fbpx
Pilot Fish Media
✕
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Services
  • Case Studies
  • Insights
  • Contact Us

CategoryInstagram

Scroll

April 22, 2022Lilly CohenIn other news, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter  

Instagram implements new ways to favour original content

‘People expressing themselves is the heartbeat of Instagram’ was Adam Mosseri’s opening line to his most recent video post. According to the Head of Instagram, creators are really important to the platform’s future, and so is proper crediting for their work. Instagram has implemented three new ‘hidden gems’ to make sure that credit is going to those who deserve it:

 

Product tags 

Product tags have existed for a while, but they will now be available to all users in the US (fingers crossed it’ll be available in the UK soon!). Tagging products can drive attention and traffic.

 

Enhanced people tags

When an account is tagged, under its name it now also shows the account’s category (restaurant, digital creator etc). This allows people to see what the account is about before they click on it, which in turn can drive traffic.

 

Ranking changes

The Instagram algorithm now prioritises original content. Accounts that share content made from scratch will get more credit than accounts that reshare already existing content. According to Mosseri, Instagram is going to do ‘more to try and value original content more, particularly compared to reposted content’. 

He concludes the video by saying there is more to come on this topic – so original content creators: stay tuned!

 

Twitter to introduce tweet editing

If you’re asking yourself ‘couldn’t people use this feature to unethically manipulate information?’ don’t worry! I asked myself the same question. And here’s the answer: according to security researcher Jane Manchun Wong, instead of changing the text within the tweet, a new tweet will be created with the amended content. A list with all previous edits will then be publicly viewable. Phew!

 

TikTok launches interactive features for in-feed ads

TikTok’s newest global feature helps brands build more engaging ads. With interactive add-ons, in-stream ads can increase sales. According to TikTok:

“Interactive Add-ons offer a unique way to entice engaged viewers with popups, stickers, and other visual elements. Viewers who have shared, liked, or commented on a TikTok brand video are 150% more likely to buy a product or service. Catching the eye of active consumers is made easier with these new creative enhancements.”

There are Standard add-ons, which offer a way to reach lower-funnel marketing goals, such as driving clicks and conversions and Premium add-ons, which offer a way to reach upper-funnel goals, like brand awareness and community building. 

 

Lots of exciting news for us digital marketers and creators! If you have questions, I’d love to hear from you! Drop me a line at lilly@pilotfishmedia.com!

Read More

In Other News: What’s Changing In Social In 2022

March 17, 2022Maya BenabdelhadiFacebook, In other news, Instagram, TikTok  

In our latest In Other News blog, we’re taking a look at what’s come to play on social media in the first few months of 2022. From product updates to trend reports, let’s see what’s new!

 

Stay Ahead Of TikTok Trends

If you’re interested in bringing TikTok into your social media marketing, now is a great time to start. 

TikTok has recently launched a number of detailed reports, split by region, that study what’s popular and what’s predicted to rise in industries like:

  • Apparel and accessories 
  • Beauty and personal care
  • News and entertainment
  • Travel
  • Auto and Transportation

Providing insights about growth and trending topics, case studies and tips for brands, these reports are a must read!

 

Instagram Adds Moderators to Instagram Live

Surprised this one took so long? Although Instagram Live has been around since 2016, it’s only now that the company is giving streamers the choice to add moderators to their streams.

Thanks to the new feature, streamers will be able to add moderators who can report comments, remove viewers and stop viewers from commenting. The addition of this feature should – fingers crossed! – make Instagram Live a safer space, with less opportunity for viewers to be abusive towards streamers. 

 

Facebook Reels Go Global 

When your attention span was already caught between video content all over the internet, here comes Facebook Reels. 

With over half of the time spent on Facebook and Instagram being spent on watching video content, it’s no surprise that Facebook has expanded their reels. Video is Facebook’s fastest-growing content form, so expect to see much more of it! 

Facebook is encouraging creators to get involved with monetisation schemes like Reels Play bonus, which is currently an invite-only, US-exclusive initiative that will pay creators bonuses based on the performance of their reels.

