The biggest news shaking up the world of social media (and if you’ve not heard about this yet, have you been living under a rock?) is the planned trial removal of “Likes” on Instagram.

That’s right, the social network giant is testing out a new feature that would hide how many Likes you have on your post from the public. Only the poster of the content would be able to see the Like count, whilst followers and public user would only see one named user “and others” likes this. Instagram are encouraging users to focus on the content itself, instead of the response. Perhaps this is an attempt by Instagram to reduce the amount of fake accounts circulating their network and focus more on authentic growth.

But what has the response been? Well much like opinions about social media in general, it’s a very mixed bag. This news is following ongoing claims of users becoming too obsessed with number of Likes, often relating the number to their own self-worth. A recent report from the UK’s Royal Society for Public Health found an enormous amount of negative psychological effects linked to excessive social media use, including anxiety, depression, loneliness and sleep deprivation. There are hopes that the removal of the self-worth association with number of likes will reduce the negative mental health impact. This change in the network could help promote the positive opportunities that social media has to offer, like community, authenticity and self-expression.

On the flip side of things, there has been a huge negative outcry from the influencer community. For many of these influencers, Likes directly correlate with their income. With these changes, businesses will have to change the way they make decisions about sponsorship. Influencers and businesses alike will be forced to focus much more on other measure of success, like follower count, comments and post frequency.

Instagram are even considering removing metrics on Stories, which were the inspiration for the change. This all comes after Twitter CEO discussed the possibility of removing follower counts from their network.

Currently the trial is only happening in Canada, so influencers globally are holding their breath to see if it will roll out worldwide. Will these changes affect the constant need for validation in our modern life? Or will users simply switch to a new measurement? Only time will tell.

Let us know what YOU think about Instagram’s Like removal in the comments.

Having done a lot of reflecting on our beliefs and our ethos at Social Gamma, we are embarking on a new chapter in our company story: Social Good.

Social Good is a mission, a way for us to apply our individual and collective beliefs to our work every single day. The most fulfilling projects and clients we have taken on are the ones trying to make a positive change in the world, and we want to build them up to something greater than ever before. We’ve made the decision to make a change and a difference.

We’re focusing in on just a few key industries:

• Health, Wellness and Nutrition
• Non-Profit
• Sustainability
• Education

Having worked with many clients in these industries so far, we’ve come to love not just what they do, but what we can do for them. For our health, wellness and nutrition clients we have carried out a variety of web and app development services, as well as investor and lead generation digital ads. We have helped our clients gain key investors, find leads and even maintain and develop their online presence to ensure their continued success. Our non-profit and sustainability clients have benefitted form our social media expertise. We’re proud of the achievements we have made on their channels, both in engagement and follower retention. We have also helped them to achieve fundraising goals and launch successful events and projects. Our education clients found new leads and an increased following through paid lead generation and social media ads.

And this is not just a side project. The team has always had a passion for giving back, from their university days to now. One of our Account Managers, Ana, has volunteered at a special school, helping children from the ages of 8-14 with learning difficulties and autism. She also worked with toddlers in foster care. Our Lead Creative, Rebecca, was a Team Leader for breast cancer awareness charity “CoppaFeel!”, promoting the cause, educating young people on campus and raising funds. The team won a fundraising award and ranked 3^rd on the UK CoppaFeel! University Fundraising Leader board the year she graduated. Our Managing Director and Founder, Ria, led a group called Remedy Through Music, who visited children’s hospitals every week to sing to the patients. We are inspired to this day by the people we worked with and the plans we helped carry out.

So now, our mission is clear. We will use our skills and know-how to spread the positive waves out into the world! If you are in the health, wellness and nutrition, sustainability, non-profit or education industries and you’re looking for a Digital Marketing Team who share an affinity with your values and passions, then give Social Gamma a call. We look forward to doing Social Good with you!

Are robots really taking over?

Well, kind of. But not in the way you think! A while ago, AI was considered accessible only to large multinational corporations which had big budgets, data and tech experts. Today, the situation is completely changed. Almost any business, big or small, has some sort of AI tool that helps them in their digital marketing efforts. Whether it’s a chatbot, tools for advertisements or email marketing, there are so many options on the market right now and it has become not only affordable, but also a way to reduce costs in the marketing budget.

According to Salesforce’s survey, 51% of marketers are already using AI, and 27% more are planning on incorporating this technology in 2019. Marketers around the world are focusing on AI technologies in 2019 and it’s surpassing even the popularity of marketing automatization and Internet of Things (IoT).

