It’s about that time to talk about one of our favorite social media platforms—Facebook! Since its founding in 2004, this site has seen possibly hundreds of new updates and new features. Get your social media marketing started right now by learning about Facebook special features you can’t miss this year.
New Updates and Features on Facebook You Can’t Miss
Facebook special features for businesses
Facebook Business Manager is a place where companies can be the boss of their own social media management. It’s a great place to start placing ads and engaging with potential customers.
New ad measurement tool
Recently, Facebook has been working to make Facebook Business Manager a more useful and in-depth tool for digital marketers. Atlas, Facebook’s ad measuring tool, was originally built to aid the largest marketers in the world, including 300 of the top advertisers in the world. Now, Facebook is giving the power of Atlas to all companies using Facebook Business Manager, regardless of their size.
This new measurement tool will give companies a clearer insight on how many people they’ve reached with their ads, as well as the outcomes of said ads. It can help businesses find out more clearly which of their publishers is responsible for the success (or not so much success) of their ad placements.
Collection ad format
Also, Facebook has recently introduced Collection, a new ad format companies can start using to show off new products to a target audience. In this format, advertisers can compile a collection (see what they did there?) of photos and videos of new products for users to see. Creators of Collection say that this new format can increase customer discovery and improve the likelihood of a purchase being made.
After viewing the photos and video, users can click on the ad to start their shopping experience within Facebook, where they can see up to 50 products at a time. Collection also records any outbound clicks that lead people off Facebook and to your website.
Ad breaks in Facebook Live
At the end of February, Facebook started integrating ad breaks within videos. There are three types of ad breaks, one of which places an ad inside a Facebook Live streaming video. If a broadcaster takes a break in a live video, people watching the video will see an in-stream ad that’s under 15 seconds.
Updates for the everyday Facebook user
Messenger Day
It’s about time Facebook jumped on the Snapchat-like stories bandwagon! Recently, Facebook launched Messenger Day, which is their answer to the ever-popular Snapchat Stories. Messenger Day offers very similar features as their competing social media platform, Snapchat—you have the ability to update your friends with photos and videos of your day decorated with stickers and filters and disappearing after 24 hours.
Rumors have it that Messenger Day will eventually benefit Facebook for business, too, by adding the option to place ads in between users’ stories.
Facebook VR
On March 8, another one of our new Facebook special features launched: Facebook 360. This is an app for the Samsung Gear VR-powered by Oculus. This app will support the 360-degree video and photos posted on Facebook. Users have access to different ways of viewing this content:
- Explore allows users to view photos and videos from various publishers on Facebook
- Following allows users to check out content from their friends
- Saved accesses any photos or videos a user has saved
- Timeline lets users take a look at their owned published videos and photos
… And a game just for fun
Want one of the more fun hidden Facebook features? Did you know there’s a secret basketball game hidden within the Facebook Messenger app? All you have to do is send a basketball emoji to your friend within the Messenger App. Then, simply by tapping on the ball, you start your very own digital basketball shooting competition. See which friend can get the highest score!
Social Media Marketing and So Much More
It’s kind of our job here at Post Launch to know the ins and outs of the top social media platforms and the newest Facebook special features. Contact us today to learn how Facebook can help your business reach new audiences.
