first step to bringing targeted ads to a privacy-first digital world? Either way, this move is looking good for small business discovery.

Another new feature gives small businesses new ways to interact with the audience. Gone are the days of responding to customer questions with your personal Facebook accounts; business page owners can now comment and engage as their business! You’ll also have a new business News Feed, separate from your personal one, to encourage engagement with your community. Finally, Facebook is upgrading its ads options with a “Call Now” engagement button, the option to optimize for leads that are most likely to convert, and Messenger templates for following up with leads.

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

There’s a whole bunch of new features from Facebook that we have to explore! From new ways to advertise to organic discovery options, Facebook is continuing to brand itself as a digital hub for small businesses. When we combine these features with the Business Suite we just discussed, we can see that Facebook is going all out to keep small businesses on their platform.

Even when you’re not advertising on Facebook, keep your presence up with regular posting, engaging with your audience, and updating your business information as needed. Many users go to Facebook first to see reviews and learn information about a business in a format they’re familiar with, so seeing that you’re active and up-to-date is always a plus.

Not To Be Outdone, TikTok Creates Its Own Business Creative Hub

TikTok is the new kid on the block when it comes to social media. Popular, a little quirky, and not quite as popular with the parents. However, the platform has been making strides recently in terms of monetizing and creating a business-friendly atmosphere. TikTok has added advertising options, discussed tips for organic business content, and now is debuting the Business Creative Hub for inspiration and best practices.

The Business Creative Hub starts with the Business Content Guide, created by TikTok as a cheat sheet for the platform. This guide includes tips on everything you need to know, including the best time to post, how to shoot your video, and how to set up your profile. Aside from this guide, the Business Creative Hub includes videos to inspire your content. You’ll see the top content from business accounts in your country, ranked by likes and engagement, and the overall trending content on the platform. This content is meant to inspire your own creativity and help you create trending, engaging content for your brand.

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

TikTok is becoming a big player on the social media scene. While this content can be more challenging to create (mostly because you have to be willing to get in front of a camera), it’s incredibly engaging and well-received by the audience. In fact, TikTok reports that ads on its platform are more inspiring, trendsetting, and enjoyable than ads on other platforms.

Before you start buying TikTok ads, create organic content to populate your page. Remember to focus on authenticity rather than pulling out all the stops like you would for other platforms. Businesses that succeed on TikTok do so because they’re relatable and funny, rather than polished and professional.

Ok, now what?

Now that you’re up to date with the latest industry news, it’s time to invest in a team that specializes in all things social media and digital marketing. We can help! Liquid Creative is a full-service marketing agency ready to help your business operate to its fullest potential without missing a beat.

Facebook advertising has been the bread and butter of social media promotion for a long time. They’ve kept their edge by acquiring their biggest competitor, Instagram, in 2012 and continuing to provide new advertising options. But Facebook and Instagram aren’t the only places people spend their time online. This week, we’re looking at three other platforms that are keeping their advertising fresh: YouTube, Twitter, and Reddit.

A/B on YT: Finding Your Best Video Ad

How do you create an effective ad on social media? After starting with a sound strategy, one of the best ways to optimize ads is through A/B testing. (For a refresher, this technique involves running two or more similar ads on a platform to give statistics on which performed better.) Google has allowed advertisers to experiment with ads in the past, but now it’s expanding to an exciting new medium: video. Now, advertisements on YouTube can feature experiments with different versions of an ad!

 

With ‘video experiments’, advertisers will gain a better understanding of what resonates with users and drives conversions. Google boasts that studies of its video experiments resulted in ads with 30% lower median cost-per-acquisition and 60% higher recall. Data from your specific ads tells you what works for your brand and your target audience specifically, which will inform the strategy for your next campaign. 

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

Advertising on YouTube does have a higher barrier to entry: You’ll need a video. To experiment, you’ll need multiple versions of it. However, the ads don’t need to be as different as you might think. Google recommends experimenting with small aspects of the ad, such as moving the call to action around, adding visual effects, and changing the size of text and logos. The next time you look into creating a video for your brand, see if your editor can provide a few different versions with the same footage and message. Then experiment with your YouTube ad and see what works!

All The Ways You Can Advertise On Twitter In One Nifty Chart

There are a lot of ways to promote your brand on Twitter; more than most users probably realize. This week, Twitter took a step towards clarifying all the options that businesses have while rebranding and reorganizing its advertising offerings. There are five categories of advertising with different execution options in each. 

Promoted ads are displayed in a user’s feed, similar to how they’d view a post from someone they’re following. These can include images, videos, text, and more, with a few options that aren’t available for non-promoted tweets. Follower ads promote your account to a specific audience that might be interested in your content to increase your following. 

Twitter Amplify allows businesses to advertise before videos on Twitter. The advertisers can either select a video category or align their brand with a specific content creator. Twitter Takeover ads give you reach across the entire platform for a period of time – all Twitter users will see your ad when opening up their timeline or when looking at what’s trending, based on your placement. Finally, Twitter Live allows you to promote a live broadcast – perfect for events, product launches, or influencer collaborations.

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

The power of Twitter ads is that they feel very natural within the platform. With the right creative, you can encourage the audience to retweet, react to, or share your ads. There are a lot of options to take in, so we recommend starting with the basics: promoted ads.

