Our tech-obsessed world waits for no one! When it’s time for technology to update, upgrade or up-and-get-replaced, it can feel like it happens without warning (and often does). As a business, staying on top of social media changes is important so that you are not blindsided when it does happen, and so you can adjust accordingly to create minimal disruption for your pages in the eyes of your followers.
What changes are we talking about?
Companies are continuously striving to improve their offerings to their customers—as well as to improve their internal efficiencies. When we refer to “social media changes,” we mean ways that social media platforms are trying to do just that. This could involve them getting rid of user options that are no longer proving effective, introducing new features, re-formatting the interface—the list goes on.
For our purposes in managing our clients’ social media pages, we often deal with changes involving the introduction of new features, changing existing features and getting rid of unsuccessful features. For example, Facebook previously offered a slideshow option for it posts, but now a user can only create a slideshow when building an ad. A few other examples:
- Originally, the Instagram app only allowed still images. Now it accepts both still images and video content via Stories, Reels, IGTV, etc.
- Twitter’s character count used to be limited to 140 characters. In 2017, Twitter doubled its character count to 280 characters.
- Instagram’s algorithm previously displayed content in reverse chronological order. This changed in March 2016, and now its algorithm takes a variety of variables into account when deciding how to display content to users.
- Starting in May 2021, Facebook and Instagram started slowly introducing the option to hide like counts on posts. This comes after Instagram started testing the option in 2019. The feature will be available to the platforms’ global audiences soon.
If you really want to get into some details, here’s a whole article on the history of Facebook’s Newsfeed changes.
Strategies for staying on top of social media changes
So how do you know if a change is coming? Use these strategies for staying on top of social media changes to ensure that you’re always in the know.
Read industry blogs.
Read blogs from industry leaders whose job it is to communicate to followers about major changes in the social media landscape. We suggest ones like HubSpot, Social Media Examiner, and Hootsuite.
Subscribe to industry email lists.
Take the guesswork out of knowing when a new blog or piece of information has been posted, and have it sent directly to your inbox by subscribing to industry email lists. You can also sign up to receive emails from the social media platforms themselves!
Follow relevant pages on social.
Again, just another means of finding the information that will be sent out via email or appear on the blog. Follow those same companies on social media for updates.
Interact with your social pages regularly.
Here’s the most hands-on approach. When you are consistently using the social media platforms, you will be more inclined to notice updates when they happen or receive indications that they are going to happen. Often, you’ll get a small pop-up or notification denoting that “this change will be happening on (date),” for example.
Work with us!
We pride ourselves on keeping up with the latest and greatest in social media trends and changes. We’ll stay in touch with what’s new—and how it affects your pages—so you don’t have to!
Summary
Change can hit us out of nowhere. If you trek ahead of it, however, it can feel a little less overwhelming! Make staying on top of social media changes a part of your digital strategy in an effort to ensure you are maximizing your pages’ potential to attract and maintain brand followers.
McNutt & Partners is a full-service advertising and digital marketing agency. Contact us today for your marketing needs! Call 334-521-1010, or visit our contact page.