1. Update on Social Channels
What’s New / What’s Different
January, 2014

2. Facebook Set to Eliminate Sponsored Ads
• Facebook announced that it will be retiring Sponsored Story
advertisements beginning April 9
• Sponsored stories show users when their friends interact with a
sponsored Page, app or event
• Advertisers can buy Sponsored Stories up until April 9
• After this point, all existing Sponsored Story ads will transition
into other ad formats (i.e. – turn into a Page Like ad)
• The social context element (where one or more of your friends are
featured in the ad) of a Sponsored Story ad will become a
commonplace in all Facebook advertisements
Link: http://w.cg/LGtHTv
• Facebook has said that the social context will become a larger
part of the advertising strategy rolling out in June
• Page post and Page like ads will come with social context by
default
Why This Matters to Your Clients:
•
•
If your clients currently sponsor story advertisements on Facebook, ensure that they understand that their money
will be transitioning to other advertising formats starting April 9.
Brands may way want to wait before purchasing a Sponsored Story advertisement, not only because they will
soon retire, but the algorithm of Facebook will most likely change once the transition takes place. Your client may
want to see how affective these changes are before putting money towards something that may not have quick
results.
Contents are proprietary and confidential.

3. Facebook Improves Ad Targeting
• Facebook announced a number of changes to its Ads API
program, improving the logic of its ad targeting strategy
• When advertisers select two or more audiences to target,
Facebook will now define those parameters to more specific
target audiences, rather than making them two separate
targets
• I.e. – “parents” and “photography” will now be “parents
who like photography” rather than those who are parents
and those who are interested in photography
• Facebook also has improved demographic targeting for a
user’s workplace, education, job title, relationship status and
life events
Link: http://w.cg/1fcdG0X
• Facebook began prompting users to add life events to their
timelines, with the recently understood motive to be
advertising
Why This Matters to Your Clients:
•
•
Advertisers can now cost-effectively target Facebook users based on their behaviors, creating a more
defined target audience and increasing the amount of people that an advertiser can reach with each
advertising purpose.
This will also increase the amount of fans that purchase products and stay on your page, depending on the
advertising message and purpose.
Contents are proprietary and confidential.

4. Facebook Launches “Trending” Bar
• Facebook launched a trending feature on the right side
of the homepage, showing users poplar topics and
hashtags that are being discussed on the site
• Allows users to tap into topics that are gaining buzz
• Surface interesting and relevant conversations
• Custom and tailored based on a user’s interest
• Stories will stem from people and Pages that friends
have shared with an individual user or shared them as
public
• Tending is not currently available for all users
Link: http://w.cg/1mt3ljq
• Being tested on mobile, but is not yet available
Why This Matters to Your Clients:
•
•
The new feature will allow users to discover the best and most relevant content across Facebook. If your
brand is in the news or has engaging content that is heavily shared. Stay alert to see if your brand is
trending.
Will help boost engagement on the channel, causing users to stay on Facebook longer and explore brand
Pages.
Contents are proprietary and confidential.

5. Facebook Discourages Text-Only Posts
• Facebook announced that they will be tweaking the algorithm that
controls what users see in the Newsfeed, this time giving less prominence
to text-only updates from brand pages
•
The site understands that status updates from brands do not get
the same type of engagement as photos and links, which is why
they discourage text-only update
• Facebook has been running tests to see which types of posts gained the
highest level of engagement so that they can focus more on what keeps
fans interested
• When users see status updates from other users, they tend to write more
updates themselves. When users see status updates from brands, the
correlation did not add up
Link: http://w.cg/LHGULO
• It is suggested that brands focus more on Instagram photos, which will
benefit in the Newsfeed algorithm, largely in part to the fact that
Facebook owns Instagram
Why This Matters to Your Clients:
•
•
•
Community managers understand that photos, videos and rich links receive the most engagement from fans and
this push from Facebook makes it almost essential for brands to be posting more engaging content if they want to
keep their fan base and numbers high.
Brands should be using more Instagram pictures from fans, which not only offer a wider variety of FREE images
and fan involvement, but also knowing that these photos will gain heavy engagement.
A decrease in engagement for status-update posts can mean an increase in engagement for richer, visual content,
which is important for community managers to consider when creating content.
Contents are proprietary and confidential.