Push your brand message to the next level with a creative, funny, or absurd ad to stop the scroll and capture the audience’s attention. For example, you could declare that macaroni is now a breakfast food and watch the engagement roll in. (I saw this as an ad and immediately shared it with friends. I’m still thinking about it 8 months later.)

ELI5: How Can I Advertise On Reddit?

According to Pew Research, Reddit and YouTube were the only social platforms to show statistically significant growth since 2019. About 18% of Americans are using the platform today. This is still a lot less than social giant Facebook, which still has about 69% of Americans on its site. However, Reddit’s built-in audience filtering and committed user base make it an interesting way to diversify your online advertising. To sweeten the deal, Reddit has just launched a new advertiser’s hub called Ads Formula that gives advertisers insights into the community and how to reach them. 

 

Haven’t browsed Reddit before? Check out the platform’s guide to how everything works, Reddit 101. It explains some popular abbreviations, including TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) and ELI5 (explain like I’m 5). TL;DR: The platform is composed of different subreddits that each have a specific theme. Users post content to these subreddits and others upvote or downvote the post. The best-rated posts rise to the top and are featured on that subreddit, while downvoted posts take some scrolling to view. The most highly rated posts of all subreddits appear on the home page, which usually features an interesting mix of news, pet photos, text stories, and more. 

Reddit is unique because everyone has a chance to make it to the front page since users follow subreddits (or topics) instead of other users. Another interesting feature is just how niche these subreddits can be. There’s r/Food, but there’s also r/EatCheapAndHealthy, r/MealPrepSunday, and r/PutAnEggOnIt. You can choose to advertise to users that follow specific subreddits, which is one of the best ways to target consumers who are likely to be interested in your ad!

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

Ready to become a Redditor? To get familiar with the platform, create an account and start following some subreddits. Reddit is a great way to browse the internet, but it’s also a place to get inspired. Check out r/SmallBusiness, r/Entrepreneur, and, of course, r/GNV! Find subreddits that are related to your industry. You’ll get to see what content people are creating, what questions people have, and where struggles or frustrations are happening. Following these subreddits makes it easy to check out what’s happening by glancing at your home page.

 

Once you’ve got a handle on the platform, check out Reddit’s resources for advertisers. Find some subreddits that might work for advertising your brand. Type a keyword in the search bar to find relevant communities, or visit a subreddit on your desktop to see related communities in the right sidebar. You can also reference Reddit’s 2021 calendar to schedule a campaign, look into their suggested best practices for creative, and see case studies about how others have activated their brands on Reddit before jumping into Reddit advertising.

Ok, now what?

Now that you’re up to date with the latest industry news, it’s time to invest in a team that specializes in all things social media and digital marketing. We can help! Liquid Creative is a full-service marketing agency ready to help your business operate to its fullest potential without missing a beat.

This week, our favorite social platforms are giving their products some new spins. Facebook is giving users more control over their feeds, Instagram is channeling TikTok as it launches its Reel Remix feature, and Twitter is in the process of expanding accessibility to Spaces. 

Not Vibing To The Algo-Rhythm? The Feed Filter Bar Might Help

After one too many dystopian stories of social media evolving into mind control, Facebook is giving users more options to control how they interact on the platform. This includes limiting who can comment on posts, more information about why posts are suggested, and the Feed Filter Bar. We’re particularly interested in that last feature, which allows users to determine what they see on their feeds. Giving users this level of control reminds us of Facebook’s early days when we weren’t beholden to the algorithm. 

The Feed Filter Bar allows users to sort by Favorites and Most Recent, both of which replace the algorithmically-ranked News Feed. Favorites is another new feature from Facebook – it allows users to select 30 profiles or pages that they’d like to see the most from. Posts from a user’s Favorites will automatically appear higher in their feed or they can be seen by switching to Favorites in the Feed Filter Bar. The other option, Most Recent, gives everyone a fair shake by showing all posts in chronological order. 

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

This feature feels like a breath of fresh air. As social media users, you’re going to see more from the people and pages you follow/favorite. As business owners, you’ll know that the algorithm isn’t the sole decider of who sees your content. Your most devoted followers can add you to their Favorites and view your content first, while others who kick the algorithm to the curb will see what you post at peak engagement times!

Instagram Reels Get A Remix! …But This Track Sounds Familiar

We love hearing what two different artists can do with the same beat or the same lyrics. (In fact, we’ve seen just that with TikTok Duets between musicians.) But at what point do we have to acknowledge that one version of the song is better? As Instagram continues to add features to Reels, we’re seeing TikTok imitations over and over again.

The latest remix? Remixes. Instagram’s new feature allows you to film a video next to a previous Reel, using its original audio and adding your own as desired. It’s as simple as tapping the three dots at the top of a recent Reel post, filming, and posting your contribution!

This is another way for creators to interact and make great content together. As we evaluate where to spend our energy and engage with our audience, it’s worth acknowledging the elephant in the room: Reel Remixes sounds a lot like TikTok Duets. 

It’s clear that Instagram is directly competing with TikTok after seeing TikTok’s success. However, releasing copycat features one by one feels like a slow reinvention of the wheel. To be a true competitor in short-form mobile content, we’re looking for how Instagram can take this medium to the next level. Without unique additions to the original, is it a remix or just copyright infringement? 

