How to tap into existing social media communities for effective influencer marketing
Luke McCarthy
November 12, 2024
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The social media giants announced a fresh batch of updates to help creators in a market brimming with opportunities.
Vamp, who offer what you need to get started in influencer marketing, has concentrated all of the relevant updates you need to know in one, simple blog post.
So make yourself a tea, curl up and digest all the changes that may shape your strategy as 2023 nears to a close.
TikTok has expanded its Mobile Effects Editor to offer a wider range of effects without the need to download a different app or tool.
Among these, the most notable feature for brands and influencers is perhaps the use of AR Filters, which previously required the use of the separate programme Effect House.
A quick look at the app’s new feature – accessed by opening the Effects tray > Create tab > + button – shows Animated Backgrounds, Background Switch and Face Stickers.
The Makeup option may be particularly significant if you’re working in beauty or fashion. Suppose you’re an influencer flaunting a swanky new outfit, well now you can adjust matching makeup to boot.
Options here include Sparkle, Glam, Lashes and Blush.
But no matter what the audience, it’s never a bad idea to experiment with new effects to help defer that dreaded swipe up.
A potentially handy new tool for influencers working in music is TikTok’s new Add to Music App, which allows users to save songs they discover instantly to their streaming service of choice.
This includes Spotify and Amazon Music, with the feature appearing as a button that says Add Song at the bottom of a video.
The tool is currently being rolled out to users in the US and UK.
So if you’re an influencer for whom compiling music is essential, this could save valuable time.
Are you keen to absorb more tips on how to start a social media campaign? Our guide shows you how to plan them.
Influencers and brands who share videos, particularly long-form, on X (formerly Twitter) can breathe a sigh of relief.
Elon Musk’s social media giant now allows for timestamps, which enable creators to break down the video into interactive lists. After clicking on the preferred section, users can then be taken to that exact point in the video.
Suppose you’re a fashion influencer talking about winter coats from 3:02, trendy scarves at 5:43 and this season’s must-have shoes at 9:04, customers in the market for a new pair of boots can skip past everything they don’t need and go straight to 9:04 with a simple click.
Or perhaps you’re a brand keen to flaunt all your products ahead of Christmas.
Instead of sharing 10 videos on X each detailing a single product, now you can compile them all in one by simply directing customers to where in the video they should click through.
And it’s dead simple too. The feature will apply automatically if you enter a time in the following formats: x:xx, xx:xx, x:xx:xx and xx:xx:xx.
The feature is currently only available on iOS, but X insists it is looking to roll out the feature to wider devices.
In October, you may have curiously spotted X posts with no headlines on the link preview.
This may have affected you if you’re a social media manager for a brand, who developed a deft knack of tweeting something clever to appear atop the link headline.
If that’s you, then fear not. Elon Musk posted this month that X would be reintroducing titles in a different form.
He posted: “In an upcoming release, X will overlay title in the upper portion of the image of a URL card.”
X is used by businesses large and small. But if you’re in the latter camp, you can see our complete social media guide for small businesses.
Meta is rolling out a host of fresh updates to content creators on Instagram for reels, feed photos, carousels and stories.
This includes updated fonts and text styles, new text-to-speech voices, turning photos into custom stickers, new photo filters and a new undo and redo feature to smoothen the editing process.
There’s also a fresh analytics tool that displays the volume of Replays your videos are getting, compared to users who may just watch the video once.
Sidenote, if you’re also keen to understand how your competitors are doing, then you can read our guide on how to carry out competitor analysis.
And for brands and influencers tapping into the lucrative world of memes, creators can add clips with audio to their reels.
Suppose you’re a brand with a solution-based product. Your Instagram video could start with a well-known meme, before cutting to your product.
Finally, Instagram’s drafts process is in line for a fresh revamp. Users will soon have a streamlined view of saved drafts, along with the ability to preview drafts, rename them and then schedule in advance.
