February 2017 - Black Wednesday

Oh happy Wednesday!

Welcome to this week’s social, where we’ll discuss the five reasons why you need to be on Twitter! Whether you are new and want to create an account or someone who is trying to learn how to better use your current account, here are some resources and inspiration!

Get your news quick and on-the-go

Twitter has a variety of news topics you are able to look through. Whether you are into politics, sports or just pure entertainment, it has everything you are looking for, especially trending topics. Nowadays, everyone seems to be in a hurry and they don’t have enough time to grab the newspaper, but with a Twitter account, you’re able to get your news before you even get out of bed. A variety of information can be found under the ‘Explore’ tab, at the bottom of your screen. Click here to learn about the transformation of the ‘Moments’ tab to the ‘Explore’ tab and how you can use it to look there for trending hashtags. Scroll through your home feed to see what your friends are sharing. You can even look through hashtags to get the latest updates on a topic.

Livestream

One of Twitter’s newest features is the livestream! The most recent, and one of the most successful streams you were able to watch, was the 2017 Grammys reaching 5.1 million people. Sports fans, you will be happy to know that Twitter teamed up with the NFL to livestream games, on Thursday Night Football. You also have the availability to create your own livestream and to show your followers a behind-the-scenes peek at your work, your daily activities, or something cool you stumbled upon. Contributing via livestream can help cultivate a stronger following to grow your account and credibility.

Get the word out about your business

Looking to get a larger following for your business? Twitter is a great and authentic way to promote your message. You are able to post information, blogs, media, links, gifs and more (of course with a limit of 140 characters). Using hashtags within your tweets is also a great way to connect with other people and engage in conversations that are in line with your interests. Connecting with fellow tweeters who have the same interests as you will grow your following and could potentially lead to further reach if and when those people share your content.

Get yourself hired

Yes, if you are looking for a job, you are able to get hired through your Twitter. First impressions are key to landing a job. Optimize your Twitter avatar and your bio to help potential headhunters find you and understand that you’re looking. By writing a bio that explicitly speaks to your job search or utilizes relevant hashtags, you might just get found! In the case you are seeking employment, it is super important to clean up your profile; you can even link directly to your LinkedIn page.

Keep up with your favorite brands

People are always looking for promotions or the latest products from their favorite brands. With social media on the rise, more and more businesses are turning to a variety of platforms to share their content! Many brands host conversations/Twitter chats or use branded hashtags to manage contests; many brands use Twitter to engage one on one; see how Wendy’s recently blew up Twitter by interacting with their Twitter followers.

Using Twitter is also a great way to give feedback on a product. Brands have become more social media-focused, so instead of calling a customer service hotline, you are able to ask questions and send direct messages through Twitter. There’s a high chance that there will be someone to receive your mentions or inquiries, whether they be positive or negative. You might even catch their eye and they could share your tweet! If you’re marketing a brand, you can use one of our fave tools Sprout Social to monitor and listen.

If you can’t tell, we’re big fans of Twitter, mainly for the super direct interaction it offers! What are your favorite Twitter features? Let’s hear from YOU. Find us on social to let us know: @bwsocialco.

Oh happy Wednesday!

Welcome to this week’s social, where we’ll discuss big things happening in the social media space…

Let’s talk Instagram, specifically the 5 features that we can’t live without as social media marketers. Over the past year, Instagram has kept the platform fresh with inventive new features that allow for a more creative, custom experience. Here are the features we never want to ‘Gram without…

1) Drafts

Instagram rolled out this feature to allow users to create and hold Instagram posts for future publishing. It’s great for preparing ideas that aren’t ready to hit the feed. We use it to plan ahead and save time when we need to post and engage quickly. For IG users who are more artistic, you can use this feature to check the layout/consistency of your grid.

2) Saved Posts

Ever stumble across a photo that was inspiring, informative, or extra memorable? Save it for reference later! Instagram’s saved post feature is a great personal and professional resource. At BW, we like to queue up relevant posts to eventually re-share or mark content that we admire to spark a new idea. Other uses we’ve heard of: bookmarking a great place to eat, saving a photo for fashion inspiration, noting a cool location you want to eventually scope out and Instagram for yourself, etc.

3) Uploading Pics from Gallery to Instagram Stories

Have you ever felt conflicted whether to take a “real” photo or video or capture the content via a platform for immediate publish? Fret no more. You can upload media directly from your phone gallery to Instagram Stories. That way you still have the original to use for other purposes and still upload great content to your story that you may not have originally been able to do.

4) Sending Posts Directly

This private feature serves an array of purposes for sharing an Instagram photo or video with another Instagram user, as explained here. We like this feature for its simplicity and effectiveness in sending information and engaging quickly- sans screenshots.

5) Boomerang

WHO DOESN’T LOVE GIFS? And the lure of being able to make and create your own custom gif is so addictive. Instagram allows users to post Boomerangs on an Instagram feed or story. BW loves Boomerang because it adds variety to content, elicits more engagement, and sends a more memorable message. Get on the Boomerang train.

We applaud Instagram for keeping the platform fresh and fun by consistently rolling out new features. We didn’t mention all our favorites, but here are a few that deserve an honorable mention:

Hiding Instagram Stories

If for whatever reason you want to hide your story from a select few, you can. Instagram breaks it down on their blog here. Once in the settings, you can individually hide your story content from followers before publishing. Though we don’t use this, we hold the right to admire this option.

Managing Instagram Filters

Did you know that there are 40 Instagram filters? That’s a really wide variety, which is why being able to manage your favorites is super helpful. Sprout Social advises how to here. This is an effective way to keep and give your Instagram a consistent look while saving you the time of scrolling through all 40 options.

UNsend Direct Messages

That’s right, you can right click on a sent message and it DELETE IT… at least from the conversation; the only catch? If the person has already seen it, the damage might already be done! Special note: use messages wisely and double check things for spelling, positivity before you send them.

Let’s hear from YOU. What are your favorite Instagram features? Find us on social to let us know: @bwsocialco.

Visit us next week for another edition of The Wednesday Social and if you have any specific requests on what we should talk about, email us!