38 New Facebook, Instagram And Analytics Apps For 2018

From the most outstanding innovations in Instagram and Facebook, in online advertising to those of Google Analytics. All of them are accompanied by examples so that you can apply them to your own projects.

The Power of Live Videos: Instagram Direct and Facebook Live

Instagram and Facebook are positioning themselves as the main protagonists of the live videos, leaving in the background social networks like Snapchat and Periscope.

Live videos make much more than traditional videos and users comment 10 times more than normal. Also, by 2019, it is estimated that videos account for 80% of Internet traffic.

These data, give us clues when making a content strategy for a company where the video format should not be missing. Here are some of the highlights of streaming video:

• This is a very powerful tool, which both entrepreneurs and brands should implement in their content strategy as it allows to increase the connection with the audience.
• It helps to humanize the brand. The fact of being able to transmit that behind a company there is a person will increase the trust with the user.
• In addition, the Facebook algorithm favors those accounts that publish live videos. With this, the scope will be much higher and the abandonment ratio will be lower.
• Streaming videos have the power to cause surprise effect on followers. That is, they are able to engage the user and arouse curiosity in him.

The most outstanding news on Instagram and Facebook in 2017

• You can now download and save live videos from Instagram. So far it was only available on Facebook. Although the interactions that have occurred in the live video are not saved (unlike Facebook).
• Instagram adds the photo carousel to its publications. The carousel consists of a combination of photos, videos, boomerangs or even hyper lapses in a single publication. You can upload up to ten photos and tag different people in each. This function will allow the brand to publish in a single post the same content without saturating the user.
• Instagram adds new elements to your stories: such as filters, the rewind effect, placements and the call to action button “see more” that will favor web traffic (not yet available on all accounts, only on verified or with a certain number of followers).
• Instagram Shopping, although it has not been implemented in Spain, is a great innovation that is including Instagram. Although there are some apps that will help direct sales for online stores without having to leave the social network.
• Facebook adds a new format for advertising, dynamic ads, which will favor sales of physical stores.

Practical examples for Instagram and Facebook

Here are some ideas, which were discussed during the presentation, so you can take them as a reference to apply them to your projects:

• Live demonstrations of the product to convey more confidence to users.
• Turn to the unboxing technique. This consists of having an ambassador or a referent of the sector and sends a box with the products of the brand for it to open them live and describe the characteristics of the product.
• Live question-and-answer sessions. This is very interesting for entrepreneurs who offer services. It is a direct way of connecting with the public.
• Issue customer testimonials. Both Facebook and Instagram help to boost recommendation marketing. Users will trust more than other people in the brand say that the company itself says.
• To use the videos tutorials, to have more engagement and the live drawings to have more interaction.
• Live surveys through the Facebook feedback counter. This can be done through an external application, such as through the OBS program.
• Show what goes on behind the company: opinions of employees, the most secret side of the brand, the process of product development, etc.
• Use the Instagram Photo Carousel to enhance the brand. For example, by publishing the details of a product in the same publication. Performing panoramas to show a stage, a recipe, a showcase, etc. To split a panorama into a photo merry-go-round can be done using external apps, such as with Panoragram (IOS) or InstaWide (Android).
• It is also advisable to take advantage of the potential of Instagram’s stories. One of the most important aspects of a brand is to convey very well what it will offer and what differentiates it from its competition. More than 80% of users make decisions irrationally. Therefore, it is interesting to use stories to connect with the audience and engage with the brand. For example, showing new products, announcing the latest contents of the blog (to increase web traffic), drawings mentioning the winner, showing the day to day business, etc.

New online advertising: Instagram Ads Stories and Facebook Ads

One of the most important new features on ad platforms is the Instagram sponsored stories and the implementation of dynamic physical store ads on Facebook.

More than 150 million users already use the Instagram Stories. One-third of these stories are from companies and 75% of Instagram users already follow a company. These data are very interesting for companies to start taking advantage of the stories of this social network.

The Instagram sponsored stories can be created from the Facebook Ads platform or from the Business Manager. You will be able to pay the cost by scope, choose the frequency of the publications and also select the format, video or photo (always vertical), or even videos formed by photos, illustrations, among others.