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

If you’re looking to expand your audience, Remixing a Reel is a way to tap into another creator’s following. They might even end up liking your Remix and looking into other ways to collaborate with you! Find an influencer in your area or related to your industry and see if there are ways that you could add to their recent Reels. You can also create a new Reel with the intention of being remixed. Pose a question, interact with the right side of your screen, or provide audio that someone can build off! And if you’re going through the effort on Instagram, we’d highly recommend posting your content to TikTok as well. It’s an easy way to start building your audience on the platform and reaching more people.

Last November, Google gave us a heads up that they would be adding to Google Search’s ranking criteria. Even if you’re not an SEO geek, you know that searches are an essential factor in your visibility to consumers. The changes, set to start in May, focus on including the page experience in a website’s ranking. These signals include whether a website is mobile-friendly, safe to browse, and secured with HTTPS. We’re here to break down these changes, and how Google’s new page experience tools can help you keep your ranking!

What Is Page Experience, And Why Should I Care?

Before we get into the details, let’s talk about Google’s definition of page experience. Overall, it’s pretty much what it sounds like – the ease, security, and overall experience that someone has while visiting a website. That’s difficult to automatically measure, so Google has designated certain signals that are linked to the page experience.

These signals are tidy numbers and yes/no indicators that will be incorporated into your website’s search ranking. Google has been kind enough to offer up tools for seeing where your website stands on these signals. SEO aside, some of these are quick fixes that will improve your user experience, so we recommend taking some time to check them out!

Don’t fret too much about your website falling off the map: Google is reassuring website owners that its algorithm will still value information over page experience. However, when multiple pages provide the same information, the one with the best page experience will appear first. 

Website Check-Up: Measuring Your Core Web Vitals

The first three page experience signals are grouped into Core Web Vitals. These focus on the loading time, visual stability, and ability to interact with a page. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) indicates the load time of a page, specifically the point when the main content has loaded. Google recommends that websites strive for LCP within the first 2.5 seconds. 

First Input Delay (FID) measures the responsiveness of the website when a user interacts with it – basically the time between the user’s click and when the website starts to respond. A good FID of less than 100 milliseconds indicates a highly responsive website. Finally, Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) looks at whether, and how much, the website’s layout is changing without the user’s input. You’re looking for a  CLS score of less than 0.1 – otherwise, your users might be frustrated by shifting links and unexpected changes.

There are a variety of tools that you can use to measure these three values for your website. PageSpeed Insights is one that’s pretty straightforward. Just type in your URL, wait for the results to come back, and see how your website stacks up with recommendations for how to improve! If you see yourself checking multiple websites, you may want to try out the Web Vitals Chrome extension for one-click evaluations.

Other Experience Factors: User Friendliness and Safety

The final four signals each measure their own area, with less of a metric you can work on and more of a yes/no checkbox. The first of these is whether your website is mobile-friendly. Google has provided an easy test to evaluate your website. Just enter your URL! Another consideration is safe browsing, which boils down to whether your website contains malicious, deceptive, or otherwise harmful content. To learn more about what could prevent your website from being considered safe, check out Google’s Security Issues report – it also provides guidance on how to resolve these issues.

The next signal, HTTPS, is the most cut and dry. This is whether your website is secure and using HTTPS or not. You can see this pretty easily when you view the entire URL of your website – does it start with “HTTP” or “HTTPS”? Your Google Chrome browser will also let you know whether your connection is secure with the icon in front of the URL you’re on. A padlock means you’re on a secure site, while a circle or triangle indicates your information might be at risk. If you’re not using HTTPS, learn how to here.

Finally, Google is looking for whether your site includes intrusive interstitials. If you’re using pop-ups that cover a large portion of the page or interrupt the mobile experience by filling the entire screen, these may negatively impact this signal. However, large interstitials that are legally necessary (such as an age confirmation for age-restricted content) or allow the viewer to log in to a website won’t be factored in. Other pop-ups should allow a reasonable amount of screen space showing the website. For some examples of what this looks like on mobile, check out Google’s visual examples here.

Ok, now what?

So you know the acronyms and you’ve plugged your URL into these tools. How else can you maximize your search ranking and start fixing the issues you’ve found on your website? We can help! Liquid Creative is a full-service marketing agency ready to guide you to your best website. Contact us today to get started!

Clubhouse has met its archnemesis: Twitter Spaces. As Twitter continues to evolve its new Clubhouse copycat feature, we’re taking a look at how these platforms work and what we can expect in the future. Meanwhile, we’ve also got some key TikTok takeaways from the platform’s recent small business summit, Ready, Set, Grow.

No Invite? No Problem: What You Need to Know About Clubhouse

Clubhouse entered the social media scene in March of 2020, just as we started opening and closing every social media app 50 times a day. The app is currently only available on iOS and signing up requires an invite from a current user. Instead of posts, like other social media channels, Clubhouse revolves around Rooms. Each Room includes a few speakers that can have an audio conversation and an audience of users that can just listen in or “raise their hand” to ask a question. Moderators of a room can invite audience members to become speakers during the session. 

Rooms can be open to everyone, just the people you follow, or limited to people you invite. You can also create a live room immediately or schedule a conversation ahead of time, letting people know when they should tune in to hear you discuss your topic. It’s also worth noting that Clubhouse intends for its conversations to stay within the app: If you share the audio without the moderators’ permission, you could be banned from the Clubhouse. 

