Social Media News / September 2022

Hey there,

The daffodils are sprouting amongst the lambs but it’s STILL freezing in the mornings. Must be spring, our second favourite wet season after this year’s Heartbreak Island. 

So pull up the comfy chair of conversation, wrap yourself in the blanket of friendly bants, and let’s kick into this edition of the Mosh Newsletter, in which we talk supercharging your social media, Meta finally getting off the TikTok bandwagon, and much more!
 

Blog: Five Tips to Supercharge Your Social Media Marketing In 2022

We’re officially ¾ of the way through the year and with only 3 months left of 2022, it can be easy to find yourself getting a little repetitive with your content creation, especially when you’re working across 7 different social media platforms. Luckily for you, Ellie has put together the ultimate guide to supercharging your social media in 2022 that you can read here.

Covering everything from making eye-catching content, adapting to various social media platforms, and which social media ‘rules’ you definitely should be breaking.
 

TikTok can Relax as Meta Turns its All-Seeing Eye to Twitch as Inspo for its Newest Platform

Every week it seems as though there’s a new update about how Meta is adding a new feature that always seems to look suspiciously like other apps *cough* TikTok *cough*. But this month TikTok can relax a little as Meta has turned their focus to Twitch.

The social media OG has been quietly working on their new platform “Super” since 2019 with Bloomberg reporting on it in 2020. Back then Meta pitched Super as a “Cameo-Inspired Tool” where celebrities and fans could connect over Facetime-like calling features. However, in recent months the platform has shifted to more of a live-streaming Twitch-like focus.

Super will allow creators to monetise their streams – sound familiar? And viewers will be able to donate to creators and pay for extra features such as tiered subscriptions and donations, called “Super Gold” and “Super Thanks”. The income earned from these will end up entirely in the creator’s pocket with Super allowing creators to take home 100% of their earnings, for now.

Creators on Super won’t need much technical or graphic design knowledge as the streaming platform features specific video layouts for creators to use. There are also built-in features such as giveaway modules that creators can integrate into their streams.

Business Insider reported that some influencers have been paid as much as $3,000 to test out Super for 30 minutes whilst other influencers were paid incentives based on the performance of the live stream. 

Super is still in its early testing phase and it’s currently unclear if, or when, it will be launched to the public. However, creators can currently sign up with an email address and request early access to the platform.

So if you’re a content creator and are looking to make a quick buck (up to 3,000 of them, to be exact), Super might have your next paycheque covered.
 

Meta Announce the Launch of new Community Chats Feature 

Since Gen Z decided TikTok was their social media platform of choice Meta has seen a gradual decline in engagement from Gen Z across many of their apps. In an attempt to get more counteract this on their Messenger platform, Meta has announced a new feature within the messaging app. The Community Chat feature stems from Facebook Groups and will “facilitate topic-based discussion groups”. 

Community Chat will enable users to create FB groups, invite others to their group, and start chats and audio channels all from within Messenger.

Meta explained it as:

“The experience seamlessly blends Messenger and Facebook Groups to allow people to connect when, where and how they want. Admins can now start a conversation about a topic and get in-the-moment responses instead of waiting for people to comment on a post. And, rather than navigating multiple topics in a single Messenger group chat, the person who creates the Community Chat can organize chats into categories so group members can easily find what’s most interesting to them.”

In a nutshell, it’s basically FB groups, but now in Messenger. We’ll be looking to see whether Community Chat picks up, as many FB Groups already use apps like Messenger and Whatsapp for topic-based discussions. 

Whether CC is a hit or not, it’ll be good to see whether this new feature will help increase engagement across Meta’s Messenger app.

Instagram Test new “Topics” Feature to Reels to Help With IG’s Reel Recommendations

Instagram has recently announced that they’re testing a new “Topics” feature to Reels. This comes after IG confirmed that future updates on the app will include more algorithm-recommended Reels being displayed to users, rather than content from ‘followed’ creators. 

Whilst the Add Topics feature is still in its early stages, some users now have the option to add a topic to their Reel uploads. This new way to categorise content is aimed at helping creators reach more of their target audience and others who share similar interests to them (and ultimately getting more people hooked on watching Reels).

This update could be a game changer as IG continues to refine its Reels recommendation systems, which are currently a big focus for the app.

This update comes after Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri admitted IG hasn’t worked out all the kinks and flaws within the recommendation programming just yet:

“When you discover something in your feed that you didn’t follow before, there should be a high bar — you should be delighted to see it. And I don’t think that’s happening enough right now.”

It’s good to see that IG recognise the flaws within its app and it appears that they are listening to users’ feedback. This update definitely seems like a step in the right direction.
 

The New Zealand Facebook and Instagram Report 2021

If you haven’t had a read through the latest iteration of our report, where have you been and why do you hate knowledge? 

Chock full of insights and standout examples of Kiwi brands out there changing the game, we’ve taken data from over 24,000 Facebook Pages and over 11,000 Instagram accounts and compiled them into a comprehensive report that will be useful to any digital marketer.

If you are looking for the state of play in NZ’s social media marketing space, you’ve come to the right place. 

Click here to download the 2021 edition of our report.

We also have a super limited run of bound and printed reports available. If you want one to pretty up your coffee table or to browse through when the 3am existential crisis kicks in, hit us up with your name and address and why you want one in 10 words or less: report@mosh.co.nz

After years in the social game, we’ve learnt a thing or two along the way, and we’re keen to share our digital wisdom! We’ve created a series of customisable modules. Whether you’re new to the gig and need to learn it all, or have been around these parts a while and have discovered a gap in your knowledge, come along and have a lesson on all things social! Check out all of our options here or get in touch for details. 

Once again, we’ve reached the end of this month’s newsletter, we hope it’s left you with a spring in your step. Thanks for hanging around and we’ll see you again in October!

The Mosh Crew.