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How Brands Can Take Advantage of IGTV Video

Anthony

Video has always been king. This week Instagram rolled out it’s latest major updated with IGTV. This will allow users to upload videos of up to one hour in length. Previously users could only upload videos of a limit of one minute. Users can access IGTV Video on the Instagram homescreen or download the standalone app. This is a game changer for creators and marketers alike. Creators will be able to develop their channels with different videos that users can subscribe to and even put links in the description of their videos to drive traffic to their personal website or elsewhere.

Currently, there are no ads on IGTV, but in their announcement of the update, Instagram did mention that ads could eventually end up here. But that doesn’t mean this is not an additional place for brands to create and distribute long form videos.

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Top 5 Things Brands Should Stop Doing On Social Media

Anthony

Top 5 Things Brands Should Stop Doing On Social MediaAs the new year is now in full gear, I have read numerous articles on Digital Trends and what to look for the upcoming year. The more I look around and notice that brand / businesses are still falling short on social media and digital. In order to advance digital in 2017, we first need to correct our mistakes and enhance what we were doing in 2016. Social Media has been around for awhile now, and many people managing brands Social Media channels have years of experience doing so, and should be well past the ineffective social media and digital habits. If you have not made any New Year’s Resolutions yet, there is still time to do so, and you and/or your business is still doing any of these, let’s make a resolution to stop and adopt better practices, strategies and become better marketers.

Here are my social media, digital and web items that should be left in 2016.

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Instagram Now Allows Portrait and Landscape Imagery

Anthony

In a somewhat surprising move today, Instagram has allowed users to not only share photos in square posts but they can now share posts in both portrait and landscape orientation. My first thought was “No, don’t change the uniqueness of the platform’, but after scrolling through my Instagram feed several times, I feel that this will be a win for the users as they are not just constrained to the square format. Plus, think about why you view Instagram. I go to see beautiful images of this amazing world that we live in and now not only will I be able to see a small portion of a ballpark like Yankee Stadium but a panoramic view of it, which is even better.

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Does your company have a Social Media Strategy in place?

Anthony

I was honored to speak a few weeks back, at a Chamber of Commerce event on Social Media Marketing. The audience was small business owners and marketing and public relations professionals looking at incorporating Social Media into their marketing plans. What I found interesting was how many people were using Facebook and Twitter, but they were not tracking their online activity or did not have a Social Media strategy incorporated in their marketing plan.

The first thing that I tell business owners and marketing professionals is to make sure they have their Facebook page set-up as a business page and not as a personnel page. I still still a lot of business who have it set-up improperly and it is a pet peeve of mine. I cringe every time I see a person become friends with a business on Facebook instead of “liking” them.

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