Clubhouse is all about having conversations for their own sake: no likes, no algorithm, and no sponsored content (yet). That’s what we needed in 2020, so it’s no surprise that this platform took off. Clubhouse is still adapting to its success, trying to keep its servers up and encourage creators. We’re excited for the day everyone can sign up and download the app, and to see how this platform adapts for businesses in the future!

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

So now you know about Clubhouse. Step 1 is getting access, which means asking your friends for an invite if you’re an iOS user and patience if you’re on team Android. When you get to create an account, make one for yourself. You’ll be speaking as you, not just as a business profile, so let people know who they’re talking to and how you’re connected to your business. Then start exploring! You’ll want to get in on conversations related to your business or host them if you have topic ideas others haven’t thought of.

“Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better”: Twitter Spaces

Clubhouse saw success in the social media space, and Twitter saw an opportunity. The platform launched Spaces, a place to have live audio conversations within its existing iOS app. Replace “Clubhouse” with “Twitter” and “Room” with “Space” and you basically understand how Twitter Spaces work. 

We’ve been on the edge of our seats, seeing update after update roll in for this new feature. The feature-testing from Twitter includes opening Spaces up to more users on its Android app, just after Clubhouse indicated it will be months before their app is available on Android. Twitter Spaces also seems to have some features that Clubhouse hasn’t mentioned, included automatic captioning of the conversation.

Twitter Spaces is most definitely a copycat of Clubhouse. But we’re not mad at it. Twitter benefits from an established team, experience in the field, and a platform full of people already having conversations. It’s also a little friendlier to businesses, with established ways of gaining followers, sponsoring tweets, and maintaining a business profile.

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

If you’re wanting to speak to your established audience, Twitter Spaces is the way to do it. Listeners won’t need an exclusive invite to hear what you have to say. You can share when you’re going live on Twitter and other social media, which might gain you some Twitter followers while you’re at it. This service still isn’t accessible to everyone, but we’re hoping the beta means anyone can join your audience soon!

TikTok Takeaways From Their Small Business Summit

Imagine a theme park that’s a social media marketing conference that’s also on your computer screen. That’s what TikTok gave to us social media nerds this past week, in the form of their small business summit Ready, Set, Grow. The summit was a free, online experience with different rooms to choose from, business TikTokers sharing their strategies, and a bumpin’ soundtrack.

If you didn’t have the time to tune in, no worries! The sessions will be available in the library starting April 1st, and we’re here to give you the key takeaways from the event. First, we start by addressing a misconception that most marketers have about TikTok. The platform isn’t just for Gen Z. Does the audience skew younger? Yes. But 38% of the app’s users are over 29. Tapping into a niche audience on TikTok is a possibility for a lot of direct-to-consumer businesses who want to generate interest in their products.

Now we get into how you can create content that will go far on TikTok, as told by small business owners who use the platform this way. They hit home on authenticity. Viewers know an ad when they see one, so make sure you’re not posting ads. Take cues from other creators on the platform or create content that your community is asking for. Make sure that you keep the character of your brand in every video. High-quality production isn’t necessary. We’re used to creating content with a certain level of polish, but that can come off as inauthentic. A ring light and tidy background are really all you need to start filming. 

Finally, use TikTok’s unique tools to make content that feels native to the platform. Use the in-app editing, add text, and experiment with templates. Chime in on trending topics or challenges to get more eyes on your content while giving yourself ideas about what to make! The secret to TikTok is to establish an authentic brand voice or character that you can apply to any new trend. 

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Get in front of some good lighting and get filming! This summit reaffirmed that humanizing a business is part of a successful TikTok strategy. In fact, we heard successful creators saying that adding a professional polish to their content actually discouraged engagement and views! So get messy and get in front of the camera. Tell the story behind your business in your own voice and watch the likes roll in.

Ok, now what?

Now that you’re up to date with the latest industry news, it’s time to invest in a team that specializes in all things social media and digital marketing. We can help! Liquid Creative is a full-service marketing agency ready to help your business operate to its fullest potential without missing a beat.

LinkedIn took a divisive stance last week, declaring that their platform is not the place for photos of dressed-up pugs. The professional platform is pushing themselves as the ideal place for B2B marketing with a new campaign and relevant resources. Meanwhile, YouTube is rolling out their Shorts beta to the U.S., making them the perfect medium for short-form dog content. Not to be outdone, TikTok balances their whimsical content with business tools, including a new auto-reply feature for business accounts.

 

LinkedIn Gets Down to Business Promoting B2B Marketing

We know that LinkedIn is the professional social media platform. LinkedIn is reminding us that they’re not just the place for finding a job or sharing business-related articles: They’re the best place for your B2B marketing. Their newest campaign highlights that when someone is on their platform, they’re ready to think about their business problems, making this the perfect place to reach professionals. They’ve started off the campaign by providing some ways to add value to your LinkedIn presence, including discussing industry trends, telling your organization’s story, and sharing career advice. 

While they continue to solidify their role as a professional network builder, LinkedIn is also looking to increase our understanding of paid campaigns on the platform. They’ve created a campaign planning worksheet that goes through the different types of sponsored content you can use to advertise. It also tells you which metrics you can expect, and divides them into groups based on which objective they relate to, such as brand awareness vs. conversions. For more information about how to market your B2B business on LinkedIn, check out their B2B articles!

