Grow Your Following, Then Monetize! Pulling in Followers & Sales on Social
Social media platforms help businesses accomplish many goals. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to dollars. This week, we have new insights and tools that will help us bring in the followers and sell on social media. Instagram shared tips about its algorithm and gaining followers, Twitter is moving forward with subscriptions and Super Follows, and Facebook continues to tweak Messenger to make it more appealing for everyone!
Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash
The Instagram Algorithm, Demystified
As social media gained steam, we all started hearing whispers of The Algorithm. Ever-changing and shrouded in mystery, The Algorithm was considered responsible for the success or failure of all content. As part of Instagram’s Creator Week, the platform shared insights and myth busting about The Algorithm. Their first point? There is no one, all-powerful algorithm running Instagram. Instead, responsive algorithms show viewers content based on what they’ve interacted with in the past; and the formula is different for each type of content.
Feed and Story posts Posts are generally shown to your followers. The ranking of how your posts show up in their feed starts with information about the post (time, location, video length, and like count). The next factor is your relationship, including how much the user has interacted with your profile and content. Finally, the user’s like, comment, and other interaction activity comes into play. These factors have an impact on what people see in other sections of the app as well, including the Explore page, so make sure to try and drive engagement to keep your content featured!
What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?
These algorithms aren’t completely in your control; a lot of it is based on how the viewer interacts with different topics, content, and your profile. Do make sure to put some thought into when you’re posting, location tagging, and asking users to engage with your content. If you want to find more effective ways to build your engagement and following, do some trial and error with different types of content. For more ideas on where to start, check out this interview with Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri and the latest edition of Instagram Insider magazine.
Photo by Jane Manchun Wong
Twitter Continues Its Monetization Momentum: Super Followers Coming Soon!
Twitter has set its sights on monetization, incentivizing creators and users alike to use the platform for premium content. They continued the momentum at their Virtual Analyst Day, announcing that Super Follows are coming soon, according to social media analyst Jane Manchun Wong. According to Wong, the option to allow Super Followers will first be opened up to accounts with over 10,000 followers that have posted at least 25 times within the last 30 days.
So what does Super Following mean? It seems very similar to Patreon, which allows users to support small creators or organizations with a monthly donation in exchange for exclusive content. It looks like all types of Twitter content will be fair game for Super Follower exclusives: Tweets, Fleets, and Spaces. For those creators that are already active on Twitter, this might be a better way to earn side income. But for creators who use Twitter to support other streams of revenue, the option to Super Follow might not be worth distracting viewers from their main monetized channels.
What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?
This feature is still being discussed before it’s opened up to active Twitter accounts with over 10,000 followers. However, we’re interested to see if Twitter will continue opening these monetization options up to smaller accounts and businesses over time. While Super Followers on Twitter might not be right for small businesses just yet, this continues a trend of paid subscriptions for premium content on social media. With content-related revenue becoming more common, what content could your business put out that will lead people back to your products and services?
Photo by Messenger
The Modern Messenger: Quick Reply, QR Payments, and Themes!
After making Messenger integrations a possibility last week, Messenger is now adding a few more features to appeal to users and businesses. The new updates start with aesthetics: chat themes! It looks like these themes are open for sponsorship; we’ve got one promoting a new music album and another for the next Fast and Furious movie. Facebook will probably reserve these for their biggest advertisers for now, but we’d love to see them open up to everyone!
The next features are more applicable for businesses right away. The quick reply feature will allow viewers to message you while viewing photos you just sent them. This small change will let customers respond a little easier to graphics or photos. Finally, QR codes and payment links give you more flexibility in getting paid on Facebook and Instagram! These are connected to Facebook Pay and don’t require that you be connected on Facebook, making payments a seamless in-app experience.
What does this mean for Gainesville Businesses?
We’re down to hear all about these new features for Messenger but we’re also thinking ahead to the future. Seeing new updates from Messenger two weeks in a row shows us that Facebook is focused on making this tool more worthwhile. With their recent positioning as a small business advertising platform, we bet even more features will be rolling out to make Messenger a better communication tool for businesses like yours!
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.