Ideas and advantages to taking advantage of Instagram Ads Stories

• Capture: you can improve the catchment of followers linking with an arrow to our profile inviting users to follow us.
• Promote new or already launched products linking to a pre-sale or reservation landing.
• Remarketing: these stories will be able to impact users who have already been on the company website and have not converted or purchased.
• Tutorials and Divert traffic: one of the big shortcomings of the stories is that it is not yet available for everyone to insert a link. But with the stories promoted if it is going to be able to boost the web traffic since they allow to link to the sites.
• Conduct interviews with a relevant person in the company. With this, it will be able to show to the ambassador and they will be channeling the questions of the interview through Instagram Direct.
• Real Time: It is essential that brands stay up to date on what happens in the world to take advantage of the Instagram stories. So it would be interesting for companies to add some current topic or some trending topic.
• Storytelling both organically and paid to promote trust with followers and give them an experience.

The stories are those that we see of people close if a brand breaks in the stories of Instagram must do it of close form. It is necessary to emphasize and not abuse the commercial content in order not to saturate the user. The format, the message, and the design have to be alienated with the Instagram stories.

So far there are very few advertisers on Instagram Ads Stories, there are hardly any ads for brands. This means that it is a great opportunity to stand out as low-cost interactions can be achieved.

Facebook Ads: Dynamic ads for physical stores and their advantages

With this new type of ads, the online and offline join a little more. The companies will be able to segment by miles to users who are nearby location, showing them products that have in their physical stores.

The user is going to visualize a catalog that is connected with Facebook Ads and also will not see products that are out of stock, that is, they are not in the store.

The ads will appear in carousel format and will have the necessary information so that the user does not have to leave Facebook. You will even be able to buy the product through Facebook (without going to the web) and also these ads will have a map of how to get to the nearest store.

Another option is that the user will be able to buy the products and then pick them up minutes later in the store without waiting or queuing.

This type of ads, on Facebook, has great advantages for physical stores:

• It enhances the user experience since it does not have to leave Facebook. You can see all the information from the social network itself and the navigation is much more comfortable.
• You will get a greater conversion. The costs per target are likely to be lower.
• The permanence of users on Facebook is going to be greater and attracts new advertisers.
• Users will receive information in a segmented and related to their interests and will know new products and stores that are close to them.
• The physical stores will have the opportunity to advertise on Facebook, they will boost their sales.
• The ads will be more effective and with much lower costs.

Both ads on Instagram and Facebook are features that brands have to prove but all this is useless without web analytics, that is, without the metrics to measure the results.

What’s new in Google Analytics

A year ago was launching Google Analytics 360 Suite composed of six platforms of which we know only four: Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Data Studio and Optimize. These are some of the changes implemented by the tool:

Changing the Google Analytics interface

Google Analytics begins to change, is unifying its formats, and is much more compact and more intuitive. Initially Google Analytics 360 Suite was to be paid, but for now is free to show us more detailed data on engagement and work by groups, among other aspects.

All of this can be viewed by having demographic reports enabled. The left panel will give us a lot of data.

From the most active users, how many are connected per week, by groups, those that come for organic traffic or payment, user affinity categories, interests, etc. We are going to offer a quantity of data that can be combined in different ways.

The analysis of groups or cuts, is still in beta, shows us how users compartment for several days in a row to measure the degree of engagement, loyalty or behavior with the account through computers or mobile devices.

With these reports, we will be able to generate very advanced ad campaigns to remarket in a very active way.

That is, we will be able to carry out campaigns not only with the users who have connected but also with those who have visited the web, who are unaware of the new products or even with a new audience. You decide how and when to impact your products with users.

Map of clicks on the web with the Page Analytics extension

Another option is Page Analytics, a free Chrome extension that consists of a behavior map that users have on the web.

With this tool, you will be able to obtain data by numbers or by color clicks (warm colors indicate the places where users click the most and blue is the area with the least interaction). This allows us to see what reaction users have in order to make decisions about the web architecture and usability of the page and what contents are the ones that are most interesting to users.

URLS builder for custom campaigns

You can already track non-Google AdWords campaigns, for example, e-mail marketing, video playback, file downloads, etc. All this is associated with Tag Manager, one of the great bets of Google Analytics.

Tag Manager is a tag manager that allows you to tag all the steps that users perform in a web. Both those who convert and those who are about to make a conversion.

Tag Manager is going to be able to know the route that the user makes, thanks to the tracking pixel Floodlight and Firebase (a platform to measure interaction with mobile applications).

Google Analytics presents Data Studio and Google Optimize

Data Studio is a great panel that allows you to create custom reports, combine various data from different platforms to make customized reports, with the colors of the mark, in vertical or horizontal format, intuitively, applying segments, etc. Best of all is the option to generate reports with Google Adwords charts.

One of the last platforms launched in recent months was Google Optimize. It is a very simple platform that is installed with a code and allows to create a landing page. A test A and B can be configured to see where users click more and how the page should be optimized to improve conversions.

Originally published at Entrepreneur News and Startup Guide.