6. Pinterest Experimenting with GIFS
• Pinterest is introducing GIFs in a recent attempt to
experiment with the feature
• A select few Pinterest users are able to pin GIFs to their
boards
• Anyone who visits that board will be able to play or pause the
GIF with a small play button that is located in the bottom left
corner of the image
• Currently, when users upload a GIF, only a still image
appears and visitors have to go back to the original
source in order to view the animated image
• It is unclear whether or not the ability to upload animated
GIFs will roll out to all users and when this will occur
Link: http://w.cg/1f7sXSw
Why This Matters to Your Clients:
•
•
Fans want to see visually stimulating images, especially those that are customized and relevant. With
the use of GIFs, brands can upload animated images to their Pinterest boards, attracting more fans and
visitors, increasing engagement.
This presents an opportunity to be creative and unique during campaigns, holidays, etc.
Contents are proprietary and confidential.

7. Twitter Redesigned Homepage, Keeping Mobile in Mind
• Twitter has redesigned their homepage for the desktop
version of their site
• The new layout resembles the mobile version, showing a
user’s cover photo behind the profile picture, adding a more
visual element to the homepage
• The toolbar across the top is white, as opposed to the
previous black color
• Font sizes beneath each users’ image have grown
• The new homepage also offers color customization
• User’s can change the color of features, such as the
compose box and navigation icons (accessible via the
“Design” tab)
Link: http://w.cg/1mOvd1z
• The new design should be available to all users (across
desktop) within the upcoming days
Why This Matters to Your Clients:
•
•
With any new change, brands need to keep on top of how they are designing and formatting their content.
Brand pages must test out how content (i.e. – cover photos, background, fonts) look against the new layout
and how the brand page will appear to desktop users.
Color customization gives each brand the opportunity to be creative and take ownership of their brand
identity.
Contents are proprietary and confidential.

8. Twitter Ads: Now Based on Browsing History
• Twitter announced the introduction of ads, which will
appear in a user’s stream based on web-surfing activity
• The overall program, called Tailored Audiences, had a
soft roll-out in July
• With this program, advertisers are able to target
users if they’ve (users) visited a brands website or
showed interest in the brand’s category on or
outside of Twitter
• The program comes in competition with Facebook’s
“interest-based ads” in the News Feed, as these ads
are also based on a user’s browsing history
Link: http://w.cg/1e7CYAB
Why This Matters to Your Clients:
• It is now possible for brands to identify people who are in the market for a product via
Twitter
• Brands can tailor their audience, making more personalized advertisements (which will
keep funding down and increase revenue overtime), increasing reach and engagement
across Twitter pages
Contents are proprietary and confidential.

9. Instagram Launches Photo Sharing Feature
• Instagram launched a photo messaging feature, Instagram Direct, allowing
users to privately share photos and videos with other users as opposed to
an entire feed
• This feature shows great similarities to Snapchat in that communication is
solely through photo and video sharing
• The difference is that users can filter and refine the media before
sending it, implementing traditional Instagram capabilities
• Messaging permissions allow users to receive messages from people they
follow (like Twitter’s DM) and collects messages from people users might
not know (like Facebook’s Inbox), protecting users from spam, but also not
missing new messages from people that users meet and wish to share
media
• To add recipients, users tap bubbles next to a friends name, in which a
counter tab will appear at the bottom, showing all friends that a user
wishes to send the media
Link: http://w.cg/1dOccXD
• When friends like the photo, a heart appears next to that users name
Why This Matters to Your Clients:
•
•
Brands can now message fans privately, say during a campaign, via Instagram which opens up private
two-way communication between brands and fans on the platform.
Brands can send free and targeted images to select users, without having to send it to all of their fans,
such as promotional items and personalized media.
Contents are proprietary and confidential.

10. Questions?
Reach out to anyone on the Consumer team!
Contents are proprietary and confidential.