Facebook and Instagram are consistently updating and altering their features to improve the user experience and compete with other popular social media platforms. These updates have been fantastic for businesses and content creators with the new features making it easier to manage social media performance. However, with these rapid updates and changes it can be difficult to remain on top of them. Let’s dive into our favourite updates and how to make the most of them for your business!
Let’s start with Facebook…
Facebook launches a new feed option
After years of making content from friends and family less visible on the homepage, Facebook has created a new chronological feed. At the bottom of your mobile home screen, you can now click the ‘feeds’ button and switch between different news feeds, from favourites, friends, groups and pages. Mark Zuckerberg said the move to make this change was because users emphasised never wanting to miss their friends’ posts.
Facebook tests multiple profile features
You may have recently noticed that you can now have multiple profiles attached to the one account. Facebook users can now officially switch profiles from one login. This makes it easy to switch between your personal profile and your business page at any time. By allowing you to easily interact as your business page you can boost engagement and improve your business presence.
Facebook introduces new professional dashboard
With a new professional dashboard, business owners can now easily access Facebook’s various business features from the one place. This professional dashboard for pages serves as a central destination for admins to review their page performance and access professional tools and insights. Now you can stay on top of how well your business is performing on Facebook and assess where you could improve.
Let’s look at Instagram. Instagram is always making big changes to the platform as it competes with the very popular social media app, TikTok. Instagram has moved to prioritise video content and focus on recommended content which led to a large amount of backlash from celebrities such as Kim Kardashian. Since the online uproar, Instagram has held off on some changes to the Instagram news feed however there are still some updates to discuss…
Reels video merge
Reels are all the rave on Instagram now, so the video feature is continually being improved and updated to keep up with TikTok. Hence, Instagram is getting very serious about helping users create reels. Users can now efficiently create reels by using the platforms pre-built templates hoping to inspire users to create more reels. In addition to this, users can now capture their take on what is happening by simultaneously using the front and back camera at the same time. You might recognise this feature from the new popular social media platform ‘Be Real’ (we know it’s hard to keep up with all these new platforms, hence why social platforms are always updating).
Pin posts
Users now can pin certain posts to the top of the grid on their profile. To pin a post, go to the three dots on the top right corner of the photo and choose pin to profile. This is great for businesses when you have a photo that received great engagement, or one of your posts is about a current offer, you can pin the post to the top of your profile, so it is the first post customers see.
Brands can sell products in Instagram DMs
Instagram is expanding the way businesses can sell products by allowing users to chat with a qualified business on Instagram and make purchases directly in the messenger feature. Users also will be able to request product customisations, track orders, and ask questions.
Instagram map
With the new Instagram map, users can find popular locations locally or filter by categories like cafes or beauty salons. This new feature is fantastic for helping small local businesses be discovered on the app. To view the map, you can either tap location tags or search a city/area or hashtag in explore.