5 jaw-dropping changes AI brought to Digital Marketing:

Creating, Generating and Curating Content

Before all you creatives freak out, there’s nothing in this world that can replace imagination, spontaneity and creativity. So it’s safe to say you don’t have anything to worry about. YET.

Leaving jokes aside, AI has made it possible to generate content based on data and information you provide it with. Imagine not having to write that annoyingly long report ever again. I know, right? It sounds like a very, very, very distant possibility in the future. Except it’s here already, in 2019!

Quill, Wordsmith, Heliograf or Articoolo are just a few of the most popular tools that big publications like Forbes and the Washington Post are already using to drive traffic to their website by just allowing these platforms to access the news data and add it into templates. Associated Press, CBS, Reuters, BBC and the New York Times have plans to implement AI to generate content in the near future. Next time you read a piece on the New York Times, be aware that it might not have been written by a human.

Email Marketing

Companies are taking advantage of this more and more as AI technologies are now more developed and are able to perform as efficiently and at times, even more efficiently than humans. AI allows businesses to really customize their emails to the characteristics of each individual, which overpowers the abilities of a human being. Machine learning can track down any behavioral aspects, from the time the user prefers to open marketing emails to the type of content he likes and what type of titles will be more likely for him to click on.

Phrasee is one the AI tools that you can use for email marketing and according to their statistics, their “generation of email subject lines surpasses those of a human by over 95%”. 

Digital Advertising

We know what you’re thinking! This is one of the most obvious examples, but digital advertising had a really smooth and impactful transition to AI technologies. Platforms such as Google AdWords or Facebook Ads are always looking into what people like, where they work, what they do in their spare time and ultimately, their buying behaviour.

Digital Advertising is increasingly important for most companies which operate online and want to push their content/product/services at the top of our feeds or generate leads for their business.

While Google AdWords has been very innovative with their recent auction-based system which allows bidders to pay the lowest amount possible per conversion, we can’t wait to see what the next thing is going to be!

Chatbots and Image Recognition

This was exciting! Implementing AI technology to allow you to have an actual conversation with a chatbot completely revolutionised the sales process. You can literally find the perfect products from your favourite drug store by chatting with their bot. You want to find a new shampoo that’s suitable for your hair? Done! You can find it in minutes and it’s highly efficient.

It’s always easy, fast and reliable and that makes it so popular today. Consumer goods companies will have to up their game and make friends with the robots in 2019 because if they don’t, their competitors will and sales will go through the roof.

Sephora is one of the brands that upgraded their chatbot, turning it from a regular customer service assistant bot to a beauty-guru-make-up-artist-best-friend kind of bot. It’s called “Visual Artist” and it lets you virtually test out beauty products. It’s INSANE and wonderful at the same time. The AI recognises facial features and adds the eyeshadow, lipstick, contour to your face so that you can see what it would look like. Yes, it’s not the same as if having an in-store experience, but it will save you precious time when you decide to go in the store and buy what you’ve already tested.

Image recognition used to be just about objects, but AI has changed the whole game. It helped recognise facial features and emotions. This could be the end of long queues at the bank and a huge improvement for customer service. Amazon Rekognition is one of the tools that could make all of this possible in the next years.

Seeing Figures Into a Crystal Ball

Predictive analysis is another great transformation made by AI technology to digital marketing. An analysis made by a software on data from the past can be calculated into future probable figures. That allows you to understand what is likely to happen to your business in the following months or how engagement is going to go on your social media. This is an amazing opportunity for businesses to prevent losses or at least minimise them ahead of time.

Ultimately, AI is making everyone’s lives so much easier as far as digital marketing is concerned. It helps marketers get an in-depth understanding of their audience and their buying behaviour, as well as transforming the user experience. AI is also increasing productivity, efficiency and eventually, ROI. We can’t wait to see what this year brings on next!

As the end of the year is approaching fast and we are getting ready to decorate our Christmas trees and wear our Christmas jumpers, we looked back on the amazing year of 2018 and the best Social Media trends. So get comfy and grab a hot chocolate to enjoy next to your fireplace before checking out:

Our Top 5 Favourite Social Media Trends of 2018

Video, Video, Video!

GIFs, Boomerangs, Live Videos, and many more. One of the top trends that have marked 2018 is video content, which has taken a leading position on all platforms as the most preferred content. We’ve seen Instagram integrate live videos, IGTV etc; Facebook lives have taken over and are used by brands and businesses to create a connection with the audience.