Though they have placements for all sorts of advertising, LinkedIn seems to be recognizing the engaging power of video ads. Their video ads guide suggests pulling in your audience with a demo or exclusive offer, using an animated video with captioned audio, and including a call to action following concise copy. If you’re thinking about placing a video ad, LinkedIn provides even more strategies on their best practices page.

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

LinkedIn didn’t really need to tell us that pugs don’t make sense on their platform. But it is a good reminder that LinkedIn is the perfect place to meet professionals when they’re already in a business mindset. That means B2B companies should be investing in their LinkedIn presence, even if it’s just with organic content for now. Become a resource for your clients by providing blogs, resources, and advice that’s relevant to them. Create a group to get professionals in your industry talking in your space. When you’re ready to try out a paid campaign, LinkedIn has the resources to get you up to speed for the best results.

The Newest Member of the Short-Form Content Family: YouTube Shorts

After being tested abroad, YouTube Shorts are finally available in the U.S.! This new video content extension focuses on quickly creating short-form content on a smartphone. The new feature comes with editing capabilities directly from YouTube that allow multiple segments, speed adjustments, music, and on-screen text. Shorts also allow creators to remix audio from other Shorts, with promises from YouTube to allow sampling from YouTube videos and their music library later on. Shorts will be available in their own row on the platform starting now. The new feature is rolling out gradually throughout the U.S., so look for it over the next few weeks if you’re not seeing it on your homepage quite yet.

Getting a sense of déjà vu? Us too. Shorts are sounding a lot like TikTok and Instagram Reels. TikTok hit on a sensation that goes all the way back to Vine trends. By allowing people to build off of previous content, they got to the heart of what makes a meme: references to an original joke. Now everyone wants to get in on the trend of shareable video memes, and YouTube is the latest to try their hand. 

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

We’re starting to have to think about what is the best place to post these short mobile-friendly videos. TikTok is the original platform and continues to be skewed to a younger demographic. Instagram Reels are a great option if you have an established following, and Instagram is likely to recommend your content to people who might enjoy it. So where does YouTube Shorts fit in? We’ll have to see. Though the editing tools look pretty basic compared to the more established platforms, YouTube is the go-to for long-form video. Their embedding options and sharing tools are top-notch, which means your content can be repurposed. And having your content recommended to viewers who might then visit your channel page is an interesting way to spread awareness. The jury is still out, but start experimenting to see if this is a place where your content works!

Subject: Automated Responses, From: No*****@****ok.com

TikTok has added a new feature for business accounts that you might not have noticed. You can now set automatic replies that will be sent out to users that message your business account. They’ve even taken it one step further by allowing you to set a general welcome message and different automatic responses to keywords.

To access these settings and set some automatic replies, open the Business Suite and navigate to Message Settings. There you can select the Welcome Message or Keyword Auto-Reply options to start customizing your responses! We see this working for frequently asked questions and simple information about your business. In many cases, you may not need to reply after a keyword auto-reply works its magic. This new feature means that it can be simpler for a user to message you “hours” than to search for your business’s website!

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

If you’ve got a TikTok account set up for your business, take some time to draft your auto-replies this week. Typing out these messages up front means you’ll have a consistent, speedy response to anyone who reaches out. Scroll through your previous messages and see what information people are looking for, as well as what keywords to use. Finally, set a friendly welcome message to start the conversation quickly. With just a little bit of preparation, you’ve got an automated information directory linked to your TikTok account!

Ok, now what?

Now that you’re up to date with the latest industry news, it’s time to invest in a team that specializes in all things social media and digital marketing. We can help! Liquid Creative is a full-service marketing agency ready to help your business operate to its fullest potential without missing a beat.

Everyone understands the value of a good first impression. You want people to get a sense of who you are, what you stand for, and the role you can play in their life — and you want them to like you! While many businesses are relying on their online presence to provide a strong digital first impression, it’s more important than ever to have a website that reflects the current state of your brand. It’s too easy for logos to become outdated or lose track of which links need to be replaced. Often the best thing you can do is a full website audit — looking for subtle yet impactful ways to rebrand and refresh your online presence. 

It’s All About the Content

The first thing you can do to ensure your website is doing its job is a content review. Peruse the content that is already on your site, searching for mistakes, things that are no longer relevant or true of the company, and links that need to be fixed or updated. When left unchecked for too long, websites can easily accumulate mistakes that could turn customers away from your business. Having multiple people review your current content can provide you a good starting point to work from. What did they like? What did they think needed to be changed? What logistical issues need to be fixed? 

As you’re performing this content review, take a few moments to look at your analytics. This will show you what performs best, allowing you to plan future content that you know your audience will respond to. 

The Key is Keywords

After you’ve reviewed your current website, it’s time to update it! One of the most useful updates you can make is to find keywords that directly relate to the services you provide. Filling your copy with the right keywords will help your search engine optimization (SEO), making it easier to find your website in Google searches. This leads people to your amazing services! While this task may be less fun (and more tedious) than picking out a new color scheme, having a strong organic search is one of the best things you can do to bring in new customers. Your website and seo go hand in hand — it’s worth the extra work. 

Graphics, Logos, Colors, Oh My!

Once you’ve finished dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s, you can have some real fun! Part of rebranding is the visuals — graphics, logos, and colors, oh my! The last thing you want is a website that looks like it’s stuck in 1992. Start brainstorming how you can elevate your current visual identity, or decide if you need a whole new look. You need a website that’s user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing, and matches the rest of your company branding. Phoning a designer for a new font or some animated graphics can go a long way! Whether you decide to improve what you already have or go for something brand new, a fresh look really will make you feel like a million bucks. Don’t cut corners! 

