Hello Digital looks at the highlights from the week that was.
This week has brought some intriguing updates from the digital world, including Instagram adding more audience insights to help marketers optimise their content approach, Google releasing a tool that reduces the risk of ads account suspension, and TikTok sharing a new study which shows how it is perceived by users compared to other social media platforms. Join us as we unpack this and more in The Weekly Wrap.
Instagram offers more performance insights
Instagram has updated its Insights feature for business and creator profiles to help them learn more about the audiences that see and engage with their content.
One of these new additions is a tab called ‘Accounts Engaged’, which shows where your most engaged followers live, how old they are, and what gender they identify with. Alongside these demographics, the tab keeps a running total of all the accounts that have interacted with your content in a given time period.
The platform has also integrated an ‘Accounts Reached’ tab that displays how many accounts have seen your content; however, the demographic data is only available for posts shown in the main feed.
This information will be hugely beneficial for marketers, as they will be able to optimise their content approach based on what’s working. The location data, in particular, can be used to re-design posting schedules to better reflect when users are most active.
In other recent Instagram news, the company is testing longer uploads in Stories, with videos of up to one minute in length no longer being divided into individual segments and cut off at the wrong moments. This expansion also means that users can upload their entire Reels clip to Stories instead of its specific feed.
This new function follows the merger of IGTV into a broader Instagram Video offering, which you can read all about here in one of our previous Weekly Wraps.
Google develops automatic ads remover
Earlier this year, Google announced a crackdown on repeat violators of its advertising policies by implementing a strike-based system that invokes increasingly stringent penalties. Unfortunately, advertisers with numerous accounts and thousands of keywords lack the bandwidth to monitor each violation, and consequently risk permanent account suspension.
Therefore, a team of Google developers have released a simple Python script, named “Bowling” (because of its relation to strikes), that is meant to help marketers identify and remove problematic ads.
The mitigation tool can run on either audit mode, which exports all the disapproved ads without deleting them, or remove mode, which deletes all of the disapproved ads and creates a log file. Marketers can also define an exclusion sub-string list, meaning topics which contain any of the terms from this list will not be considered dangerous and won’t be removed.
It is important to note that this solution is experimental, unsupported, and provided solely for users’ convenience.
If you choose not to integrate the script but see that your account has been falsely suspended, you can submit an appeal. However, Google only reinstates accounts under compelling circumstances so it’s vital that you take the time to be thorough, accurate, and honest.
TikTok shares how users perceive its platform
TikTok has partnered with Nielsen to conduct interviews with over 8,000 users from around the world to get their opinions on various aspects of the in-app experience.
The results show that TikTok’s content stands out among other social media platforms due to its ability to promote authenticity and inspire joy. This is because the short-form video app lends itself to more light-hearted, comedic takes by everyday people, which makes it a more welcoming environment for connection.
Interestingly, businesses on TikTok are seen as members of the community, not just advertisers. This likely reflects the unique nature of the ad campaigns shown on the platform, which typically align with organic content approaches so that users don’t skip past them.
TikTok is not only the go-to destination for authentic content, but also for the latest lifestyle trends. According to the study, an overwhelming average of 85% of users discover new content that they enjoy through the platform.
It appears that in a relatively short time, TikTok (along with its creators) has built a unique platform that will continue to shape the way in which we connect, engage, and share with one another online.
To access the full findings click here.
Twitter lets anyone create Spaces
Last year, Twitter launched its audio chatroom feature named ‘Spaces’ in order to compete with Clubhouse; however, the ability to host a Space was limited to users with 600 followers or more. Now, the hosting option is rolling out to all Twitter users on iOS and Android.
This will allow brands to set up a Space for team members to react and provide commentary on what’s happening in their industry, which could help increase product or service awareness, as well as drive leads. Additionally, businesses can use Spaces to generate and communicate excitement about the launch of a new offering or campaign.
It also gives brands the chance to listen to their customers and use their feedback to improve their operations.
The platform has recently added the ability for Spaces hosts to invite up to ten speakers, and has even piloted chatrooms that require users to pay for entry.
Twitter also shut down its Fleets feature, making Spaces the only product that appears in the top row of the mobile app. We have covered the demise of Fleets in one of our previous blog posts, which you can read here.