Social Media & SEO

Facebook announced several new features in its latest Messenger update, a few of which may make it easier for brands to get their Messenger accounts discovered. The update includes simpler in-app purchases, a sharing option for individual messages and an introductory screen when users begin a Messenger interaction.

Facebook, among others, is rapidly becoming a video-centric platform, and its algorithms are rewarding communicators who take the time to post video. But not all video is created equal, and you’ll find that those communicators who know how to play the game regularly see more views and more engagement with their video content than those who are fumbling in the dark.

It just got a whole lot easier for Twitter users to tune into Periscope live streams. Twitter announced a new notification feature that lets users easily sign up to receive alerts when someone they follow goes live. One of the reasons Facebook Live has found success is Facebook’s default enabling of notifications for live broadcasts. Now that Twitter has followed suit, brands now have a much better way to notify fans about Periscope streams through push notifications.

It’s true – a lot of people just don’t understand what PR people do. They think it’s about pitching the media, chasing positive coverage, then rinsing and repeating. Certainly media relations is an important component… Continued

It’s hardly a surprise for loyal Data Dive readers that video is one of the main ingredients driving consumer engagement for B2C and B2B brands. Media companies are catching on.
The latest evidence is BuzzFeed’s reorg, announced August 23, when founder Jonah Peretti told employees, “Having a single ‘video department’ in 2016 makes about as much sense as having a ‘mobile department’… as digital video becomes ubiquitous, every major initiative at BuzzFeed around the world will find an expression as video….”

The right here, right now nature of live streaming can be freeing when used by individuals: Measuring success is often an afterthought, if considered at all. But for brands and communicators tasked with foraging in this relatively new space, live streaming brings its own baggage to the content production process. Of course, Facebook Live’s usefulness isn’t limited to B2B PR folks. Communicators from all disciplines should consider turning to Facebook Live as their go-to when creating short-form mobile video for Facebook, especially given that Facebook puts so much algorithmic weight behind live videos.

Facebook Offers, a way for brands to share discounts and promotions on Facebook, received a significant update on Aug. 30, according to a company blog post. The social behemoth optimized the service for mobile, while expanding tracking abilities and giving brands more ways to promote their coupons. Facebook now lets organizations create Offers that can be redeemed online or through an in-store purchase.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, is a video worth a thousand more? There are 4.5 billion pieces of content shared every day. As we enter the fall season and move toward the end of 2016, the reign of video content will continue to dominate into next year. According to a recent report from Cisco, video content will be responsible for 85% of search traffic in the US alone by 2019.

No doubt, the Olympics was good for Instagram. We told you last week how Shareablee data provided exclusively to PR News Pro showed consumer actions, or engagement, with B2B brands grew 50% August 5-17. Actions are the total of consumer likes, comments, shares and retweets. B2B brands had 1.8 million actions; B2C had 213 million.

A roundup of the week’s new items in PR, including allegations against the Kardashians for endorsing products on social without mentioning that they are paid to do so; the departure of Robyn Massey as Ogilvy’s CCO; more bad news for Chipotle, this time from the NLRB regarding its social media policy.