Augmented reality, Mr Musk and LinkedIn. All have been real talking points recently... they have continued to make noise this week. 

Our social media specialist, Alex Bradshaw, breaks things down for us. 

Visible Metrics

It is rumoured that ‘Chief Twit’, Elon Musk is exploring why some users don’t actively tweet, and is testing incentives on how to better motivate participation across the platform.

In his own tweet from 01 December, Musk shared that "Twitter will start showing view count for all tweets, just as view count is shown for all videos. The system is far more alive than it would seem".

But what could this change mean for your business?

It’s fair to say that tweets are actually seen, in general, a lot more than people think. If Twitter can start highlighting this to individual users, then you’d expect it could be a means to boost conversation and get individuals questioning their engagement levels more in terms of likes, retweets and replies. In the hopes of Elon Musk, this could make users more proactive across Twitter and therefore engage more with professional accounts. As a business, you could see a boost in conversation around your brand as more people share their thoughts… but we don’t know for sure.

All I can say is, watch this space!

Focused InMail Inbox Format

Gone are the days where "Hey, Alex! I came across your profile and…" spam messages bombard your inbox. 

This week, LinkedIn confirmed a new ‘Focused Inbox’ format which filters your messages more effectively. The new format presents users with two separate InMail tabs: Focused and Other. This is to filter out spam and highlight messages deemed more important.

LinkedIn Product Manager, Deepan Mehta explained that ‘Focused Inbox offers a dual-tabbed experience that categorises your incoming messages into “Focused” and “Other”. Focused contains the most relevant new opportunities and outreach, while Other contains the remainder of your conversations.

So if you’re using InMail to outreach for your company, what is the best approach?

I’ll say it again and again - Get personal!

There’s nothing worse than a blanket email with no personalisation. Even if it makes it through the spam filter, it’s only milliseconds before a user hits the delete button.

Try messaging direct. Use your professional human profiles to connect with others on LinkedIn, do your research and outreach if your product or service really is suitable and beneficial to that individual. Let’s dig down and build personal connections again - it’s worth it, I promise

Voice Powered AR Experiences

Snapchat has recently partnered with one of the world's major sports footwear and apparel manufacturers, New Balance to produce an AR-focused Christmas campaign which incorporates audio prompts, also known as voiceML.

Using a branded New Balance Lens, Snapchat users in the US can now voice answer a series of questions in the app as opposed to typing, which then helps them discover their best product matches whether it be for gifting, self-buying etc.

This is a very exciting update, as using voice adds another angle to the AR experience, providing a more immersive and engaging experience for users. It facilitates more natural connection, bringing the human-side back into social engagement.

Now creating for augmented reality isn’t easy, but it’s also not as complex as you may think. If you’d like to learn more about how you can implement AR into your upcoming campaigns, Snap have created a hub of resources and tools including video tutorials, courses and more.

Check them out here: https://ar.snap.com/learn / https://ar.snap.com/lens-web-builder 

…this is, undoubtedly, the future and definitely something to consider as we launch into 2023!

And finally...

If you’d like to learn more about social media or digital transformation, get in touch. We’re ready to help you unleash the potential of digital in your organisation.