Cleaning house
Managing Social Media is Hard Enough — Staying Up to Date Shouldn't Be.
Apologizing for a now-deleted tweet is not a great way to start off the new year. But that's exactly what American brewing company Pabst Blue Ribbon did, after a post that caused confusion and some outrage. The tweet was related to "Dry January." Pabst's response to those who choose to refrain from alcoholic beverages for the month: "Not drinking this January? Try eating a--." Many on Twitter wondered if legal had taken a holiday, or if a social media manager had gone rogue. Sadly, I think they were just trying to go viral. Congrats on your success. 🤦♀️
Here are today's top stories:
Three ways to get your social media ready for 2022
Instagram tests a chronological feed
LinkedIn jumps on the audio bandwagon
And raise your hand if you're also waiting for the next Wordle?
Read on ⬇️
The Most Wonderful Time of Year (for Organizers)
January isn't just a time for New Year's Resolutions (although, to be honest, I never really make any). It's also a great time to get your social media house in order (which I'm always in for!). From the more technical side of things — like updating passwords — to analytics and updating your editorial calendar, January is an organizer's happiest time of year. Here are a few tips to help channel your inner Liz Lemon...
To the Calendar!
Whether you use a simple Excel spreadsheet or a beautifully designed document, an editorial calendar is one tool that many social media managers lean on to ensure holidays and special dates aren't missed. But calendars need to be updated annually. Hopefully you had a chance to download the 2022 editorial calendar in the December newsletter to help you get started. But you can also easily create your own. Here's what I recommend:
Start by brainstorming any international, national and local holidays and events that you think align with your brand. There are several great sites that list the bigger ones, such as Holiday Insights and this UN list of International Days and Weeks
Next, you'll want to include any upcoming events your organization plans to host. This is not only helpful for planning content in the weeks and months ahead, but can also ensure that multiple departments can share the social media channels evenly.
And finally, don't forget to include days that are notable for your business or organization. For example, many organizations like to mark an anniversary or a historic milestone.
Looking Back to Look Forward
Whether you monitor your metrics on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, it's always a good idea to take a 12-month view of your progress to see how well your efforts performed against your strategy. Based on what you discover, you may need to pivot your strategy to better meet your goals. Or perhaps you're ok to continue as is. Either way, your metrics should be able to help inform that decision.
Look for year-over-year results in areas that relate to your goals. Your metrics report should really tell the story of whether your efforts were able to achieve what you hoped, and how. And include both quantitative and qualitative data. For example, you'll probably include a percentage increase for engagement and follower growth. But if your goal was to engage with key community members, make sure to also include the handles of accounts that are notable to your brand. It's not just about "how much" you grew your account, but "who" and "how" others engaged positively with you.
This Would Also Make Liz Lemon Proud...
January is also a great time to do some of those less-fun-but-necessary admin tasks. For example, passwords should be updated annually. At a minimum, your passwords should include symbols, and both uppercase and lowercase letters. You may also want to consider multi-factor authentication, particularly if you have verified accounts, which can be a target for hackers.
In addition to updating passwords, it's also important to review admin access across all of your accounts. And the more accounts there are, the easier it is to miss something. For example, perhaps you removed a former staff member from Facebook admin access, but forgot they also had access to a LinkedIn Page. Also, don't forget to check Google accounts, website access, and other non-social media related accounts and online tools like URL shorteners.
And if you have a website where the footer isn't automatically updated to the new year, you'll want to manually change that to 2022 so your site doesn't look out of date.
Happy start to the New Year! 🎉
SOCIAL SNACKS
Instagram Tests TikTok-Like Feed View
Instagram wants you to enjoy the feed, according to CEO Adam Mosseri, who tweeted a video last week outlining some potential changes. The company is testing the ability to switch between three different views on your home screen:
Home — This is what you currently see, and is based on Instagram's algorithm choosing what it thinks you would like to see here
Favourites — A list of accounts that you don't want to miss things from (like friends, Creators, siblings, etc.)
Followers — This would be a chronological list of updates from those you follow
This feature is similar to the two views available in the TikTok app: Following and For You. Instagram is hoping to launch this update in the first half of this year. Which view do you think you'll spend the most time in?
And, Yup, You Heard Right
Don't be surprised if you get invited to an Audio Event on LinkedIn. That's right — the platform for professionals is beta testing a "new interactive experience" for live events. LinkedIn's Audio Events are currently being tested by a small group of Creators, but anyone can tune in, according to a blog post by LinkedIn's Jake Poses. It's just the latest social media platform to follow in the footsteps of audio-only app, Clubhouse, which exploded in popularity during the pandemic. But LinkedIn isn't stopping at audio. Later this spring, it plans to launch a Video Events format. Here's a preview.
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ICYMI
🔴 Instagram introduces better views of your content, outside the app [Instagram Blog]
🔴 Meta announces a new Privacy Center to "educate people on their privacy options" [Meta Blog]
🔴 Pinterest adds "Profiles" tab to search results to better highlight pin Creators [Social Media Today]
🔴 Snapchat on five ways to increase app installs [Snapchat Blog]
🔴 TikTok offers a guide to its newest editing tools [TikTok Blog]
TIKTOK TOPPLES GOOGLE
In 2021, TikTok was the most popular domain on the internet, beating out Google and Facebook. This is according to an analysis by Cloudflare, a tech firm that tracks online activity. In 2020, TikTok was #7 in the list of Top 10 Domains, but Cloudflare says that after August 10, 2021, the site dominated the internet, particularly on Black Friday and Thanksgiving.
TREND-LIKE
Let's Review
As you plan your strategy for the year ahead, here are a few reports and surveys that might help:
Instagram's 2022 Gen-Z Trend Report — Expect more dance challenges, bold (and vintage) fashion, a greater focus on Creators, and more social justice (plus much more!)
Pinterest Predicts: The Trends to Watch for in 2022 — Think: Emotional Escape Rooms, daring wardrobes (Oh my goth!), and any reason to celebrate.
The Most Shared Content on LinkedIn in 2021 — Nothing too surprising here: Lots of COVID-style work advice, plus the importance of empathy, kindness and help for avoiding burnout.
VIRAL-LIKE
Waiting For the Next Wordle
This isn't exactly social media, but it's definitely getting talked about on all the platforms. Wordle is a new viral word puzzle game. It was created by Josh Wardle, a software engineer at Reddit, as a gift for his partner. He eventually decided to release it publicly and it just took off. But despite its popularity, Wardle told the BBC he doesn't plan to turn it into an app, or profit off of it with ads.
The object of the game is to figure out a five-letter word, and you get six guesses. With each guess the game will tell you if you chose a correct letter in the right spot (green), if you chose the correct letter but in the wrong spot (yellow) or if you chose a letter that doesn't belong at all (grey). You can play it for free on this website.
I've already solved today's Wordle, so now I just have to wait for tomorrow's puzzle.
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