October is here! Full of colder weather, darker nights and things that go bump in the night. Never fear though as Giraffe are here to brighten your day with our monthly social media news update. So gather round, wrap up warm and grab a hot drink whilst we dive into what’s been happening in the world of social media over October.
Instagram Enabling Users to Upload Photos and Videos via Desktop
Instagram has announced that its adding image and video posting functionality from the desktop version of the platform as of October 21st, providing a more centralized way for social media managers to maintain their IG presence.
Users will be able to post photos and videos of less than one minute in length, this will not include Stories or Reels unfortunately at this stage, but it’s fantastic news for social media professionals and those who rely on desktop clients. We imagine social media management platforms will be updated to reflect this update, at last!
Instagram has had this update in testing since June when it performed an initial public test. Selected users have been experimenting with this for a few months so it’s great to see this feature finally roll out globally. Workflows will become a lot more streamlined allowing for easier publishing of edited graphics and visuals made within other apps and programs.
We have seen Instagram making moves for a while to improve the desktop experience, last year it added the capacity to view live streams and improved the Stories feature on PC. Continuing with these feature updates to desktop will allow more people to experience the platform in more ways, and it looks like Instagram has answered all those late-night prayers from social media managers around the globe clamouring for an improved process.
‘Made for TikTok’ Content Tips Series Created by TikTok for Marketers
In other social media news, TikTok has recently launched a new video tips series designed to help marketers get to grips with the platform, allowing them to deep-dive into the app with the aim of enabling them to create more engaging TikTok campaigns.
Dubbed ‘Made for TikTok’, the series will include key lessons from experts, the initial launch lesson is a ‘workout program’ series hosted by David Ma, Director & Filmmaker. The new series explores various aspects of TikTok engagement, from comments and co-creation to engagement and deep-dives into subcultures.
The video lessons provide an accessible way to understand TikTok, its features and how to leverage that for content and marketing. TikTok hopes this will allow businesses and marketers to better align content towards their target userbase.
This series has come at a great time for brands trying to leverage the platform, TikTok is up to a billion users and is fast becoming an integral platform for influencing younger consumers. With Christmas approaching fast as well as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, many businesses will be scrambling to take advantage of TikTok as part of their online marketing strategy.
Each of the individual video elements can be viewed on the TikTok for Business profile. Keep your eyes peeled here as TikTok has said that it will be publishing more ‘Made for TikTok’ videos soon.
Thinking about TikTok for your campaigns? Check out the Giraffe TikTok Marketing Guide and get the most out of the platform.
Freelancer Connection Tool launches for LinkedIn in the wake of the Rising Gig Economy
Freelancers rejoice as LinkedIn is looking to facilitate more opportunities on its platform for the gig economy, expanding its Service Marketplace to better service connections between brands and freelancers.
As can be seen through the link, users that add a service listing to their profile can now benefit from advanced discovery including new recommendation tools, search filters and more that will help business owners hone in on what they need from freelance professionals.
LinkedIn has also streamlined its freelancer connection process by allowing brands to send a request for service without first needing to connect or follow a freelance provider. This is a significant improvement allowing for faster connections for services to a wider audience too. LinkedIn has also added a new dashboard feature to enable freelancers a way to keep tabs on their various queries and requests and will include a ‘Review status’ element, where users can manage client reviews that are featured on their services page.
This is part of a wider set of features announced by LinkedIn to empower its platform to be open to more flexible work settings within job queries, with filters such as ‘Remote’, ‘Hybrid’ and ‘On-site’ filters within its Job Search and Open to Work features. Job seekers will also have an easier time gaining insight into a company before applying for jobs, adding company page summaries to provide insight into policies and work culture/working patterns.
In a working world ever changed by COVID, there has been a lot of change globally to how workforces operate, which LinkedIn is looking to harness with these new updates in order to support and provide opportunities to as many of its users as it can.
Well, that’s it for another social media news update, before we go we’d like to wish you all a Happy Halloween, whatever you get up to make it a spooky one! We will catch you next month for another update so stay tuned to Giraffe for all things social media.
