Changes In Facebook And Instagram Amplifications In 2020: What You Need To Know

Since its inception, social media vehicles, such as Facebook and Instagram, have reshaped the world of marketing. With over six million advertisers on those platforms in 2019, and a commitment to the philosophy of “content is king,” both Facebook and Instagram are also highly competitive environments, and taking advantage of them takes skill and experience.

Facebook wants you to take advantage of its targeting strategies as a means of providing a good user experience. After all, good, highly targeted ads also make them more money from engaged users. If your ad doesn’t meet Facebook’s standards, that then the algorithm won’t show you much mercy.

With that in mind, here are five ways to maximise your social marketing investment:

1. Mobile madness – target those devices in people’s pockets, and target them hard

We touch our phones over two and a half thousand times a day. It’s one of those rare things that we carry with us everywhere, and an increasing number of people feel more anxious about losing the phone than their wallets.

Facebook and Instagram know all-too-well how much we love our phone; over 90 per cent of Facebook advertising revenues come from mobile devices. Knowing this, it’s important to make sure your ads and tone of voice are compatible phones, as your audience’s number #1 preferred platform for content consumption.

2. You had me at hello

Maybe it’s just us but the last time our Aunty Susan posted a text-only Facebook status on her trip to London, we missed it. However, when she posted that picture in front of the departure gate, we liked it and even commented with a little emoji: pictures are vibrant and pull us in. Text is boring. Facebook and Instagram know that too.

The power of the picture has never been stronger. Now, with an expanded standardised image size, the number of lines on caption preview has been shrunk. Notice that little grey ‘see more’ function?That’s only going to get attention if you’ve got a great picture, and the headline is catchy, to the point, and makes us want to actually read more. All content for these social media platforms needs to be enticing and engaging in order to get people to want to drill down to the deeper elements of your content.

3. Understand that it’s not hide-and-seek

Now that we know why our captions aren’t going to always show in full, it’s time to master the use of the preview function. From your desktop, images will display both a headline and a subhead. This feature on mobile however, behaves a little bit differently, and you need to be really aware of that. Particularly when there’s a click to action such as Learn more, read more, download now etc. which will most likely cut off part of your headline. Your headline is the most important, most engaging part of your caption, this can affect your click through and engagement rates. Which is why it’s crucial to preview your ad, and understand what it will look like on all platforms, before it goes live.

4. If it’s not a video, it’s no good.

When we combine three of the most powerful features in advertising today, we get an Instagram video story. Users consuming video content is staggering, and stories is potentially the fastest and cheapest way to access and distribute video content. Advertisements appearing between stories can last up to 45 seconds.

It’s essential that the video content being posted on your business account is eye-catching and purpose-lead. Generally, the beginning of video will be muted to allow for seamless user experience. So assume that sound won’t be heard at first. Instead, you should encourage users to watch and listen, starting with a scroll-stopping frame and opening line that which can be read in the captions. But be careful to minimise text per frame as text covering more than 20 per cent of the screen will drive away your audience. After sending any video live, make sure that youanalyse the metrics and consider the number of views on your video, as well as the percentage watched. Dissect these results and reconsider your targeting strategies for your next post if you’re not happy with the results.
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5. Finally, Optimiseoptimiseoptimise

Last but not least, optimise. Learning about your audience, your business and your results is the most effective way to launch eye capturing content. Placement optimisation will determine your most probable customer leads. It will analyse where the results are going to happen, and with what audience. Testing multiple ad variations and choosing which ads to sponsor, otherwise known as content optimisation, is another essential in maximising ad potential. Even though we think technology will soon be able to do this for us, it can be extremely useful to test different versions of your headlines, ads, images and videos to consider what your audience like best. Or work with a partner who does know how to get the best from social media and content creation

If you’d like to boost your content in the new year, and start 2020 with a bang, let us know.

Contact us here.