According to these statistics, 87% of marketers utilise videos into their campaigns and viewers believe that 95% of messages from videos are retained on their minds.73% of B2B organisations using videos in their marketing campaigns are reporting positive results to their ROI. Video has really taken over 2018 and people feel the need to share moments from their lives even in more detail, video providing them this option. 

Brands and Engagement

The world of social media has allowed both consecrated and new businesses to grow and improve their customer engagement. In 2018, most brands realised the power that engaging on social media can have for their brand and opened up communication channels for their customers by using Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Brands can now address their customers’ issues much quicker and more effectively, reinforcing the concept of brand loyalty, a key feature for a brand to succeed in today’s marketplace.

An example of a brand that has used social media to build up their brand loyalty is the very well known coffee chain Starbucks. Since the beginning of the year, Starbucks saw the power that social media has in engaging with their audience and launched a campaign that encouraged their customers to tell them what the next Starbucks drink should be.

InstaStories

InstaStories have taken over the year of 2018, brands have been using it for promoting their products in a more innovative and interactive way. They got even better when Instagram implemented the “Swipe Up” feature. Brands can now post stories that contain products and by adding the the “Swipe Up” feature, viewers can get redirected to the brands product page, making shopping through Instagram an even easier for users.

Besides the powerful effect that InstaStories have had for product promotion and brand growth, it has also become more and more popular with users as well. The majority of people now use InstaStories to communicate daily activities and are more conscious on how they are curating their Instagram feed. Instagram stories are a fun way of sharing your moments with your followers, the great thing is you can add stickers, GIFS and filters.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer Marketing has reached a culminating point in 2018, brands from all industries are using influencers to promote their products and ideas. Why? Because audiences trust influencers and also identify themselves easier than with ads/models etc.

The statistics on influencer marketing show that the conversion rate for ROI for brands is 10x and that 50% of social media users trust influencers and the products they use. It is the leading marketing tool in 2018, we have seen more and more people become influencers and can now find influencers for all industries.

Filters, Filters, Filters

Our last favourite trend is the most fun and makes us remember that social media is for sharing what you are up to with your friends. Filters are essentially augmented reality and this technology is present on most social media platforms.

Snapchat was the first to integrate it but soon Instagram and Facebook took over the filter game and made them available on stories so now turning from an unicorn to a cat is easy just with a swipe. In 2018 everybody took on augmented reality and even the new iPhone adopted the fun trend.

Click here to find out more about Social Media trends in 2018!

Overall, 2018 has been a great year for Social Media as more and more technologies are being introduced in the digital space. The rise of social media in marketing is an opportunity for brands to share an equal marketplace for both new and old brands, bridging the gap that has existed so far. Communication and fun have become easier and social media is a tool that is now part of most of our lives. Are you excited for 2019? So are we!

Let’s face it, Instagram is becoming a part of daily life for many people across the world. The number of consumer usage is vastly growing, and it definitely won’t stop anytime soon. Instagram is constantly creating new ways for consumers and businesses to share content. Thus, meaning more ways to use the app and present daily life across a variety of platforms. 

In recent news, the public has been questioning the obsession consumers are having over the app and the way life is represented online. Posting is endless, from where a consumer’s recent lunch date was, to a recent vacation. The expectation for Instagram is to represent daily life flawlessly, and excitably. Cara McGoogan from The Telegraph stated, “we should not let the quest for the perfect Instagram shot dictate every aspect of our lives”. McGoogan’s statement is certainly impactful and relevant regarding the obsession some consumers have over the application. Social influencers that have made a solid career through posting on Instagram are a prime example. There have been members of the public who have attempted such a lifestyle, and ended up in an extreme amount of debt. All for the cost of a “perfect Instagram shot”. 

In March 2018, the Independent wrote an article on Lissette Calveiro, who uprooted from Miami to New York and aspired to live the “Sex and the City dream”. Whilst living in New York, she was interning which covered little costs, which meant she had to spend savings and take on a part-time job. Calveiro told the New York Post “I was shopping… for clothes to take ‘the perfect ‘gram”. As a result of this, Calveiro racked up $10,000 (£7,256) of debt. This expectation of “the perfect ‘gram” post, resulted in a magnitude of debt. Calveiro admitted to “…a lot of the travel i was doing in 2016 was strictly for Instagram”. The commitment for one single app is outstanding, having the ability to spend an extortionate amount purely for the representation of daily life. 