And for advertisers? Well, Facebook plans to test full-screen and immersive ads between reels, so keep your eye on what’s in store. 

 

Thinking of how you could use these updates in your digital marketing? Get in touch with me at freya@pilotfishmedia.com to chat about ad ideas, ad copy and content strategy! 

 

Read More

In Other News – Meta Gets Into NFTs, Messenger Promotes Black History Month And Pinterest Introduces Augmented Reality

February 18, 2022Lucy BoothFacebook, Instagram, Pinterest  

Welcome back to In Other News, the fortnightly series where we do the reading on all things digital marketing and social media so you don’t have to! This week we have the latest news on Meta, Messenger and Pinterest for you.

 

Meta is set to become one of the first to think beyond NFT profile pictures. 

If you’re new to NFTs, they are basically a unique digital asset, which is often available as a collector’s item. No two NFTs are the same, which allows creators to sell the artwork for extremely high amounts. There really is so much more to learn about NFTs! 

With the world of NFTs currently booming across the globe, Meta has announced that they will be upgrading their social media platforms to benefit avid NFTers. Not only will Facebook and Instagram users be able to display their NFTs as their profile picture, they will also be able to create and collect NFTs on the platforms. The team at Meta are currently working on a prototype model for this, the release date has yet to be confirmed. 

Further down the line, Meta are expected to launch a marketplace for users to buy and sell NFTs on Facebook & Instagram. 

 

Messenger Adds New Tools for Black History Month 

We’re stoked to see Messenger have broadened the conversation around Black History Month by adding themed stickers to the app. 

Users will now be able to pick from a variety of Black History Month stickers and add them to their stories and messages to show their support and to build more awareness. The feature is even available to Messenger Kids, helping to educate them that little bit further, stimulate conversation and tear down barriers. 

 

Pinterest introduces AR technology feature, opening up the home decor shopping experience. 

During the pandemic, the world of eCommerce has taken off massively. More and more shoppers are choosing to buy online. As a result, Pinterest has released a new feature that makes the home-decor shopping even easier by enabling Pinners to virtually place furniture in their room. Using the Pinterest Lens camera, shoppers can ‘try before they buy’ to find exactly what’s right for their space. This is a great way for retailers to advertise their products and drive sales.

At the moment, the feature only includes products from US retailers. We look forward to seeing how this develops over time!

 

 

Keep up to date with all things social by following us on Instagram – @pfm_agency

Read More

In Other News: Insta Introduces Subscriptions, Facebook Adds New Features And Meta Develops Framework For ‘Virtual Influencers’

January 24, 2022Rachel FoxFacebook, Instagram  

This week, we bring you more of the latest social media news to keep you on your toes and, most importantly, up-to-date with all things social! 

 

Instagram Introduce Subscriptions 

In a bid to help their creators make a living through their platforms, Meta have pulled together a host of tools allowing them to do so.

The new monetisation feature on Instagram will not only allow creators to earn money from their audience, brand partnerships and advertising products/services, but it will also help them to earn money directly from Instagram and Facebook. 

The Subscription tool was previously launched on Facebook in 2020, however, Meta have since said they are now ready to bring it to Instagram following positive feedback. It should help creators build stronger and deeper connections with like-minded followers and in turn, grow their income by giving their subscribers exclusive access to content and benefits on Instagram. 

 

Facebook Introduces New Feature for Creator Studio 

This week, Facebook announced they are set to introduce new and exciting features for Creator Studio. Creator Studio is a great platform for anyone working in the digital marketing or the social media industry.

Users will be able to preview their stories when they upload a video, which should help attracting attention to the full video on the user’s page. In addition to this, a timeline view will be added to allow users to check out how their posts will appear on a follower’s feed. 

 

Meta is developing ‘Ethical Framework’ for the use of virtual influencers

Due to the rise of VR & AR technologies, virtual influencers are becoming more popular and normal across social media. As a result, Meta have said they wish to develop clearer boundaries to prevent potential influential harm. They believe there should be a degree of transparency when it comes to virtual influencers to avoid any damaging consequences to followers.