Let’s Get In Touch

Lastly, make sure you have clear, easy to access contact information on your site. Unclear or incorrect information has the potential to lose business. Contact buttons throughout your content, as well as a chat box and a specific contact page, will help people know exactly how to reach the right people to answer their questions. 

Refreshing your website can be overwhelming, whether you’re doing a full rebrand or just making necessary updates. Make a to-do list, take it one step at a time, and don’t be afraid to ask for help! Your digital first impression will be wowing your audience in no time. And if this all feels like a chore, Liquid Creative has a team ready to take your website to the next level. 

Facebook is continuing to establish its role as the savior of small businesses and content creators with new ways to generate revenue on their platform. Meanwhile, TikTok and Twitter are giving us more options to control the conversation, literally, with restrictions on commenting. And finally, in a move that feels like it should’ve happened years ago, Twitter is incorporating full-size images into our feeds on iOS and android. All in all, these features are rewarding businesses who choose to invest in their social media presence, and we’re happy to see these changes keep coming!

Facebook Expands Monetization Options for Creators and Businesses

Facebook has been a staple in our social media strategies for a long time. Getting your business page on Facebook is a great new way for people to discover your business, and Facebook ads have always been a smart way to target audiences that are most likely to make a purchase. Now, Facebook is offering you ways to supplement your income with options to monetize your Facebook presence. 

This starts with implementing ads in more types of videos, including videos that are at least 1 minute in length and Facebook live videos. For content creators, this means a greater payout. For advertisers, it’s a new, possibly more engaging, way to reach an audience. We call that a win-win. To be eligible for revenue on your videos, you must publish them from a page with over 10,000 followers and adhere to Facebook’s Partner Monetization Policies. 

Videos are also being monetized from the audience’s end. Facebook’s Stars allow viewers to share their appreciation with a Live content creator. Stars amount to giving a donation or tip to these creators and Facebook is encouraging viewers to use them by giving out free Stars. The platform is also allowing businesses to host paid online events and offer fan subscriptions, which it won’t be taking any revenue from until August.

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

Content creation isn’t for every business, but it can be an engaging way to reach audiences online. Think through what your business could use this platform for, now or in the future, by exploring topics that relate to your brand. Be aware of the eligibility requirements – you need to have 10,000 followers on your page to earn monetization from videos, and 60,000 Live minutes viewed in the last 60 days to qualify for in-stream ads. These are big requirements for smaller businesses, so we recommend working on your Facebook presence while focusing on other platforms with fewer start-up requirements. Learn more about Facebook monetization and check out their Creator Studio for resources to get started!

Twinsies! TikTok and Twitter Control the Conversation This Week

Twitter and TikTok both expanded options for restricting comments to give creators and businesses more control over the conversations that happen on their page. Let’s start with TikTok: Their new tools are available for anyone who posts content on the platform. Creators can set filters to catch comments that might be problematic. They’ll then have the option to approve these comments manually and have them show on their videos. If a comment isn’t approved, it won’t be shown. Meanwhile, users will be alerted with a dialogue box when they try to leave a comment that appears to violate TikTok’s community guidelines. They can still post these comments, but the dialogue box might push them to edit it first. 

On Twitter, the current options for user accounts are being extended to advertisers on the platform. Now, you’ll have the option to limit who can reply to your tweet both when posting or promoting a tweet. You’ll be choosing between whether everyone, people you follow, or just the people mentioned in the tweet (if any) can reply. 

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

So why would you limit conversations on your promoted tweets? If you took out a newspaper ad, you wouldn’t expect to see it printed next to a negative statement about your business. This new protection guarantees something similar. Your Twitter advertisements won’t show user opinions about your brand unless you want them to. We recommend trying reply restrictions on your next Twitter ad, if not testing them out on your organic Twitter posts. Meanwhile, make sure to follow your supporters or friends in the industry! You’ll be able to select “people you follow” to continue having discussions with this group specifically. 

Twitter Goes Visual (Finally!)

First it was Fleets, now it’s full-sized images in your feed! Twitter is slowly coming around to the importance of visual content after years of prioritizing 140-character-or-less quips. This might seem like a small step but it means your followers will see your images without interrupting their scroll, similar to what you’d expect on Instagram. Before, they’d need to tap on your post to see the full content. Now, they’ll see it whether they tap or not. 

 

Will this kill a few “open for a surprise” memes? Sure. But this move makes Twitter more of a visual competitor in the social media space. If you’re posting a single image to Instagram or Facebook, now you can throw it on Twitter for about the same effect. It’s a whole new audience for your visual content – as long as you post it one image at a time. It looks like multiple images still won’t show any image in full. But who knows? Maybe carousels are next!

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

Twitter has been experimenting with new features like crazy over the last year. From Spaces to Fleets, we’re excited to see what this platform looks like in the future. If you haven’t started a Twitter account for your business, now is the time. Start with the same content that you post on Facebook, Instagram, or other social platforms. Then play with Twitter’s other options – from text-only tweets to Fleets to Spaces – to see how this platform can work for you. If you’re already established on Twitter, start incorporating visual content more, with the knowledge that your followers will be more likely to see the full image while browsing. As Twitter continues to find its place in the social media space, you’ll have an established account to explore new features with. 

