Summer is on the way! And just like the seasons so is our June social media news update. So kick back and relax in your favourite sun lounger whilst Giraffe does the hard work and brings you all the latest from the world of social media.
LinkedIn Adds New Options/Product Listings to Build Brand Presence
Soon LinkedIn users will be able to showcase and highlight specific products and projects they have worked on within different roles, as LinkedIn adds a new product showcase element to user profiles. These will be defined as ‘Product Listings’, this will show under your experience listing just like certifications earned or skills endorsed. Pretty neat! But how does it work?
When editing elements within your ‘Experience’ section, you’ll be able to add products you’ve contributed to over time within your organisation, which in turn will link back to corresponding Product Pages on your company profile. Showing off your expertise and adding another discovery route for brands.
LinkedIn is also looking to improve its Newsletter offering, adding the option for @mentions and #hashtags to help maximise engagement with Articles and Newsletters, functioning in the same way it does in other areas of LinkedIn.
As explained by LinkedIn:
“In the coming weeks, we’re rolling out the ability to @mention members and Pages within the copy of an Article or Newsletter, enabling collaborators to help further distribute your content. You can also include #hashtags in your Articles to enrich your content and help readers discover like-minded communities on LinkedIn.”
Will this increase engagement? Potentially, yes. If you are mentioning another brand or individual detailed inside your Article/Newsletter, they are likely to show appreciation for the credit and share with colleagues. Hashtags are a wild card, but it could see LinkedIn communities adding posts to their conversations.
Each update has a range of potential uses, providing more ways to share your experience and work and are definitely worth exploring for brands and individuals alike.
Products on Profiles feature is currently being piloted and will start a full rollout over the next few months.
Instagram – New Option to Pin Posts to Profiles
In more social media news Instagram has officially launched a new option to enable you to pin posts to your profile! A welcome addition and another way to manage content on your Instagram Profile.
As explained by Instagram:
“You can now pin up to three posts (photos or Reels) to remain at the top of your profile grid, giving creators more flexibility to express themselves on their profiles. Starting today, the feature will be available globally to all users.”
This new option is available via the three dots, (ellipsis) on any chosen post, which now has the added option to ‘Pin to Your Profile.’
This includes reels too, not just your static posts, which could open up some really creative ways on how to present your IG profiles to visitors and followers.
This option has been in testing since April, along with others such as the ability to re-arrange the entire post display on your profile grid. This isn’t available yet but has been discussed by Instagram Chief Adam Mosserialong with other features for creators to have more control over their profiles.
This seems to be the start of more customisation for IG and a new avenue of creative thinking for marketers and creatives everywhere, something that is always welcome.
Watch this space for further creative tool updates from Instagram as they release.
LinkedIn Launches Rollout of its ‘Funny’ Reaction
Quicker than expected and as mentioned previously in our May news update LinkedIn has rolled out its new ‘Funny’ reaction to its repertoire of six other emoji response options for LinkedIn posts.
Some users have reported seeing an alert in app notifying them of the change, some are still to see it. According to LinkedIn the reaction is being rolled out gradually and isn’t available to everyone just yet.
However it is on its way to a LinkedIn feed near you imminently whether you want it or not! Whilst some professionals may argue the reaction doesn’t seem appropriate for the platform.
But LinkedIn wants a way for users to express that a post made them laugh, was humorous or fun in a professional context. It has also been highly requested by the LinkedIn community, surprising maybe, but true, nonetheless. Back in February LinkedIn’s Chief Product Officer Tomer Cohen commented upon this and how they were working on making it a reality.
So the take away here is that the majority of people have been asking for the feature and LinkedIn wants to give users what the desire. Keep an eye out in your feed for the new emoji reaction or read more about it from LinkedIn here.
That’s all from us for June in the way of social media news, now it’s time to grab our sunglasses and sombreros and head outside for some well-deserved sunshine. We hope you are all enjoying your summer and we will see you again next month for more social media news.
Want more from us? Check out our blogs section for some social media inspiration.