Calveiro is a prime example of the lengths consumers will go to for the perfect Instagram feed. Going back to McGoogan’s article, she quoted, “art should not imitate life – especially if its an inedible seven-stack burger”. Art is an element to be admired or appreciated, rather than something to be attained. Calverio drastically slowed down her spending after realising the dramatic plummet of finances, and managed to pay off her debt by committing to cutbacks. However, this may not be the case for other consumers who are still striving for the perfect portrayed life. Author Tanya Goodin stated, “… this is just another example of how the relentless pressure [to] have a perfect ‘Instagrammable’ life can get seriously out of hand and cause real problems in real life”. 

Instagram is a great platform, but should definitely be used with caution. The app can portray the perfect, yet occasionally unattainable, lifestyles of others. On occasion, it reflects an unhealthy image of how life should be, but consumers do not need to live up to this. We aren’t saying to boycott Instagram, but to use it with caution. All social media should be used to a certain extent, and certainly not to the level of racking up excessive debt just to have an aesthetically pleasing feed. 

In recent news, Snapchat has partnered up with 4 news discovery platforms: Storyful, NewsWhip, SAM Desk and Tagboard. All of these platforms are news-orientated, targeting regularly updated content which can be distributed globally. 

This is another bold venture for Snapchat considering earlier falls in the prior months of app usage, with celebrities like Kylie Jenner admitting they no longer use the app as much. Earlier research highlighted only 20% of Snapchat users (on average) actually consumed content from publisher’s Discover edition daily (UK Business Insider). Although, this was identified in January, and the app itself has come a long, long way since then. From controversial updates, to geo-filters, and now further improvement of their Story Kit. 

This partnership essentially means all four platforms are entitled to access and distribution of news content – all posted within the app, of course. Alongside this, the four platforms are entitled to access of selected shared content on the Discover channel. This select group includes: NBC News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, NowThisNews, and The Economist. Finally, there is also access to Snapchat’s in-house curated content. 

Snapchat have tactfully partnered with these 4 platforms to target specific mediums for their app. Listed below is a quick outline of the four platforms Snapchat has partnered with: 

1. Storyful is a tool used for sourcing, verifying, and acquiring, social content for brands and clients. In this particular case, this is will be social video content. Storyful intends to leverage Snapchat’s API to create a video content feed including geolocation and time-stamping. This will create the possibility for the platform to sequence breaking news events with the videos sourced from Snapchat.  

2. NewsWhip prioritises the importance of insights and trends that impact audiences on a global scale. Whether this be through websites, stories, and general posts across the world. From this, they are able to predict news story engagement for clients and brands. 

3. SAM Desk is an artificial intelligence tool, targeting breaking news from social media data. From this, SAM Desk groups targeted social content from their algorithms to alert your company or brand with alerts and context surrounding developing news stories and/or events worldwide. 

4. Finally, Tagboard is typically used by broadcasting networks, brands and teams to produce quality social content for the client’s own purposes. 

With solid partnerships between dynamic platforms, Snapchat will change the game of published content on their discover channel. Despite prior anxieties of Snapchat’s discover section, they seem to show no fear regarding this. Instead, they are fighting back the rumours by improving their content and investing in help. Finally, they are investing more time (and money) in their published content. 

Typography can mean the difference between a brand being totally unheard of, or a roaring success. Most graphic designers have a few favourite fonts that they love to use as much as possible. Saying this, it is important to select the right font to express the brand characteristics, or the theme of the design piece. With millions out there to choose from, its hard to know where to start.

Step 1: Where to Find Fonts

Behanceis top of the list regarding beautiful (and free!) fonts. Packed with amazing creative individuals, Behanceprovides many alternatives to your font library (which are often completely free). Ensure you check the usage rights before making it the primary typeface for your latest business enterprise… ?

https://www.behance.net/gallery/51336549/Olegos-Typeface-(-Free-)

Typekitcomes with many of the Adobe Creative Cloud bundles and is the perfect place to find the more popular, perfectly designed classics. Some tried and tested designer favourites are available here. The site has a well-designed filtering system to make your life even easier. Whether you’re looking for something that suits web or print, a serif or sans serif, or something a bit quirky but adaptable, Typekit is the place to go.

https://typekit.com/search?query=eaves&utf8=%E2%9C%93

DaFontis a staple. Whilst it may not have some of the most beautifully designed typefaces in the world, it boasts an enormous database. It might be able to churn out just the right hideously decorative font you need for your next event announcement, themed blog post, or video introduction.

https://www.dafont.com/paskowy.font

Step 2: Choosing the Right One

There are a couple of basic questions you need to ask yourself to help you narrow down the initial search for a font:

• Is your brand modern or classic?Modern tends to lean more towards sans serif typefaces.
• Do you want to be subtle and sophisticated or loud and proud?A heavy blocky font will have power. Lighter weight fonts may allow the imagery in your brand to speak more for itself.
• Is your brand quirky and relatable or serious and stoic?Quirkier brands can branch out to some more decorative, or abstract, fonts and can even play around with readability. However, serious brands need to make sure they have clean, readable fonts. You don’t want your local mortuary using a cartoony sparkle font now, do you?