Meta has not specified a date for the updates, but with the post shared on November 15 it’s likely users won’t be kept too long.
Potentially a game-changer for brands, Meta began previewing its highly sophisticated Emu Video that can generate images and videos based upon text prompts.
It all starts with a prompt that leads to an image or video, but if it isn’t what you had in mind, you can continue to edit through additional text prompts.
Meta’s futuristic demonstration starts with the simple prompt ‘orange juice’ before an image of the fruit drink appears in a glass, surrounded by oranges on a table.
Then, the text prompt says ‘make it an Aperol Spritz’, magically changing the contents of the glass to exactly that.
Impressively the next prompt asks Meta to ‘set it in a pool’, before we have a delicious-looking beverage sitting next to sparkling blue water and sun loungers.
The same process can be seen applied to a video, with a still image of an animated rabbit suddenly transformed into a video of the animal dancing, playing a trumpet and walking along a beach in Hawaii.
The tool remains in research, Meta says, but brands would benefit from thinking about what product images and videos they could edit for their Instagram and Facebook posts now.
Or if you simply want to raise some smiles in your favourite WhatsApp group, an edited gif will get you ahead of the game.
If you’re a brand, influencer or marketer sweating on which caption or thumbnail will work best, then this update offers some welcome relief.
Meta is rolling out a tool that will allow users to test different captions and thumbnails to see which one performs best.
If creating a Reel on mobile, you will soon be able to test up to four different captions and thumbnails in one go.
The winner will automatically be displayed on the user’s profile unless changed, with the results of the remaining three readily available too.
Suppose you’re a marketer getting ready to advertise a product on Instagram, you can experiment with four different slogans to not only guide on the best one for that Reel, but to gather valuable information about what users are responding to.
While we’re on the subject of extended analysis, you can understand what other people are saying about your brand with Vamp’s guide to social media listening.
Instagram is soon going to roll out the appearance of a Subscribe button for content in Feed.
Currently this button exists in Profile, but an additional avenue for people to Subscribe may boost earnings for influencers and brands who use this as a revenue stream.
Creators will also be able to offer the option of 30-day trials, and DM multiple new subscribers to welcome them to your product.
YouTube claims it has 80million subscribers to its YouTube Premium service, which offers features including the ability to queue video and uninterrupted music listening.
This month, the video-sharing giant is offering those willing to fork out the chance to experiment with its new Conversational AI tool.
The ChatGPT-style service allows consumers to ask questions as they watch and suggest related content.
Influencers seeking inspiration will have a new avenue of information, while those sharing content may enjoy the benefits of increased engagement.
Currently it’s only being rolled out to select users in the US using android devices, but one would likely expect the tool to be released in the near future to a wider audience.
Another feature offered to subscribers is the use of AI to organise large comment sections into “digestible themes”.
That would allow influencers, in particular, to engage in their comments sections with smoother navigation.
This month YouTube rolled out a preview of its new DreamTrack feature, which allows users to create music with AI using the voice of high-profile musicians.
Brands and influencers could soon share videos of their products, with tailor-made lyrics from popular artists signing over the top of it.
The talent, who YouTube insists have approved the process, includes John Legend, Demi Lovato and Alec Benjamin.
A remarkable demo video shared by YouTube starts with a prompt: “A ballad about how opposites attract, upbeat acoustic.”
Instantly, American singer Charlie Puth can be heard over a track with lyrics reflecting the prompt.
While it remains in testing, the opportunity for brands and influencers to produce content with lyrics directly referencing products or subject matters could be a mouth-watering one.
If 2023 is anything to go by, it would be an understatement to say 2024 is expected to be a game-changer too.
But Vamp is here to help you every step of the way, and you can trust us to keep you informed with accurate reporting of the latest updates.
And what’s more, if you’re a brand, influencer or creator, we’ll let you know exactly how these updates can help you.
To see how we can take your game to the next level, take a look at our pricing.
