This month, Instagram (as always), TikTok, and Google had the biggest updates that we just had to share with you. Some of these are pretty damn cool (HINT: A new Instagram story feature) and others will have a pretty big impact. One announcement in particular had us in the feels, but you’ll soon see which it was.

This Google Update Will Help You Build Trust with Your Customers

Google has updated Business profiles to allow for more social media profiles to be added! These will show up in both Google Search and Maps, giving your customers more ways to discover you and drive more traffic to your socials, build trust and develop relationships with you! So what are you waiting for? No wait, finish reading this and then come back and add that extra layer of authority to your Google Business profile. We double dare you.

Instagram Announced A Brand New Story Function

Instagram has introduced a new ‘Add Yours Template’ which can be used to turn any story into a template! You can get very creative with this using branded GIFs, photos or product launches and ask your customers to show off how they’re using theirs! We have used this to share our to-do lists and it was super cool to try out. We’d love to know if you give it a go, tag us if you do! If you wanna hear more about this update you can also check out Hayley’s TikTok video here!

Want a team of marketing cheerleaders to test out new Instagram features with? Book a chat here to see how we can work together.

An Instagram Test Got Everyone Excited

Adam Mosseri dropped a test that we are SO here for. Instagram is testing polls or the option to vote in the comments of Feed posts and Reels! This could be great for getting feedback from your audience, with a direct way to communicate with them. Imagine the data you could gather! Which colour does someone like better, how they would use it, whether KFC or Macca’s nuggets reign supreme…no? That last one just us?

Want some help getting your Instagram to work for you? Chat with us today about Social Media Management.

Mosseri Confirmed You’ll Never Be Able to Add a Link to Your Captions

Sorry everyone, this is one thing Mosseri won’t budge on. He recently confirmed in an interview that Instagram has no intention of bringing links to captions. “You can’t [post] links in-feed because it’ll make Instagram about news”.

This is one update we wish they would do but sadly it is not to be. BUT there are plenty of other ways to share your workshop, masterclass, products etc. with your customers through your Instagram comments. Want to find out how? Join us in our 10x Your Leads From Social Media in 10 Minutes workshop! You can find out more and sign up here.

Google Offered a Way Off of AI Tools Radar

Google is giving you more control over your website. If you want to keep your content off of the AI radar, they are giving you the option, through ‘Google-Extended’, to either give or deny access to your site to AI systems.

It’s a pretty big issue at the moment so we are glad to see Google taking some action. The downside is if bigger, more reputable sites do choose to do this then the info that tools like ChatGPT give you might be less than accurate. So, always make sure you do your own fact-checking!

TikTok is Testing Out 15-Minute Video Uploads

TikTok’s video time has expanded a lot since the app first came out (you could only do 15-second videos!) and now it looks like it is expanding again. This was spotted by Matt Navarra during the month and while it hasn’t been officially confirmed, it has been tested with some users!

We aren’t sure how we feel about this one. While we love a good TikTok scroll and definitely get sucked into an engaging video, 15 minutes might just be a bit too long. You’ll have to look at your audience insights to see if this one is right for you.

Want a little bit of inspo on how you can use TikTok for your biz? Take a scroll through our latest videos and check out this video where Hayley chats this update and another!

Instagram Has Been Spotted Working on a New Sticker

As spotted by Alessandro Paluzzi, it looks like Instagram is working on a new sticker where users will be able to ask anonymous questions. This could be a great way to keep the feature in-app instead of having to use external links. It’s all early stages, but one worth watching!

All the Instagram Tests

It was another big month for Instagram tests with HEAPS doing the rounds. Here are some of the biggest ones:

• They were spotted testing a ‘Nearby’ feed for Stories
• Mosseri announced a test of a ‘Meta Verified Feed’ which would let you choose to only see posts from Meta Verified accounts, just like the following and favourites feeds
• Another Stories test, this one is a sticker option that has a photo-cut option so you can make stickers out of your own images

Well, that’s a wrap on this week! We can’t wait to see what comes next with these big updates, as always, we’ll keep you posted!

XOXO

OMD SQUAD

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