Welcome to the first edition of Social Commotion. Every month, we’ll use this space to bring the latest changes, updates and buzz in the social media landscape straight to you, tied up with a bow. Here we go.
Benefits of Social Media Collaboration Across Departments
Companies are relying more and more on social media’s impact and its ability to nurture relationships. Your social media data can be used as a tool to learn how customers think. It can also inform business decisions and improve customer experience. But what’s the best way to gather and assess your social data? A successful strategy starts with social media collaboration among teams.
Here are a few ways you can use social media across teams to meet your goals and solve problems:
- Your customer service team is primed to support, so let them help the social team in addressing customer concerns before they escalate.
- The sales team understands your customers’ paint points and successes. Use them to help tailor messaging to your target audience to generate sales.
- Share social data with products teams to improve products and services. Social media is filled with unfiltered comments and posts that designers, developers, creators and thinkers can use to improve products and solutions.
Collaboration brings benefits for everyone. Clear processes and communication enhance workflow and keep everyone to be on the same page. Your team will make smarter and more efficient decisions. When you break down the social silos, success will come.
Improving Diversity and Inclusion in Social Media
Not only is diversity and inclusion important within hiring, but it’s also imperative on social media. According to a Sprout Social survey, 66% of people said they were more likely to buy from brands showcasing people of diverse races, gender identities, ages and more.
Keep this in mind when increasing representation:
- Know your audience. Who are they? Are there certain groups that are not represented on your social channels or in marketing materials?
- Choose models and images you post with intention. Keep in mind varying perspectives, identities, races, religions, genders, cultures and more when concepting and outlining messaging.
- Make your content accessible to everyone. Using alt text, closed captions and including various languages where appropriate ensures that everyone is included.
Meta Changes Teen Targeting Rules
Meta is rolling back what information advertisers can use when targeting teens. Effective February 2023, advertisers can no longer target teens by gender or use their interactions on the apps, such as posts they’ve liked, to inform the ads they see. The only attributes marketers can use when targeting users between 13–17 years old (in most countries) are location and age.
Gen Z and young people, including those under 18, are a hot demographic for marketers hoping to form early bonds with today’s trendsetters. Because of this new restriction announcement, Meta is anticipating a decrease in ad spending across the board.
TikTok Banned at University of Texas and Other Universities
The University of Texas at Austin, one of the largest public universities in the nation, banned TikTok from its Wi-Fi and across its wired networks earlier this week. Complying with Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s recent decision to forbid state employees from having the app on government-issued devices, the University of Texas joins at least five states banning the app, including Auburn University, the University of Montana, and schools in the University System of Georgia.
More than half of U.S. states have recently prohibited TikTok from being used on official equipment, according to CNN. TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, has raised national security and privacy concerns among government officials up to President Biden, who signed legislation banning it on federal devices. ByteDance has acknowledged tracking journalists over the past year and getting access to U.S. TikTok user data from China.
