Can you believe we’re already halfway through 2024? Neither can we! It’s been a whirlwind in the world of digital and social media marketing. We’ve got the scoop on all the top social media networks your team needs to keep up with. Let’s dive in!
Facebook & Instagram
Since these key social media platforms are under the same Meta umbrella, many updates are applicable to both. For example, the Meta Verified business subscription is now available in more countries and Meta is encouraging top influencers to expand their strategy to include Threads. The biggest new feature is the roll-out of Meta AI. This tool was automatically installed on Meta social media products’ (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger) feeds, chats, and search bars in April in more than a dozen countries.
Something new you may have noticed on Facebook specifically is a full-screen video player that offers a consistent watch experience regardless of video length, easier player controls, and more relevant video recommendations. In this continued age of video content dominance, this is a very welcome and accessible change.
Meanwhile, Instagram has been very busy testing new features. You may have noticed a few of these on your own account lately: being able to cancel an in-progress Story upload, edit your DMs after sending, being able to turn off DM read-receipts, the Notes option on your profile, tons of new stickers and engagement opportunities for Stories and Lives, and adding a promo code to Instagram Ads. We love all these new ways of increasing audience interactions!
Plus, we’ve gotten confirmation – through statements from Instagram Head Adam Mosseri (here, here, and here) and an official blog – of updates to the Instagram algorithm. Here’s what you need to know about how Instagram is ranking your content:
- Share rates are the key drivers of Reach
- Follower count is less analytically influential than number of Likes and Views
- Reels over 90 seconds long can hurt distribution (despite Meta continuing to expand Reel length time limits)
- Reposts will be labeled, link back to the original creator, and the originals will be recommended rather than reposts
So, what’s in store for the rest of 2024? Well, we know that Meta is honing their focus on young adults, so more upgrades will be coming for Meta AI and Creator tools. Also, based on the tests Meta is currently running, we predict an even larger push towards Threads use, whether this means more functions for cross-posting or upping the development of Threads features.
LinkedIn has had a very eventful six months, as well! Some of the more obvious updates you may have already experienced are a shift away from hashtagging and liquidating Creator Mode into universal tools, expanding Company Page messaging functions to all brands, introducing the Verified Badge, and…games? They are testing many new ways to let users and brands connect during this period of increased platform use.
The network has also made changes to its algorithm, focused around elongating Reach potential by suggesting posts more likely to be relevant to individual users regardless of when it was posted. You can now also boost someone else’s post through your Company Page as a Thought Leader Ad, as well as sponsor Company-authored Articles, allowing your Company Page to become an even more holistic hub for your brand’s content, expertise, and reputation. Just be aware that when building your LinkedIn Ads now, Lookalike Audiences were sunset in February.
Finally, like all of the top tech brands this year, there are several developments involving AI. This includes an AI writing assistant for Premium Company Page subscribers, an AI job-application assistant, and a label for images and videos letting users know when the content is AI-generated.
For the rest of 2024, we’re expecting to see more testing for video content tools and collaborative functions.
YouTube
Some of the exciting 2024 upgrades to the YouTube platform that marketers need to know focuses on podcasts, the YouTube Partner Program, and users’ visual experience.
Our favorite of YouTube’s updates is the introduction of directly distributing podcast episodes to YouTube. All you have to do is submit your RSS feed, and with each episode you upload, YouTube will automatically create and publish it as a still-image video (of your cover art). We’ve tried this ourselves with our 10 Minute Marketing podcast!
The YouTube Partner Program has refreshed their guidelines for joining, creating, and monetizing. Tangentially, you can now earn ad revenue on Shorts (under their own monetization eligibility). For digital marketers specializing in influencer marketing, this could mean opportunities to collaborate with new micro-influencers in your niche.
YouTube has also been making some changes to users’ visual experience on the platform. This includes optimizing for television screens, a desktop homepage redesign for Premium users, and testing out a color-filtered mobile home feed. So, what does this mean for marketers? Really mastering that first impression of your videos: the thumbnail. It’s got to be high-quality, eye-catching, and easily identifiable. Plus, making sure that your video titles and the first line of description get right to the point and hook your audience.
What else might we see from YouTube this year? Their stated vision includes embracing AI and a commitment to integrating, not replacing, long-form content into Shorts strategies. They’ve already rolled out an “honor system” style label option to tag AI-generated content, but may add a disclosure automatically in the future. They’re also experimenting with a Notes function, which could be useful for letting viewers know when there are updated products or events than what a video shows, but we’ll see if it ends up being helpful in practice.
X (Twitter)
We’re not sure if we’ll ever get used to calling Twitter “X,” and some of the new updates to the platform are also raising eyebrows for many users and marketers. X has recently gotten rid of public Liked Posts, and they may be soon hiding Like and Retweet counts. There are other upgrades, though, that are getting much more neutral (even positive) reactions:
- Increased group chat limit for growing communities
- In-platform article writing, available only for X Premium+ users
- Creator Targeting, allowing advertisers to run campaigns against a curated list of premium content creators
- Like LinkedIn, testing a special Video tab
- New and improved Analytics page for Premium users
What do we think they’ll do for the second half of 2024? Well, it’s a little hard to say. We know there will be upcoming changes to the Explore page and upgrades to X’s AI assistant Grok, but the main source of news for X developments is the X Daily News account, which doesn’t always go in-depth on the pending upgrades that they tease. X’s controversial owner, Elon Musk, has recently made some statements in interviews regarding the future of the network (including a certain expletive for advertisers specifically), as has CEO Linda Yaccarino. The official X Company Updates Blog has put out few updates this year.
TikTok
Yes, we saved this one for last on purpose. As you may be aware, there has been baited breath in the United States to see if TikTok would be banned. In a nutshell, President Biden signed into law in April that the Chinese owners of TikTok, ByteDance, would have to either sell the platform to a US-based company within nine months or else it must completely cease US operations. Currently, ByteDance is suing the US government over this decision. So, for at least the rest of 2024, TikTok will remain accessible to Americans.
In the meantime, TikTok has been implementing tons of upgrades you should know about. Here are the highlights:
- Clip length limit increased to 30 minutes, with tests out for 60 minute videos
- A refreshed TikTok Studio for creators
- An updated monetization structure that includes a new key metric: search value
- A series of advertising playbooks and industry guides for marketers, like this one
- Visual experience upgrades like larger text size options, landscape-oriented videos, a desktop floating player, and more
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! For all of TikTok’s launched and in-progress updates, check out their official blog.
For the rest of 2024, some features in development include using AI bots as virtual influencers, Instagram-like collaboration features, and mobile homescreen widgets for Stories and Search. Fingers crossed that this wildly successful and community-driving platform, and their wealth of upgrades and ideas, will make it into 2025 social media marketing strategies.
To learn how to take advantage of all these insights for your social media marketing strategies, please feel free to contact us! We stay updated on all the marketing technology news and changes so that you can focus on what’s most important: your business.