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Exciting new features on Instagram, including text on photos, Spotify integration, and more

Plus, learn how to create a Course on YouTube

Author

Brian Nagele
September 04, 2024

Hello and welcome to this week’s Social Buddy newsletter, where we share the news from the world of social media, insights and tools for creators, and the latest social media marketing trends.

Some highlights you’ll find this week: 

📚 TikTok’s Back to School campaign results, and tips to prepare for the holiday season

🧑‍🏫 YouTube expands Courses beyond beta testing to more creators 

🎨 Learn about new features on Instagram, including text on photos, Spotify integration, and more

Check out the biggest headlines from this week in social media: 

Check out Instagram’s newest in-app editing features 

Instagram has added new photo editing features for standard posts in the app. The main addition is the ability to add text to photos, which previously had to be done on a separate app if you wanted text directly on your image.

Now, Instagram has a host of fonts you can add directly to an image in the app, as well as text effects or animation. This will make it easier to add information to a post that you want to stand out, instead of just sharing the information in your caption.

Other new editing features include new stickers, including the ability to layer your photos on top of one another in the form of a sticker. You can also change the shape of those stickers by tapping the layered photo once it’s added.

All of these changes offer more opportunity to get creative on the app, whether you’re a marketer or just sharing the latest in your personal life.

YouTube is expanding Courses to more creators 

YouTube announced some updates for creators this week, one of the most exciting behind the expanded access to their Courses feature.

First beta tested in 2022, Courses allow creators to offer free or paid courses on their channel in the form of playlists.

The Courses feature also allows for creators to add related quizzes to go along with their learning program, as well as a Discussion section specific to the course for the audience to engage with the content and with one another. When a viewer completes a course, they receive a course badge.

Courses will appear in a dedicated tab on the channel page and can also be featured on youtube.com/courses to help more viewers discover them. Creating a course gives creators another way to earn money, increase viewership, and add value to their channel.

TikTok Shares Back-to-School Campaign Highlights and their Holidays for You Playbook

It’s officially back-to-school season, but it’s also time for marketers to prepare for the holidays. This past week, TikTok Shop shared an update on their Back-To-School campaign from August, saying “Over five days, the TikTok Shop Back to School campaign resulted in 482,000 published videos, driving 2.1 million users to make purchases.”

Following the success of this campaign, they also dropped their Holidays For You 2024 Playbook, so while you may be packing backpacks, it’s also already time to consider your holiday marketing plan.

Their holiday marketing guide offers usage insights about when TikTokers are looking for holiday inspiration on the app, as well as products most searched for and creative ideas on how to use TikTok during the holiday season.

More new features on Instagram: a Spotify music integration in the works, plus comments on stories.

Instagram continues to add new features to keep their users interested and engaging. One new feature is the ability to comment on stories - not just by replying via DM, but leaving public comments.

Now, users can comment on an Instagram story, and the comments will be visible to anyone else who watches the story along the bottom of the frame. 

In the last few months, Instagram has also added more musical capabilities to the app. Just last week, we reported on the new Instagram song on profile feature, and before that they added music in Notes and “Add Yours” music stickers.

Now, they’re testing a Spotify integration that would allow users to display the songs they’re listening to in real time. Some users have spotted the test on their accounts, where they have the option to continuously display the song they’re listening to on Spotify on their Notes indicator.

Threads is becoming more integrated with the fediverse 

Meta announced this week that Threads posts will become more tied to the fediverse. Now, posts that originate through the Threads API will be syndicated to the fediverse, and users on Threads will be able to see fediverse replies to posts.

To take a step back, let’s review: the fediverse is an interconnected collection of social platforms that makes it possible to view and communicate posts across different social networks, all using a common protocol.

Threads deepening its connection to the fediverse will make it possible to share to a larger audience across the social media landscape. Threads is the largest social media platform to join the fediverse, which is also connected to smaller platforms like Mastodon, PixelFed, PeerTube, and more. 

TikTok shared a guide on measuring campaign performance on the app

Last week, TikTok shared a new guide with tips on how to measure performance.

The platform is sharing new measurement tools and solutions with a three-pronged focus: Prove TikTok works, Refine and optimize your strategy, and Grow your business effectively. Some of the tools highlighted in the guide are post-purchase surveys, multi-touch attribution models, split testing, and more.

Their guide focuses on TikTok as an undervalued tool for e-commerce sales, suggesting that better measurement can prove just how effective TikTok can be for advertisers. Read more. 

Also in the news this week: 

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Until next week,

Social Buddy