Another important thing to ask is whether your brand is going to be heavily web based or print based. Finding a font that satisfies both whilst staying on brand is difficult, so it may be sensible to choose one for each medium.

Step 3: Check the Latest Trends

Staying on trend is important, and easy to do. Just google the latest font trends and try to keep up with the ever-evolving tastes and trends of the design world. Check out Creative Bloqor 99designsfor the latest font trends.

After reading this 3-step guide, we hope you have a better understanding regarding font selection and reliable sources to use. These steps will help benefit your brand and help establish a particular style.

When Snapchat acquired Bitmoji in 2016, they have made the “personal emoji” more accessible than ever. CNBC announced in 2017, 60% of snapchats sent to recipients were enhanced by Bitmojis, geofilters and lenses. 

Snapchat initially released filters on their app, diversifying personalisation within the app. The release of bitmojis increased this level even more, allowing for users to create their own online character – for free. Consumer usage of Bitmojis are ever increasing, especially with the accessible links the emojis have. Bitmoji can not only be linked to Snapchat, but also iMessage (Apple), Gboard (Android), and Google Chrome desktop. In the past week, Bitmoji is now being tested for consumer use on, of all apps, Tinder. Users in Mexico and Canada are fortunate enough to connect their Bitmoji accounts to Tinder. In one way, this takes flirting to a whole other level. 

If this testing is approved and accessible to consumers worldwide, this would add another feature to Snapchat’s app, Snap Kit. Snap Kit enables consumers to link their Bitmoji with compatible apps, available all in one place. This app is vastly increasing convenient in-app connectivity, and a fun user experience overall. This is certainly deemed as a more creative approach to seeking love on an online platform. It is also important to note that connecting Bitmoji to a Tinder account doesn’t reveal any personal information. Consumer’s Snapchat handles will not be visible to any potential matches online, they can only see your personal emoji. Result. Snapchat’s decision to release Bitmoji on their app in the first place highlights their care for user experience. Snapchat even redesigned an update on their app which was harshly criticised online. They listen to people. They care about their consumers. Who knows what exciting venture they will announce next.

Snapchat’s capability of connecting with various apps is outstanding. Who wouldn’t want to have their own personal emoji to use on every platform imaginable? Even when it comes to finding love. The combination of Bitmoji and Tinder sounds exciting, and also humorous. It will be very exciting to see how testing goes for Tinder, in the hopes it will be released for all consumers. Be prepared for even more embarrassing, and hilarious, Tinder Nightmare posts. 

As previously mentioned, Instagram are not stepping down in regards to their competitors. Every week there seems to be a new launch or release. First, IGTV. Second, open-ended questions on Instagram stories. The latest news? Consumers will now be able to merge their Instagram contacts with their Facebook contacts. 

Although this launch doesn’t seem like much, the merging of contacts will certainly improve consumer usage on both applications, boosting the chances of users making accounts for both applications. Currently, Instagram now has 1 billion monthly active users (Social Media Today). Facebook Messenger has 1.3 billion (Social Media Today), meaning the merge of contacts on both platforms would be beneficial to either users. 

Alongside consumer benefits, this could also help with your company. Facebook/Instagram have yet to disclose whether this option is available for business accounts. But, even so, your company could merge contacts across platforms. This will generate ease when contacting clients and consumers across platforms, allowing more direct conversations with consumers across accounts. This merge will certainly benefit your brand if this feature becomes available for businesses. 

Facebook are also testing further cross-posting between Instagram, Facebook, and even WhatsApp statuses. As well as this, the current cross-posts exist between Facebook Stories also appearing in Messenger Day. Also, consumers can already post Instagram Stories which can appear in Facebook stories. Let’s face it – the existent merges across both apps are endless. 

Facebook and Instagram are constantly trying to improve consumer usage by merging these apps in (not so) subtle ways. Saying this, it is certainly a benefit for both consumers and companies. If your company isn’t taking advantage of the brilliance of cross-posting; get on board. It will save your business a lot of time and energy when creating, and posting, content.