Ok, now what?

Now that you’re up to date with the latest industry news, it’s time to invest in a team that specializes in all things social media and digital marketing. We can help! Liquid Creative is a full-service marketing agency ready to help your business operate to its fullest potential without missing a beat.

The visual content trend is only getting stronger. This week, we have 3 new social media features that focus on video. Instagram’s Live Rooms give us a new way to collaborate, TikTok’s Q&A feature encourages easy responses to your audience, and WhatsApp’s video calling on desktop could mean trouble for Zoom.

Get A Live Room: Collaborating From Home

For the last year, many of us haven’t been in the same room as our colleagues and business partners. We’ve had to find new ways of communicating and collaborating to keep these relationships going. The latest option from Instagram, Live Rooms, allows you to take Instagram Live to the next level, by adding up to 3 other users to your broadcast. This is a great new way to engage your followers with Q&As, tutorials, interviews, or anything else you can think of.

So why go live with other users? One reason is that you can provide valuable content to your following. Q&As and interviews can give your audience tips and perspective related to your product, making them more likely to go to your brand when they’re looking for information. You’ll also have your account boosted to someone else’s following, which could gain you some new followers and interest in your brand. Finally, if you have an Instagram Shop, remember that you can tag products within a live video. With someone else’s following tuned in, this is a surefire way to get new eyes on your products.

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

If you feel like you’re not doing enough with your social media, this is an easy step to make engaging, unique content for your Instagram profile. So how can you pull this off? Reach out to an influencer, business, or other account and make a plan to collaborate together. Talk about possible topics and the value you can bring to one another. Lead up to your Live Room session by getting your audience engaged. Call out the user you’ll be teaming up with, state the day and time you’ll be going live, and ask your followers what they’d like to know.

On the day of, get yourself in front of some natural light with a clean background and go live! Instagram Live is not about getting everything perfect. Go in with some topics or an outline, but not a script. Allow some pauses for thinking and switching topics – it’ll save you from talking over each other. And when it’s done, get brainstorming about what you can do next! People who enjoyed what you have to say will be more likely to check out your account and tune in again.

We Asked, TikTok Answered: Q&As for Creators and Businesses

TikTok’s Q&A feature is now available to all creator and business accounts! To activate this feature on your account, you’ll have to navigate to your settings and privacy page, select “Creator”, and then select “Turn on Q&A”. This will allow you to easily see your audience’s questions, respond to them through videos or comments, and have it all summarized on your profile. You’ll know what information your audience is looking for and be able to engage with them in exactly the right way. 

Let’s break down how TikTok’s Q&A works. First, when users comment on a TikTok video, they’ll be able to designate whether their comment is a question for the creator. The creator can then respond with a new video, which can feature the question as a sticker and link back to the original video. While in a live video, creators will see questions pop up as they come in and be able to give a quick response. The questions and responses will also be available on a new Q&A tab on your profile!

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

This feature is a great way to encourage questions from your following and engage them with information they care about. It’ll give you consistent ideas for new content. When you’re done answering a quick question, feel free to expand on it in some original videos. This tool will provide insight into what your audience is thinking, so use it to shape your TikTok strategy. 

Producing content for TikTok can feel intimidating to start. A lot of businesses want to get into TikTok because of its younger audience but just aren’t confident about making relatable video content. If this sounds like you, give yourself some inspiration by following TikTok’s new business account and searching for small businesses similar to yours. You can also gain some insights from TikTok’s free Ready Set Grow Summit on March 24th!

WhatsApp Takes It To The Big Screen: Desktop Video Calling

WhatsApp continues to prove that it’s not just another messaging app. Do we use it for family group chats? Sure, but WhatsApp has also been growing as a platform for small businesses. Their latest feature is another that rides the line of professional and personal: Video calling for desktop. We’re definitely going to see people using this to connect with family and friends over distances, but it also has utility for connecting coworkers while working from home. 

As working from home became the norm for many U.S. businesses, Zoom was the standout star for meetings and culture hours. Google revamped its video calling to make it a more viable option, and now WhatsApp is joining the game. The advantage that WhatsApp might have is in video calling between businesses and clients. If you’re already having a conversation with a client or customer on WhatsApp, calling them from your computer will be quicker and easier than switching over to Zoom or Google Meet.

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

Desktop video calling is definitely going to be interesting on a personal and professional level. We’re excited to try this to connect with our families and friends, and for collaborating with our team while working from home. As far as normal business operations go, this might not be useful for every small business. We’re recommending giving this a try if you need to meet with your clients to provide services or offer consultations. 

This means if you provide a B2B service, WhatsApp video calls might be worth exploring. Try using video calling with your employees or a trusted colleague to start. Compare the platform with other means of calling your clients, such as Zoom and Google Meet. Even if it isn’t the right tool for connecting with clients, we’re happy to have another option for connecting together even while we’re apart. 

Ok, now what?

Now that you’re up to date with the latest industry news, it’s time to invest in a team that specializes in all things social media and digital marketing. We can help! Liquid Creative is a full-service marketing agency ready to help your business operate to its fullest potential without missing a beat.

The social media game is all about accurately representing your business to current customers while branching out to grow new audiences. This week, we’re looking at changes to how you connect with your communities on Facebook and LinkedIn. Meanwhile, Twitter’s newest Fleet features are giving us another example of an evolving trend: Social media companies are abandoning their niches to compete for the largest audience.

