By: Alexis Komatsu, Account Associate for Visionese
Facebook just rolled out a new feature on its mobile app that allows users to post photos and videos to their profile that disappear after 24 hours.
Sound familiar?
Facebook is the latest social media platform to integrate the “story” feature that originated on Snap Inc.’s Snapchat. Stories allow users to immediately share short videos and pictures of what they are doing at any given moment. Instagram integrated this tool back in August 2016 and it has now become an integral component of marketing and social media strategies for countless companies, brands, and celebrities.
Similar to Snapchat, Facebook has multiple special filters like masks, frames, and backgrounds that can be applied to photos. Another very similar feature is the direct messaging element that allows users to share disappearing photos and videos to specific Facebook friends.
With similar features across all three social media platforms, the challenge of differentiating content for each social channel arises. Companies typically use Instagram to post photos and videos while they turn to Facebook for more wordy content. Now that both platforms have the “story” feature, how do you pick which one to post on?
First, you should consider the purpose of what you’re posting. Are you directing your followers to buy something, participate, or share?
Also, think about your audience. Facebook users tend to be a little older in age, while Instagram and Snapchat users consist of a younger demographic.
Facebook “stories” are a very new feature so there isn’t a lot of data on how effective they are yet. It will be exciting to see how companies use the feature in their social media and marketing strategies! Will you be using the Facebook stories feature?