As social media usage continues to grow worldwide, this year will be marked by emerging technologies, more feature updates and ever-changing consumer behavior to keep us on our toes. We see a continuing trend of short-term video dominating and TikTok taking over more of the advertising and content share (assuming national security concerns don't tank it) as it invests in development for Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality content.
LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube also will be the focus for social media managers as less attention is spent on Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter. And speaking of Twitter: Will Elon Musk actually step down? We can't predict that. Will the media divorce itself from the platform this year? If an alternative platform can take off in 2023, then it's possible. We could see social media users turning to smaller platforms this year such as Discord, Mastodon, Substack and Patreon.
Can a chat bot take over your job?
Short answer is no, of course. The job of social media specialists and strategists takes human thinking, creativity and passion that a phone app isn't capable of performing. But enter ChatGPT, the best artificial intelligence chatbot ever released to the general public: RWJ Social tested it out, asking it to write social media captions. Check out our requests and ChatGPT's answers below. Hey not bad for a robot, right? Although we probably won't be depending on the tool for caption-writing, there are plenty of potential future benefits for this technology in higher ed communications, marketing and admissions roles: Quick and accurate responses for prospective student inquiries, research, idea generation for content or engagement opportunities, scheduling of content and other possibilities as ChatGPT's potential is discovered.
Instagram notes may not be sticky
Instagram loves dropping surprises out of nowhere, and last month's holiday gift to us is a new Notes feature. It lives in the Message section of Instagram and allows users to post a status update. It's a bit like the old AIM away messages: You can only post one Note at a time, and updating it will erase your previous status.
Most brands have not embraced the feature yet, and very few users, in general, seem to be taking advantage. If they stick around, it could be a good, low-effort opportunity for institutions to reach their followers: Notes seem like they'd be an easy way to get your audience's eyes on announcements since they sit at the top of users' inboxes and don't get lost in the noise of Stories. They don't require the commitment it takes to make a Feed post or a Story and could serve as a simple, short-lived way to blast out a message: "Classes delayed until 10 a.m. due to snow"; "Stop by the Student Center today for free hot chocolate"; "Add/drop deadline for classes is Tuesday." We are interested to hear if you've found other creative uses for this new feature.
Do you often find yourself developing and editing what you would consider great content that's following the latest trends only to receive a handful of likes? Perhaps you see that like count and deem your post a fail. But wait, did you check out the comments or shares? Within the last few years, the laser-focus on various social media platforms’ algorithms has shifted the way content is viewed and how social media managers deliver content to their audiences. Building and consistently engaging with your community of users who interact with the content that you create and post goes a long way outside of the algorithm. Think of the notion as community over algorithm. In the new year, don't get so hung up on beating the ever-changing algorithm of these popular platforms. Focus on producing quality content for your engaged audience to continue supporting.
Classes may not have resumed quite yet for many institutions, but that doesn't mean prospective students, current students and other audiences aren't looking at your channels.
Now is the time to get into the resolution spirit and engage your followers by asking them about a goal they have for the new year at your institution. This could work on any channel, but Instagram Story's question box feature (shown here) might yield the most interesting answers. Make sure you repurpose the responses in your Stories as well.
RWJ Social helps higher ed institutions shape social strategy through a variety of services, including influencer engagement, benchmarking, monitoring and more.