Facebook Insists Gathering User Data Is Necessary to Promote Small Business 

Following its State of Small Business report, Facebook has turned its attention to highlighting how personalized ads promote small businesses. In its new initiative, Good Ideas Deserve to Be Found, Facebook showcases small businesses that have successfully used its personalized ads tools for an affordable, effective way to reach new people. The initiative also includes more information about privacy protections – including that your personal information, such as your name or contact information, will never be available to advertisers. In addition, Facebook continues to show its support for small businesses by simplifying its ads manager, waiving fees, and adding new features for restaurants to list dining options.

Facebook has taken many steps to assist small businesses facing pandemic-related challenges. However, it’s worth noting the Good Ideas Deserve to Be Found initiative seems to be a direct response to upcoming privacy protections from Apple. Starting this year, Apple’s operating systems will block apps from collecting data about how you use other apps, among other restrictions. Since about 45% of U.S. smartphone users are using iPhones, this presents a significant challenge for Facebook’s ability to gather user data for personalized ads. 

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

The Good Ideas Deserve to Be Found initiative is a good reminder that personalized ads can be an effective way of reaching new audiences. If you need to brush up on how these ads work so you can use them, you can read more about Facebook advertising or how personalized ads are chosen. However, the audiences that these ads are able to reach might be changing soon. We’ll have to circle back later to see how the situation between Facebook and Apple shakes out.

LinkedIn Launches 3 New Business-Focused Features

The professional social media platform is no longer just for finding a job: LinkedIn is increasing its value by providing new ways for businesses to represent themselves and connect with their audiences. The first of these, the My Company tab, focuses on your employees. Page admins will be able to recommend articles to their organization and verify the employees that work for them. This comes during a time when many more people are working remotely, as a way to encourage teams to interact with each other apart from Zoom meetings and project updates.

Product pages, which were announced in December, are being upgraded to produce leads for your company. These pages are a space for people to discuss your product, whether they’re sharing their experience or asking questions that you can answer. Now, when someone visits one of your product pages, they’ll have the option to submit an auto-filled form indicating their interest to you. This new feature, called Lead Gen Forms, will give you a list of people who want to hear more about your product. 

Finally, LinkedIn is expanding its stories to businesses with Stories for Pages. You’ll be able to post stories as a business to engage your followers, remind them of upcoming events, or whatever you’d like! These stories will be an interesting new way to drive conversions among a professional-focused community, with all Stories for Pages having the option to include a “swipe up” link. 

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

Let’s break it down by feature. The My Company tab that allows you to share articles with your employees gives you a new way to connect with them, but we urge you to explore other ways of connecting with remote employees as well. LinkedIn has identified a problem, but it’s not one that will necessarily be fixed by the My Company tab. We’ll be interested to see if LinkedIn expands the functionality of the My Company tab in the future – This might be the first step of bringing workplace culture to LinkedIn. 

Leads from product pages are a huge boon for B2B companies. After you set up your product pages, you’ll be able to generate high-value leads with minimal involvement. We recommend checking this out and trying out your first product page if you haven’t already. And last but not least, Stories for Pages is the latest take on social media stories. These make the most sense for B2B companies that are interacting with professionals on LinkedIn often. If you’d like to try these out, take a minute to shout out your next event, record a video of an employee giving tips related to your services, or show a behind-the-scenes look at your process to humanize your business.

Getting Déjà Vu? Upcoming Fleet Features Remind Us How Social Media Is Changing

Twitter is releasing new features for Fleets starting in Japan. Stickers and “Twemojis” (we didn’t make that up), were added last week to spice up Fleets. We’re expecting to see this change rolled out to more countries over time, but it’s putting a spotlight on a recurring theme in the social media scene. 

A few years ago, social media companies were happy to do one thing well. Twitter was all about snappy one-liners, Instagram was a visual diary, and Snapchat was the place for disappearing stories. Now, social media platforms want to be a one-stop-shop. Social media companies are quick to compete with one another by adding new formats to their platforms. We saw this clearly when Instagram introduced Reels during uncertainty about TikTok’s future in the U.S. We’re seeing it again as Twitter ramps up its visual story game to compete with Instagram and Snapchat, while also discouraging new competition from Clubhouse with its new Spaces feature. Social media platforms are becoming complicated quickly by trying to keep up with each other rather than exploring what they do best. 

What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?

Our recommendation is not to get bogged down in every new feature on each platform. We encourage you to keep your eyes open, evaluate whether features would be beneficial for your specific business, and test them out as needed. When it comes to your social strategy, remember what each platform specializes in. The audiences that are present on each social medium are different – remember that who you’re talking to changes from platform to platform. And finally, make note of platform-specific trends, such as the rise of content focused on well-being and positivity on Twitter.

With these factors in mind, you can create content specifically for a certain platform, or create content and then decide which platforms fit it best. For example, if you’ve created a short-form video meant for a middle-aged audience, you might decide that Instagram Reels is a better place for it to premiere than TikTok. You don’t have to post every message everywhere, but you should assess where a piece of content will have the maximum impact. 

Ok, now what?

Now that you’re up to date with the latest industry news, it’s time to invest in a team that specializes in all things social media and digital marketing. We can help! Liquid Creative is a full-service marketing agency ready to help your business operate to its fullest potential without missing a beat.