Keep up the good work 👏
It's Community Manager Appreciation Day 🎉 More on that below. It's also about one week until the new HBO documentary Fake Famous starts streaming, and there is nothing fake about how excited I am about this!
Here are today's top stories:
Celebrating and supporting social media managers
LinkedIn launches new conversation controls
YouTube invests in hashtags
Pinterest wants you to try it (and buy it)
And we are smitten with Bernie's mittens
This and more in today's e-newsletter. Read on ⬇️
Celebrating SMMs
It's not often that community and social media managers are celebrated for their hard work. And since it is Community Manager Appreciation Day, I didn't want to miss this opportunity to shine a light on what can be a very rewarding — but also very challenging — role. So instead of reporting on social media news in the first section of the newsletter, this week the space is dedicated to anyone out there who is managing social media — as a full-time job or on the "side of your desk" — for brands, organizations and individuals. In case you haven't heard this recently, you are doing an amazing job, and you are appreciated! 🤗 I've also got your back with some info and resources. Keep reading...
All the things
I've been working in social media for about a decade, and it's still shocking to me how many different types of skills community managers need to have. Strategist. Researcher. Copywriter. Photographer. Videographer. Scheduler. SEO Specialist. Advertiser. Crisis and Reputational Manager. Customer Service Rep. (Did I leave anything out?) And this doesn't even include all of the tasks within each role. So for anyone out there who is still trying to explain to a manager or higher up about the value of your role, you might want to share this list or this infographic. (Or just wait for the next crisis, amirite?)
Resources to support you
Given all of these roles and tasks, it can be hard to stay-up-date and keep learning. So here are a few resources that I've found helpful, that hopefully you will as well! (And if there are resources you find helpful, I'd love to know).
Website: Social Media Examiner: Helpful for day-to-day use of the platforms and how to's
News: @TaylorLorenz on Twitter: A tech and internet culture reporter for The New York Times
Book: No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram by Bloomberg reporter Sarah Frier
Podcast: The Science of Social Media by Buffer
Monthly Social Media Meetups: You're also welcome to join my monthly social media meetups. The next one is Friday, Jan. 29th, and we'll be talking about crisis communications. You can sign up here.
Supporting your mental health Managing social media for a brand can take a toll. You have to read and reply to all of the incoming (sometimes nasty) messages and mentions. And just because they aren't specifically directed at you personally, it's hard not to absorb all of that negativity. I recently shared my experience dealing with a major social media crisis in a blog post, and offered up some tips on what I did — or wish I had done — during that crisis. You can read it here. But I'm also here if you ever need to talk or need support. Email me any time at hello@thesocialplatypus.com.
Managing social media is hard enough — staying up-to-date shouldn't be. Level up your social media knowledge in minutes a week. Sign up for our newsletter today!
ICYMI
I've got the power
LinkedIn is following Twitter's lead by allowing users to control who can comment on a post. In announcing new conversation controls, LinkedIn now allows you to choose from three comment options: Anyone, Connections Only, or No One. You can also change your comment option after you hit post, and delete comments. LinkedIn has provided instructions on how to disable and re-enable comments on a post. The updates also allow users to choose who can see what you post, as well as being able to mute other people and Pages. Twitter launched similar conversation settings last August, and it's clear that platforms are starting to recognize the toxicity that can exist on social media (finally!).
#YouTubePages
You might want to start using hashtags a bit more in your YouTube descriptions, now that the video platform has announced it's going to start grouping that content into dedicated landing pages. Previously, searching a hashtag or clicking on a hashtag would bring up videos using that hashtag as well as related content. "Starting today, anyone clicking on a specific hashtag on YouTube, either on the desktop or mobile app, will see a new dedicated page that only contains videos with the hashtag, which are sorted to keep the best videos at the top," YouTube said in a blog post. Want to see what it looks like? Here's an example. Not sure what they mean by "sorted to keep the best videos at the top." I guess we'll find out.
Once you try it, you'll buy it
Last year, it was lipstick. This year, eyeshadow. Pinterest just introduced its latest augmented reality feature called AR Try on, which allows you to "try on" eyeshadow shades from select retailers right in your iOS or Android app. According to Pinterest, it's helping to push purchases. "Pinners are 5x more likely to show purchase intent on Try on-enabled Pins than standard Pins," the company said in a blog post. Pinterest is also opening up product tagging to advertisers, and allowing creators to create stoppable Story Pins. This all sounds like a lot of fun, but it's also a sign that shopping on social media is quickly becoming a thing — and other platforms know it. Last year Instagram announced Shops, and gave it prominence in the home screen navigation by replacing the Activity tab with a Shop tab. Not everyone was happy with the update, but I'm guessing we'll all soon love having that Shop tab so close by.
NEWS-LIKE
🔴 Liberal Government Revising Plan to Regulate Social Media in Light of U.S. Capitol Riot [The Globe and Mail]
🔴 An Australia With No Google? The Bitter Fight Behind a Drastic Threat [NY Times]
🔴 Facebook's Oversight Board to Rule on Trump Ban [BBC News]
🔴 TikTok is Testing a Q&A Feature for Easier Creator-Fan Interactions [PC Mag]
VERIFIED-LIKE
Twitter says the new verification process will launch in early 2021. But for now, it's going to start removing blue checkmarks from inactive and incomplete accounts.
HAPPY-LIKE
Smitten by Bernie's mittens
Whether you watched the U.S. inauguration or not, you probably saw the Bernie Sanders meme that filled the social channels. The Democratic Senator was spotted at the inauguration wearing homemade mittens (made from recycled materials) and looking fairly relaxed and informal. The image quickly caught on as a meme, with some very creative options. Seth Abramson, an attorney and columnist, created a Twitter thread of Bernie Sanders sightings. A lot of the sightings were in movies, and my favourite has to be the video of the pottery scene in "Ghost." (Those mittens are going to need a wash!). If you haven't created your own Bernie meme yet and still want to, there are a few ways to do it. (I chose Snapchat). As for Bernie, he also jumped on the meme craze, creating a T-shirt and a sweatshirt with the image that he's selling on this website — with all proceeds going charities in Vermont.
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