The social media sphere expands again with new tools, new ideas and new research. Here’s some of the most relevant for those doing business online.
The Ideal Length of Everything online
The way to success is optimisation. A tweak here, a tweak there and boom, suddenly a good thing becomes unbeatable. To make that transition you need to be in the know and this blog post from Kevan Lee at Buffer gives you insight backed with research about the ideal number of characters for a top rated tweet, the ideal length of a Facebook post and the perfect length for a blog post. Take a look an keep those statistics in mind each and every time you post, it is well worth printing out the infographic at the end to stick on your wall. Of course it is not a guaranteee and great content is great content whatever the length but it is a nice insight to keep in mind.
#AmazonBasket – Add it now. Buy it later
Amazon are set to take social shopping to a new level by linking a Twitter hashtag with items customers want to buy. Link your Twitter account to Amazon and use hashtag #AmazonBasket (#AmazonCart in the US) along with a link to an item and you could add it to your amazon account basket ready to be bought next time you login to the online store. It takes sending yourself a reminder or favouriting an item one step further down the sales funnel and could see other retailers follow suit. Watch the video here to find out more.
If retail is your thing then this report commissioned by eBay from Deloitte is essential reading. Omni-channel is all about the modern connected customer and how the sales journey has changed in the online era. Interestingly, among the findings is proof that the physical shop still has a very strong role to play in retail and interaction via social is the key to its more modern role.
The new social media platform is …. secret
Almost flying in the face of traditional social media, newer platforms like SnapChat seem to be focused more on privacy and limiting who can identify you than spreading your name and brand everywhere. The latest UK launch is Secret, an anonymous social network that allows its users to share gossip without using names or profiles. The mobile app based platform launched at the start of the year in the US raising $8.6m (£5m) in venture capital within its first 45 days and is now hitting the UK.
This month’s new added functionality from Twitter is Mute which gives you even more control over the content you see on Twitter. Basically, even if you follow somebody you can now elect to stop their posts appearing in your timeline, making your user experience a little bit cleaner.
So another busy month in social media. Don’t forget it is the ‘social’ aspect that is key and part of that is staying on top of new trends and opportunities in the social sphere. There is plenty to be read in the now streams of the various social media platforms and don’t forget to keep checking out the 123-reg Content Hub too.
