From Instagram Ads to Justin Bieber – Here’s Your Weekly Social Media Marketing News

Just because 2013 is winding down, we don’t feel obligated to publish a post looking back at all the social media trends and social marketing news from the past year.  Instead, we are keeping our eyes on the ever-changing landscape and social networking future.  So, once again, here’s a host of new features and social media marketing happenings to keep you and your business ahead of the curve.

Topsy-Turvy

What does Apple have up its sleeve?  That’s what many social media and technology analysts were wondering when they read the news that the company recently purchased Topsy – one of the few analytics companies with access to Twitter’s boatload of data.  As with many of these types of deals, we’ll just have to play the waiting game to see what Apple’s plans are for Topsy.

Spare Time

Do you ever find yourself skimming your Facebook News Feed when you only have a few minutes to spare wishing you had the time to read the articles or watch videos your friends shared?  Well, perhaps the social network gods have been listening,  It seems Facebook is working on a feature which allows users to save social media content – within Facebook of course – for viewing at a later time.  We’ll let you know when this feature starts showing up for users.

Name Game

While we’re talking about Facebook for business, here’s another small change you might have missed recently.  Remember the little “Hide All” option you use to keep your annoying friend  – the one who constantly raves about politics or shares non-stop cat photos – from showing up in your News Feed?  Well, the social marketing gurus at Facebook have decided we would rather have it named “Unfollow” instead.

Shiny and New

We often spend most of our time talking about the well-established social networks like Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, etc.  However, there are many new social marketing channels – ones often focused on a particular niche –  popping up on a daily basis.  From the Justin Bieber-backed Shots of Me to the new sports-niche network SportLobster, here are some upstart social networks to keep an eye on in 2014.

By the Numbers

Have you been wondering whether or not your business should utilise Instagram’s new advertising feature?  It is still too early to get a good gauge on the effectiveness of the photo-sharing mobile apps ads.  If you are considering using this feature, then here is a good article researching the value of Instagram ads for businesses in their early stages.

Have any social marketing news you would like to share?  Please do so in the comments below?