10. Facebook’s Photo and Video Transfer Tool is Now Available in All Regions
You can now copy your Facebook photos and videos over to Google Photos is now available in all regions. This is Facebook’s first step in its new data portability approach, which will eventually provide users with more control over all of their Facebook data.
You can access this option in the Facebook settings within your Facebook information and you will be asked to enter your password before a transfer is initiated. It started with users in Ireland last December, extended to European, Asian and African regions in March, and then the US and Canada in April.
9. You will need to get explicit creator permission for Instagram Embeds.
There have been several instances where photographers have sued multi-platform media and entertainment companies or websites for republishing their Instagram content without permission.
Instagram issued a statement saying that their terms allow them to grant a sub-license but they do not grant users of its embedding API a copyright license to display embedded images on other websites. So keep in mind, before you embed someone’s Instagram post on your website, you will need to ask the poster for a separate license to the images in the post. If you don’t, you could be subject to a copyright lawsuit.
8. Instagram is testing out a new option that will allow you to get Facebook Messenger on Instagram. You will be able to view your Messenger’s inbox directly in your Instagram DMs in an effort to make messaging services work across their apps such as Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
This option is still under a testing phase and is not yet available to all users. Currently, we don’t know yet if or when this option will be available for everyone but Facebook is very much moving ahead with it’s messaging integration plan.
7. YouTube recently announced two updates for creators.
Creators will now be assisted by a new feature that highlights a creator’s merch sale in the chat during a live stream. When a creator’s merchandise is purchased during a live stream, there will be an alert displayed to the whole chat room similar to when someone becomes a member during a live stream. This feature is available to creators who are utilizing Teespring to sell products on YouTube.
Another feature is a new revenue report that can be accessed via YouTube Studio. This report merges two existing monthly reports about subscribers and revenue. There’s also an all-new analysis of video views and it includes a new visualization with a monthly bar chart showing 13 months of data. You will find this option in YouTube Studio analytics in the Channel Overview section and will be updated at the beginning of each month.
6 Google has announced an update to feature “snippets” that take users to the relevant text on the webpage. So now, every time you use your search bar, clicking on the featured snippet on the results will take you directly to the text that is relevant to your search query. The text will also be highlighted to make it easier for you to find what you are looking for on the entire page.
If you want this to happen to your page, there’s no special market needed, nothing to add, because this change isn’t happening to all featured snippets just yet. It’s only happening where Google has a high confidence of being able to direct users straight to the content.
Now let’s talk about Google My Business. Google Business used to allow businesses only one set of opening hours for each day of the week but because businesses are evolving due to the pandemic, Google Business is adjusting with the businesses. Some establishments are operating on limited or varying operating hours, added services that weren’t offered before, or shifted to only food delivery. The new feature can certainly assist in those cases and give businesses more flexibility by allowing them to manually enter a type of service and its corresponding hours.
5 Google Ads has announced a beta for a tool called Explanations to help speed up the process of diagnosing changes in conversions, impressions, or click volume. Find issues faster, and cut down on the time spent digging through reports, tools, and data to locate whether there’s an issue. This tool will only be available for Search campaigns using manual bidding or enhanced CPC and NOT for Display, Video, Shopping, auto-bid setups, or Dynamic Search Ads.
Another tool update is on Keywords. You can now find relevant keywords faster with the Refine Keywords option on your Google keyword planner. You can now group together ideas based on the characteristics of your products or services like colors, sizes, and many more! Refine keywords allow you to filter attributes by giving you a checklist that you can include or remove in your list of keyword ideas making it easier for you to find keywords that fit your new and existing campaigns without manually determining those keyword ideas.
4 Pinterest has added a ‘Shop’ tab to its Lens Results feature which allows users to find items based on an image. The addition of a new ‘Shop’ tab within its Lens visual search results becomes a powerful tool for getting your “buyable” items to your consumer.
Just click the camera button in the search bar, upload a photo or take a snap of the item that you’re looking for, and select the “Shop” tab to view a feed of shoppable pins based on the products identified in that image. Each product is linked directly to the checkout page on the seller’s website making shopping faster and easier.
3. Facebook is testing out a new sticker type for Facebook Stories that allows you to set a schedule for an online meeting where you can add a date and other information on how your viewers can join the meetup. You will also see if any of their friends are interested in your event.
This “Plan” Sticker feature can be good for product announcements, online event announcements, or simply for setting a meet-up schedule among friends. It’s like Facebook events except it’s set on your Stories and you will also see who among your connections will be attending. This feature is only available to selected users and is still currently under a testing phase.
Another update is all about digital marketing and how it is constantly being integrated with social networks and Facebook adding an option to send Marketing Emails via the Pages App is solid proof.
Pages will need to confirm your Page Email address and once confirmed, you will need to manually add email contacts to your database. You will also be asked to confirm that any contacts added have given explicit permission to be contacted with promotional messages via email. You can’t simply use the emails that people have listed on their Facebook profiles, all email contacts need to be manually uploaded.
Once you have agreed to Facebook’s usage terms, you can already create campaigns in the app and you will also see a preview of your subject line and content in the lower section. Any email you send using this process will be delivered as your ‘business.mailbyfb.com’ email address attached to your account.
2. Snapchat began testing its Dynamic Product Ads unit in the US last October and is now available globally. This was an open beta-test of dynamic ads that enable brands to automatically create real-time ads based on their own product catalogs, which can contain hundreds of thousands of items.
You can create your real-time updating Snap campaigns by formatting your uploaded product images into platform-friendly formats. All you need to do is upload your assets and let Snapchat’s Ads Manager provide you with various templates aligned to the platform’s vertical display focus.
This new update is now out in the UK, Germany, the Middle East, and Australia
1. LinkedIn is introducing new capabilities to retarget the right professionals and bring more impact to your campaigns via Retargeting by Video and Lead Gen Forms. This feature builds on our current offering by helping you reach those most interested in your brand based on their actions with your ads, such as video views and Lead Gen Form interactions.
These new features enable you to tailor your message to your objective and retarget those who watched 75% or more of your video campaign to invite them to register with a Sponsored Content ad.
Another update is the ability to deliver Sponsored Content campaigns that achieve up to 25% more reach and up to 9x more monthly touchpoints to LinkedIn members with select trusted apps and publishers, including Flipboard, Microsoft News, and MSN.com.