Want to know more about what’s going on in social media? Get in touch with me at rachel@pilotfishmedia.com to chat!

Read More

How To Get Your Content Seen On Instagram In 2022

January 17, 2022Rachel FoxInsights, Instagram, Small business  

Is your brand set to stay ahead of the constant algorithm changes on Instagram?

Ever since the platform moved away from reverse-chronological and to a curated content feed in 2017, it’s not always an easy question to answer. 

​​Based on what we know about how the algorithm works and what we’ve seen firsthand, growing your reach and engagement is certainly possible in a curated feed. Below we have taken some time to share our top tips to help maximise the chance of your organic content reaching far and wide.

 

1. Find your niche

In order to grow your following, you need to understand your target demographic. By taking time to understand this first you will eliminate the chance of people hitting that dreaded unfollow button when they see they don’t relate to the content you are sharing. 

Have a think about who your ideal audience is and how you would like them to interact with your social media account and brand. Although it’s great to be multi-faceted, if you have an activewear brand and empowering people on their fitness journey is your focus, you will be looking for exercise and sport enthusiasts to begin with. Before you start uploading content, it’s important to keep this in mind in order to help you stay on, thus helping you reach your goals.

 

2. Share higher quality content

Instagram has said it themselves, you are more likely to rank higher in your followers’ feed if you are sharing “great content”. Of course content – much like art – is subjective and whilst you may think the content is great, the Instagram algorithm may disagree.

Understandably, the platform hasn’t shared any specific details on this but as long as your content is high-quality and eye-catching (think bright and bold, like a breathtaking landscape shot of Edinburgh Castle in the summer), your audience will more likely be stopped in their tracks so that they can hit the like button!

It may be that the content you are sharing is already considered “great”. If you don’t feel like you’re quite there, get in touch and we will be more than happy to help you get on the right path.

 

3. Post more portrait content

Yes…really! For so long we all got used to posting all of our content in a 1:1 ratio, as that’s all that we were able to do. Quite a while ago now Instagram allowed users to post in 2:3 and shortly after they finally made the max ratio 4:5. 

There’s no fancy explanation as to why you should avoid posting in 2:3 and try to post as much content as possible in 4:5 (or 1:1 square formats as a minimum). It simply allows you to take up as much of the screen as possible. Meta, who owns both Facebook and Instagram, revealed that on a desktop computer, the average attention span is 2.5 seconds, but on mobile, it is only a mere 1.7 seconds. Basically, the more screen space you take up (with “great content” like we mentioned previously, of course) the more likely you are to capture the attention of viewers.

 

4. Craft more gripping captions

Have you ever been endlessly scrolling Instagram and finally an image or video catches your eye, but you don’t really know what you’re looking at? To save the frustration, try and keep your followers engaged with great copy that explain what they are seeing with clarity!

It’s no secret that people like to feel connected to accounts they follow on Instagram (especially brands!) and copy can be key when building on those connections. It’s a space where you can show your brand’s personality while still being informative or descriptive. Consumers like simple yet intriguing text to read and captions are the perfect way to embody that.

Copywriting is a difficult skill to master. If you find your brand needing help with this we suggest contacting our two incredible copywriters Freya (freya@pilotfishmedia.com) and Lucy (lucy@pilotfishmedia.com)!

 

5. Publish more video content

Director of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, recently finished a talk in June of this year where he announced the platform is getting ready to pivot in order to compete with leading app TikTok with the sentence “We are no longer a photo-sharing application or an application to share square photos”. During this same talk, it was established that with the new changes the platform has now implemented, video content would be given priority over photos to remain in force. 

If this is not reason enough to start focusing on video content, then we don’t know what is. Instagram is constantly changing but with these changes we now have multiple ways to publish our video content such as stories, reels and Instagram TV. 

6. Use hashtags to your advantage

Hashtags can be a brilliant way to reach new audiences on the platform. Considering they require very little effort and are free to use, when using them correctly you will find people who are interested in your content coming straight to your page. 

