More changes to Facebook’s News Feed algorithm, and more new Facebook features for social media managers to utilize – all while Snapchat continues to grow and grab the attention of various demographics. This week’s key stories offer several trends and tactics for your marketing playbook.
New York Times: Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family
Bad news for publishers, media outlets and bloggers: Facebook is changing its algorithm (yet again) to devalue content from publishers, and emphasize content from friends and family. The upside? Even more emphasis will be put on shared content from your friends and family. For publishers, that means focusing their efforts on content that users will want to share rather than simply click.
Facebook Newsroom: Introducing 360 Photos on Facebook
We’ve had a couple of weeks to play with this new panoramic photo feature on Facebook, and given its virtual reality feel on mobile devices, we feel it’s worth the mention. Snap a panoramic photo with your phone and upload it to Facebook – the social network will recognize the pano photo and give viewers an interactive peek into your experience.
Snapchat
Social Media Today: Why Some of Instagram’s Most Popular Food Accounts Are Fleeing to Snapchat
Snapchat continues to gain popularity, and this article highlights how (and why) online “foodies” are quickly moving toward a seat at the “cool table” (i.e., from Instagram to Snapchat).
DigiDay: The Huffington Post Hacks a Snapchat Button to Drive Followers From its Website
As if Snapchat isn’t hard enough for first time users (and/or anyone over the age of 35) to use, brands have to answer the question, “How do I drive people to my Snapchat platform when it’s 100 percent mobile, and I’m unable to link directly to my account?” The Huff Post has developed a work around and it’s getting big results.
Case Study
SmartBrief: How J.M. Smucker Co. Keeps Consumers Engaged While Maintaining 20+ Brands
It’s always good to check out what the large brands are doing, and in this case, we like how Smucker’s puts four very simple guidelines around all of its content for multiple brands (there’s also a link to a full video presentation from the Smucker’s representative).
On the GFM Blog this week:
PR Lessons from Game of Thrones
Social Media Managers: Its Okay to Feel Uncomfortable
The Impacts of Emotional Intelligence
