Here’s what you need to know about social media news this November
Keeping up with the Facebook and Instagram changes is harder to understand than Donald Trump’s impeachment enquiry, so we’ve made it easy. Here’s the newest social media updates around the world for November.
Your top social media updates for November:
- Facebook Tests ‘Suggested Time’ Feature for Scheduled Posts
- Instagram gets rid of its ‘Following’ tab
- Facebook is planning to add more features to its ‘Stories’ to make them more engaging for businesses
- Facebook plans to introduce Facebook pay
- LinkedIn rolls out tools that helps employers focus on a target audience
#1. Facebook Tests 'Suggested Time' Feature for Scheduled Posts
It’s pretty confusing when you’re trying to figure out the best times to post your social media content for your restaurant, food and beverage brand or hotel. Sure, you can find it in the ‘Insights’ tab on your Facebook homepage but now Facebook is making it easier for us. HOORAY!
Facebook is now testing a ‘Suggested Time’ option which would enable page admins to reach their audience when they are most active – resulting in increased engagement.
Using specific targeting tools could be beneficial for your food and beverage brand, restaurant or hotel. Pairing the insights that utilise data that is directly linked to Facebook, ‘suggested timings’ are expected to be more reliable than other platforms used for scheduling posts (like Sprout Social, Sked and Tailwind). Facebook Business is one of those beasts that needs an experienced team to tame it, and you’re in luck because our team are experts who can help you get the best ROI for our social media hospitality clients.
#2. Instagram gets rid of its ‘Following’ tab
Gone are the days of looking at pages your friends (or rivals) are liking/commenting/ following, aka getting inspiration from. Instagram has now removed the ‘Following’ tab. Did anybody notice?
Now, you can troll Instagram at your leisure without leaving a paper trail. While being beneficial for some, it might be harder for food and beverage brands and hospitality venues to follow people with similar likes, especially since viewability of the number of likes was disabled.
#3. Facebook is testing the new ‘Stories’ features
Stories are growing in popularity by the day so STOP letting the Instagram story train leave the station without you on it. It increases your page’s visibility and is a great way to show your product/brand/restaurant in real time – what’s cooking in the kitchen today?
We love creating stories for our hospitality and food and beverage clients with delicious food photography that will get their audience excited about a new menu for example. Facebook’s similar feature is now being adapted to be more user friendly for business accounts in general.
The new features include collaborative stories where pre-approved accounts can now contribute to stories on a primary account; fan replies – as the feature suggests, loyal followers of brands can reply to the brands story and share them too and swipe up links where viewers can access webpages directly from their Facebook account. Get swipen!
#4. Facebook introduces Facebook pay
Love a good, tap and pay! As the world gets used to Apple pay and more card-less options, how will Facebook pay work? The new payment system aims at making commerce more convenient, available and secure to millions of its users by allowing them to send money to friends, shop and even donate. Yes please!
A great tool that can be used for fundraising, person to person payments (bye-bye annoying split bills), tickets and in app purchases, its set to trial in the US mid-November but we’re hoping that it’s going to come to Aussie shores very soon.
Need more useful titbits of social media information contact us.
#5. LinkedIn is rolling out enhanced targeting tools
Linkedin is growing as a more popular, more user-friendly platform for the food and beverage and hospitality industry with professional chefs, hotel groups and restaurateurs creating valuable, professional profiles. Tip, your profile picture is important. 
So, what’s new with Linkedin and how can it help your hospitality business or food and beverage brand? The apps ‘audience forecasting tool’ gives employers a precise overview of their hiring campaign with an outlook into the industry.
Users can now customise ad panels combined with demographic reporting, to specify professional characteristics like industries, years of experience and company sizes when hiring for their hospitality venue or restaurant, the bigger food and beverage brands will also find this helpful.
The extra insights will help reduce the pool of contenders and better target ads to a tailored audience making hiring much easier for businesses.
That’s a wrap!
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