In order to make the most out of your hashtags, we suggest:

  • Play around with the amount of hashtags you are using along with the placement of them (currently it seems hiding around 3-7 hashtags in your caption works well!).
  • Snoop around on the app before posting to find out what hashtags are working that are relevant to your brand and industry. 
  • Keep a list! If you can make a note of the hashtags you are using then you will see overtime what is working for you. This will also allow you to easily change up the hashtags you are using every so often which in turn will help you reach more people.

 

7. Post during peak hours

Lastly, it goes without saying that you should be posting when your target demographic is most active and engaging with your content. Optimal posting times can change from brand to brand but this is where Insights come into play.

When on a business account, you will have access to a special ‘Insights’ tab which is full of great data. It will allow you to see what days and times your content is generating the most impressions and interactions! This will help you see when the majority of your following is online. The more consistently you are posting, the more data the app will gather for you and help you in the long run. 

When you finally are able to suss out your optional posting hours, we still recommend spacing out posts and not cramming in multiple posts within a small time frame. This won’t help your content get more attention and may have your following feeling inundated with your brand (we can all agree that we don’t want this!). If you do have multiple images you want to be seen, consider making them into a carousel post.

 

 

We could probably go on and on with more tips and tricks on how to make sure your content is getting shared to as many people as possible. However, these are the 7 tips we think will be most helpful in getting you started. 

 

 

Need some inspiration for your social media marketing? To get a free audit of your current social strategy, get in touch at rachel@pilotfishmedia.com.

Read More

In Other News: TikTok Tests New ‘Re-Post’ Option, Instagram’s Head Outlines the Key Areas of Focus for the App in 2022, and Apple Becomes First Firm to Hit $3tn Market Value

January 5, 2022Paff EvaraIn other news, Instagram, TikTok  

Another weekly digital round-up is here! This week, we’re diving into TikTok expanding sharing options for videos, Instagram sharing plans for 2022 and Apple becoming the first firm to hit $3tn market value.

 

TikTok Tests New ‘Re-Post’ Option

TikTok is currently testing a new ‘Repost’ option with some users which enables them to reshare TikTok clips to their followers, with the reposted clip then displayed in their ‘following’ feeds.

It feels very much like a retweet equivalent that Twitter used to have. (Twitter now only allows users to retweet with a comment attached). Rather than sending one piece of content to friends via a link, you could simply reshare it to the feeds of everyone who follows you. 

Will this take off? Only time will tell!

 

Instagram’s Head Outlines the Key Areas of Focus for the App in 2022

Instagram’s Chief, Adam Mosseri, said that Instagram will be focused on 2 key themes in 2022: ‘Video and Control’. Mosseri said, “We’re going to double down on our focus on video and consolidate all of our video formats around Reels.” 

I don’t think this would come as a surprise to anyone. All social media platforms are trading in attention, as attention is what they can leverage to advertisers in order to generate revenue. 

After seeing the meteoric rise of TikTok and short form video during 2021, it only makes sense that Instagram also wants to double down on this in 2022.

 

Apple Becomes First Firm to Hit $3tn Market Value

For those who don’t know, Apple is this technology company which happens to make a lot of pretty decent devices. Apple’s share price has risen 5,700% since Steve Jobs revealed the first iPhone in 2007. 

For me personally, this doesn’t come as a surprise. I’m so deep into the Apple ecosystem that there’s no way out. What will be more interesting is how they deal with the upcoming metaverse and all of the Web3 developments. If they navigate this well, I’m sure 3 trillion dollars will seem like a minor sum. 

 

For more information on capitalising on these Instagram focuses, pop us an email at marius@pilotfishmedia.com. 

 

Sources

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-tests-new-re-post-option-to-boost-distribution-of-clips/616446/

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagrams-chief-outlines-the-key-areas-of-focus-for-the-app-in-2022/616571/

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CYCWNztgL6v/?utm_source=ig_embed

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59864059

 

Read More

Posts navigation

1 2 3
Pilot Fish Media

© All rights reserved.

Pilot Fish Media
1st Floor
40 Charlotte Square
Edinburgh
EH2 4HQ
Get in touch
0131 510 8285
guideme@pilotfishmedia.com
All rights reserved.