The social media landscape changes almost daily – from the latest trend to a new platform update, it’s crucial to make sure you’re on top of any social media updates. As we’ve said before, a social media strategy is important for successfully marketing your brand, and it has the power to enhance your PR efforts as well.
Here are the latest social updates to have on your radar:
All videos will now be Reels on Instagram
At the start of the month, Instagram announced that new video posts shorter than 15 minutes will be shared as Reels automatically. Videos posted prior to the announcement will remain as videos and won’t become Reels. This means that practically all videos shared will be shared as Reels, as the platform continues to make moves to rival TikTok.
This is one of many changes announced at the start of the month, with many now being reversed following community feedback. Videos to Reels however is one of the changes that is set to stay.
Top tip: when creating video content for Instagram, the aspect ratio will need to fit Reels which is 1080 pixels x 1920 pixels, or 9:16. For more top tips, read our blog on how to optimise social media content for each platform.
Reels are generating the most reach on Instagram
It’s not new news that video is the key focus for Instagram right now, but new research from HypeAuditor analysed 77.6 million Instagram posts throughout July 2022, and found that the most commonly posted type of content on Instagram is still image posts, at 42% of all posts. Carousels came in second, at 26%. Despite being the third most popular post option, Reels are seeing the most reach on the platform by a notable margin.
Instagram tests “IG Candid” carbon copy of BeReal
In another bid to keep users engaged, Instagram has created a BeReal (time-limit photo-sharing app) inspired update, IG Candid. Meta has confirmed that the clone is being tested internally and will perform pretty much the exact same way BeReal does. The feature will be available in users’ Story trays, and users will receive a notification at a different time, every day, and have two minutes to share what they’re doing.
Reels can now be scheduled on Facebook
Reels scheduling is now available to all users in Facebook Creator Studio, with various formatting tools and features helping users customise content, and schedule posts, all from a desktop computer. Meta has been rolling out Reels scheduling in Creator Studio over the past few months, so some users may have had access already, but it’s now available to all users.
Podcasts come to Twitter
Twitter has announced that it will be rolling out its new integrated podcasts in the Spaces tab, which will now be renamed its ‘Audio’ tab instead. The change has been in development for the past few months, with Twitter saying they want to make it easier for users to listen to their favourite conversations, whether it be a space or podcasts. It will be interesting to see how established podcasts and brands use the feature.
New Reels features available on Meta
Available to both Facebook and Instagram, the ‘Add Yours’ sticker is now available to be added to Reels, adding another way to spark engagement for users. It has also added a new auto-create feature to Facebook Reels, which will allow users to automatically convert their archived stories into clips, which follows the recently added tool which allows Meta users to convert video assets into Reels via the Creator Studio.
Stay ahead of the competition on social media
At Wild Card, we’re passionate about driving results for brands on social media – it’s what we do. If you’d like to find out more, speak to a member of our team today by getting in touch.