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Showing posts from September, 2021

Facebook will now let you make group chats across Instagram and Messenger

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Cross-app group chats between Instagram and Messenger. | Image: Facebook Facebook will now let you start cross-app group chats between Messenger and Instagram, the company announced Thursday . The update is a big step forward in Facebook’s ambitions to make its apps work better with each other. To be able to use the cross-app communications, you’ll have to opt in, and Facebook says that “over 70% of eligible people on Instagram have updated to the new Messenger experience.” The company is bringing other new features to the messaging apps in addition to cross-app group messaging. Polls will be available in group DMs on Instagram and in cross-app chats so you can, for example, vote on where to grab lunch. Facebook has added group typing indicators to Messenger, so you can see when multiple people are drafting a message. (It’s unclear from Facebook’s blog post if group typing indicators are coming to Instagram as well, but I’ve asked the company to clarify that.

Instagram Reels are now widely available on Facebook in the US

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Image: Facebook A little over a month after Facebook announced a test blending Instagram Reels’ short-form video content with its main Facebook app, the company is ready to roll it out fully in the US. Now, the creators who use it can create reels on Facebook, and Facebook is testing suggestions that will push the videos to its users. Image: Facebook Facebook Reels recommendation A big part of the Reels effort is appealing to the people who make entertaining content, and with its news feed, Facebook can offer potential levels of exposure that are bigger than anyone else, including competition like TikTok and Snapchat. To drive the point home, Facebook announced a Reels Play bonus program, which will invite certain creators to get paid based on the performance of their reels. Interested parties can sign up for the bonus program, but even if you’re not yet a pro at going viral, you can still create a Reel on Facebook. If you’re no

Inclusive Language in Marketing Isn’t Just Important — It’s Essential

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Once, inclusive language was thought to be a luxury for businesses and their communications. Today, it’s essential. And going forward, it’s professional malpractice if marketers aren’t being intentional about inclusive language and urging their internal and external communications colleagues to do it as well. If your brand and its marketing don’t convey a sense of inclusivity by respecting and reflecting a broad range of perspectives and identities, it may not have a place in tomorrow’s business world. Consumers (and employees) have more voice – and more choice – than they’ve ever had. Data consistently tells us that those audiences expect marketing and engagement to be more inclusive and representative. Building a diverse and inclusive culture is an utmost priority for every company and marketing department today. That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to serve as the instructor for a new LinkedIn Learning course, Diversity and Inclusion in Marketing:

Facebook is ‘pausing’ work on Instagram kids app after widespread criticism

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram says it’s “pausing” development of what’s been dubbed “Instagram Kids” — a version of the photo-sharing app aimed at children under 13. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri announced the news in a blog post today, saying that the Facebook-owned company would continue to work on parental-supervised experiences for younger users. In a blog post and series of accompanying tweets , Mosseri blames the media and critics for misunderstanding the purpose of the app. “It was never meant for younger kids, but for tweens (aged 10-12),” he writes. In a separate tweet , he adds that news of the project “leaked way before we knew what it would be. People feared the worst, and we had few answers at that stage. It’s clear we need to take more time on this.” Pausing development of the app comes after The Wall Street Journal published a series of damning reports into Facebook last week. These included a story revealing how Instagra

Congress isn’t satisfied with Facebook’s pause on Instagram Kids

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook announced that it would be “pausing” work on its Instagram for kids app on Monday after weeks of growing pressure from lawmakers and advocacy groups to scrap the app. But many lawmakers aren’t satisfied with the pause, calling on Facebook to stop development entirely. In a statement issued Monday, Democrats in the House and Senate called Facebook’s decision to halt development of the Instagram product targeted to kids under 13 as “insufficient.” Four lawmakers signed onto the statement, including Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA), “Facebook has completely forfeited the benefit of the doubt” “Facebook has completely forfeited the benefit of the doubt when it comes to protecting young people online and it must completely abandon this project,” the statement reads. Facebook’s reversal comes on the heels of new reporting from The Wall Street Journal claiming that the company conducted several s

Learn How to Keep Livestream Events Fresh in B2B Marketing

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In the very beginning, members of a Palo Alto band became stars of the world’s first livestream video. The date was June 24, 1993. At the time, it was a novelty.  But like so many innovations before it, livestream video eventually became a familiar convenience. Until early 2020, when it became a crucial vehicle for connecting businesses with their audiences. With people stuck inside, live-streaming events popped up everywhere at an accelerated pace. Professionals settled into their WFH setups to attend, and continue to do so. In fact, 6.3 million LinkedIn members have attended virtual events on LinkedIn alone since the launch of LinkedIn Events in early 2020.  Unlike produced video content, livestream videos offer brands the ability to create authentic, real-time, shared moments that viewers not only respond better to, but engage more with: LinkedIn Live videos average 7x more reactions, and 24x more comments than native video produced by the same bro

