There are many days to look forward to in July. Fun fact, there are many countries that have their Independence Day during the month of July. The United States, as you may know, celebrates the infamous Fourth of July. Other countries celebrating their nations’ holidays during this month include Belarus, Venezuela, Argentina, Belgium, the Bahamas, Maldives, France, and Canada.
July dates and hashtags to keep in mind for content strategy:
- July 4: Independence Day #4thofJuly #July4th #IndependenceDay
- July 15: Get To Know Your Customers Day #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
- July 17: World Emoji Day #WorldEmojiDay
- July 25: Parents’ Day #ParentsDay
For more help on content strategy, it’s important to stay up to date on all the platforms. There were numerous announcements from social media companies in the month of June. Here are the major ones you need to know about.
Pin Posts to Profile
Following the Instagram visual refresh announcements (read here), the platform has added the option to pin posts to your profile.
- Click the content in your profile that you want pinned. (Reels or photos)
- Click the three dot function menu in the upper right-hand corner.
- Tap “Pin to your profile” and maximize your IG profile appeal.
Pin Limit:
You can only pin up to three posts to your profile. Pinning more than three will simply replace the oldest pinned post.
Meta explains the update like this:
“You can now pin up to three posts (photos or Reels) to remain at the top of your profile grid, giving creators more flexibility to express themselves on their profiles. Starting today, the feature will be available globally to all users.”
There have been hints by Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri about giving creators even more freedom with their profiles, which has led to speculation around the freedom to rearrange posts in a profile grid. This could lead to more potential in Instagram creator campaigns, with a new desired space at the top of influencers’ profiles.
Reel Updates
Interactive Stickers
Instagram Reels can now have interactive stickers added. Here are the possible sticker types users can use:
- Poll
- Quiz
- Emoji Slider
Meta says:
“We’re bringing some of your favorite Instagram Stories stickers to Reels: with poll, quiz and emoji slider stickers, you’ll have new ways to connect with people through your reels.”
Sound Sync
Another feature new to Reels is the ‘Sound Sync’ option, which will automatically sync video clips to a music track’s beat.
90 Seconds
The limit before on IG Reels was 60 seconds. Now, Instagram has extended that time limit to 90 seconds. This opens up the possibility for creators to have more time to express themselves.
Short-form video content is currently the leading content form. YouTube just announced that 1.5 billion users now engage with YouTube Shorts each month. YouTube Shorts are currently just 60 seconds.
There was no harm done to TikTok by increasing the time limit of their postable videos from 60-seconds to 3-minutes, and now 10-minutes. We will see if platforms continue to increase the video time limit.
Speaking of TikTok…
TikTok
Digital Avatars
As Web 3.0 is more normalized, digital avatars will become the way we present ourselves online and interact with others.
In preparation for that space, several platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok have rolled out digital avatars.
Similar to Apple’s Memoji, TikTok just created the effect to choose your digital avatar and provide a voiceover as a talking head. Check it out!
@effectmasterwannabe Tiktok avatar is now available. Publish your video with your new TikTok avatar! 🤩 #TikTokAvatars ♬ 原声 – Effect Master
Product Drop Reminders
To help consumers stay up to date on the latest product drops, they can now set reminders on Twitter.
Twitter says:
“With Product Drops, when a merchant Tweets about an upcoming launch, you’ll see a “Remind me” button at the bottom of the Tweet. With one tap, you can request to be reminded of the Drop.”
When the launch day rolls around, users will get a notification 15 minutes before the drop and another time at the drop.
After clicking the notification, you’ll see a “Shop on website” button to purchase the item on the merchant’s website.
Some of the brands with upcoming drops on Twitter include @Dior, @Fossil x @JeffStaple, @HomeDepot, @LEGO_Group, and @unionlosangeles.
Idea Ads
Pinterest is introducing a new ad format, idea ads, to give creators and brands a new and compelling way to present their content. This new ad format is now available in 30 countries around the world.
Idea ads allow creators to showcase their idea in action; they are immersive, multipage, and will allow creators to easily tag brands in their content. They also utilize both video and images. With idea ads users can:
- Visit the brand’s website
- Get step-by-step breakdowns
- View ingredients lists and materials
- And more!
Aren’t confident enough to use these features on your social media? Work with someone that does it for a living. Open Influence is not only full of social media gurus, but we work with content creators daily (AKA experts in the social media industry). Work with us!
And make sure you’re getting caught up on all the new creator marketing updates every month on our blog!