Aligning Performance and Purpose in FinServ

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Financial services firms face a constant battle to win consumer trust. Severely tarnished by the 2008 financial crisis, the whole sector has been criticized for the actions of a few firms, which put financial gains above the interests of customers and society. New regulation, ESG strategies, and thought-leadership marketing programmes have helped FinServ to rebuild its reputation, but it can never be taken for granted, as a recent decline in consumer trust, sparked by the pandemic, shows.   Consumers today arguably have more power than ever, with social media providing a platform to demand change. The role of capitalism – the good and the bad - has come into question, and for FinServ, that means consumers are looking for brands to show that they stand for more than just making money. The Power of Purpose  Demonstrating a purpose beyond profits is vital to winning the battle for customer trust and loyalty in today’s FinServ sector. Research shows

Grow Your Professional Brand on LinkedIn Today With These Actionable Steps

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Since its inception in 2002, LinkedIn has grown to become the central online community for business professionals, with more than 700 million members seeking to connect, network, grow personal brands, and further their careers.  On LinkedIn, your personal profile and content you share can serve to help people understand who you are and what you’re about before their first interaction with you. It’s your calling card, and your chance to virtually look someone in the eye and give them a feel for your skills, experience, career goals, personality, and professional journey.  Here we share five tips to help boost your professional brand, increase visibility, and improve your marketability in the new world of work.  5 Tips to Boost Your Professional Brand on LinkedIn #1: Power Up Your LinkedIn Profile First impressions are made in just a few seconds, but last far beyond.  Starting with a proper profile picture has been proven to help gar

How Deepgram Uses Performance Marketing, Brand Awareness, and Multichannel Experimentation to Drive Growth

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LinkedIn Marketing can play an important role for B2B startups looking to scale. But what are the learnings and strategies fueling their growth? We’re excited to help answer this question with our new Growth Series: an inside look at startup marketers’ approach to successful growth. As your team builds your own marketing strategy, perhaps the perspectives shared here will help you optimize, learn, and grow faster. In this installment of our Growth Series, we’ve interviewed Claudia Ring , Head of Growth at Deepgram .  LinkedIn: In a sentence, tell us about Deepgram. What is a fun fact we wouldn’t find on your LinkedIn Page or website? Claudia: Deepgram is the first and only end-to-end, AI speech recognition platform that delivers insanely fast, actually usable transcriptions, with practically zero lag. Our fun fact: Deepgram has a long-standing company culture with spicy food, particularly peppers and hot sauce….  there is a video of our CEO, Scott

MainStreet Leverages LinkedIn for Acquisition, Reaching Startups With Highly Engaging, Value-Driven Messaging

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MainStreet helps high-growth startups find and claim tax credits. Based in San Jose, California, it primarily serves tech companies with more than five employees in the United States. The average company discovers $51,040 in 20 minutes by working with MainStreet. Challenge Not only is MainStreet’s ideal customer profile (ICP) very specific, but it is also very constrained in its messaging. “Our ICP is designed around the tax code,” said Nick Abouzeid , Head of Product Marketing at MainStreet. “We can’t rewrite what the IRS tells us or what we’re allowed to help people with.” The company wanted access to robust targeting tools, deeper metrics for measuring engagement, and opportunities to put broad, bottom-of-the-sales-funnel content in front of the largest possible audience. MainStreet turned to LinkedIn Sponsored Content to simplify its messaging and narrow its focus. Solution MainStreet relied on LinkedIn’s powerful targeting tools to

5 Examples of Striking the Right Balance Between Brand and Demand

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A while back we delved into how LinkedIn’s tools help marketers address the full funnel . As part of this exploration, we touched on LinkedIn Ad combinations proven to work in the awareness, consideration, and conversion stages of the marketing funnel.  In this post, we show what those suggestions look like in the real world. Below you’ll find best-in-class examples from companies incorporating both brand and demand on LinkedIn for a fully effective full-funnel strategy.  Mercedes-Benz Successfully Introduces Luxury Vehicle to Key Demographic When it comes to luxury vehicle brands, Mercedes-Benz is among the first to come to mind. Their reputation is such that many never even consider the purchase as a practicality, or even a possibility. But as they prepared to launch their new, three-row GLB SUV at an affordable price for young families, Mercedes-Benz wanted to drive awareness and pique interest without diluting their prestigious brand.

8 Tips to Help You Grow Your Business on LinkedIn in 2021 and Beyond

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These days, "business as usual" can feel like an oxymoron. Whatever "usual" used to be has gone out the window, and we're all collectively finding our footing in a landscape that has been (and continues to be) drastically reshaped. At LinkedIn, we're committed to helping marketers and organizations adapt and thrive in this new era of business. With more than 770 million members in over 200 countries , B2B marketers today recognize LinkedIn for what it is: a trusted, credible platform where business professionals go to network and find solutions to the challenges they face day in and day out. Case in point: did you know that nearly three professionals sign up to join LinkedIn every second? As B2B marketing continues to evolve in the digital space, it’s increasingly critical to meet audiences where they’re at, sparking meaningful connections and building fruitful relationships. It’s no longer a question of if you should