During last week’s Tom Ferry Success Summit in Dallas, TX, we published (in my opinion) a super-useful video resource: The Top 22 Vertical Videos of 2022.
No doubt, vertical video is THE trend to follow: Reels on Instagram and Facebook, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and so on. So… if you’re looking for some ideas and inspiration to level-up your video marketing, be sure to check out this resource. Just click HERE.
I expect you’ve noticed how Instagram Videos (IG Video) has transfigured into Instagram Reels, right? Lemme explain:
Instagram recently terminated/obliterated/decimated IG Video (formerly dubbed, IGTV). Now ALL videos on Insta are vertical ↕️—i.e., either Stories, Reels, or Livestreams.
Any IG Videos less than 15-minutes were relabeled as Reels—so now your Reels Grid probably looks gross with disproportioned cover images and freeze frames 😡. I feel ya!
So how long can Reels be then? Welp, in order for your Reels to be distributed in the official “Reels Feed,” they cannot exceed 90 seconds. What’s more, that’s STILL the limit if you’re recording the Reel in Instagram’s built-in editor. That said, if you publish a prerecorded video that’s longer (the same way you used to publish an IG Video), it’ll still end up as a Reel—it just won’t distribute in the Reels Feed. Makes total sense 🙄.
Before this change, IG Lives (after a broadcast concluded) could be posted as IG Videos. Now they’re posting as Reels—and I’ve seen more than 20 minute runtimes. So… same as before, I expect video runtime is dependent on the follower-size of the account (e.g. fewer than 10,000 followers and so on)..
So, in a nutshell, what’s actually different? To put it simply: all VIDEO is VERTICAL 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎 on Instagram.
Instagram’s leveling-up its “business search” capabilities. It’s definitely nowhere close to Google, but is nonetheless worth watching.
Within IG’s Explore 🔎 tab there’s a search-bar across the top that organizes its findings according to preset sections: Top, Accounts, Audio, Tags (i.e., hashtags), and Places.
Places, for instance, lists out a bunch of pinned📍 locations — select an option and it’ll plot it on a map (plus display a bunch of info about the business/location).
From there, if one taps anywhere else on the map, IG displays the user’s city location and reveals a handful of predefined search categories, which currently includes: Restaurants, Cafes, Sights, Hotels, Parks & Gardens, and Bars. The idea is to search for what’s around you or proximate to a point of interest. You can also zoom in/out to redo your search within the visible area of map.
I predict Instagram will eventually add additional/custom categories down the road (as in, “Real Estate Agents,” possibly).
Many agents, whether they’re using a Creator or Business profile, have modified their account category from “Real Estate Agent” to, say, “Entrepreneur,” to expand their sound-and-music options in IG’s audio library for Reels and such. However, if Instagram does indeed add more categories to its map-search feature, agents may opt to switch their category back to “Real Estate Agent” to improve their odds of ranking. Not now, necessarily—just if/when that expansion occurs.
For search engines and social networks alike, local discovery is no doubt a trend of growing importance — so keep an eye 👁 on it, friends.
Apple’s release of their App Tracking Transparency Framework essentially rendered the Facebook Pixel 👾 useless back in April of 2021 — but now, it’s back! (Sort of.)
In a nutshell, Apple’s program required any/all apps distributed via the App Store (so, pretty much ALL apps — Facebook included) to be more transparent concerning user data collected for advertising purposes—which, for Facebook, is sort of what they do for a living, LOL 😂. Google’s App Store essentially followed Apple’s lead on the issue.
In simple terms, a Facebook Pixel is a unique snippet of code installed on a website (yours, for instance) used to monitor the activities of visitors on said site: how long someone spends on a given page, what buttons they click, the forms they start or complete, and so on. What’s more, the Pixel owner is then able to run Facebook and/or Instagram ads targeting (actually, “retargeting,” technically speaking) those website visitors based on the actions they performed on said “Pixeled” website.
Welp, the tracking-transparency trend massively reduced the Pixel’s capabilities — UNTIL NOW.
Meta’s just released the “Conversions API.” Basically, it circumvents (that’s the word I’d use, anyhow) the limitations of transparency frameworks so that your Pixel is able to accurately monitor key events on your site, such as when someone visits a particular landing page or, for instance, spends a certain amount of time perusing your site. You can read more about it and review setup instructions here: bit.ly/FB-CVR-API.
TikTok, evidently taking a queue from Instagram, has ditched the “Discovery” tab in lieu of a new, “Friends” feed. One could argue that TikTok isn’t actually a social network, per se – it’s more of an entertainment platform.
Unlike Instagram‘s main feed, TikTok’s default feed (dubbed, the “For You,” feed) doesn’t necessarily show you posts from the accounts you follow. Instead,; it’s based almost entirely off of your perceived/inferred interests. It’s been suggested that TikTok‘s algorithm can practically read your mood.
TikTok also features a “Following” feed, which only displays posts from the accounts you follow. The “Discover” tab was a spot to explore and widen your interests: hashtags, audio/sounds, and trending content. Welp, it’s been demoted to a less prominent location within the app and replaced by the “Friends” tab. The “Friends” tab is actually a third, distinct feed that only shows you posts of accounts you follow who also follow you—i.e., your friends.
All that to say, it looks like TikTok is trying to create a bit more community-like stickiness between its users
Instagram has just released a bunch of new features and updates!—mostly related to Instagram Reels.
That’s unsurprising, considering more than 675-million of Instagram’s 2-billion users worldwide are actively utilizing Reels. The reach and performance of Reels is truly staggering. So—sidebar—if you’re not making ‘em, IMO, they’re a must in your content mix.
Here’s a breakdown of the newest IG updates:
Reels Runtime: in keeping pace with TikTok, which recently upped its video length limit to 10 minutes, Instagram has extended its 60-second limit to an ever-so generous 90-seconds. We’ll take what we can get, I suppose.
I’d expect that they’ll keep adding more-and-more time in order to keep up with TikTok. What’s more, it’s worth pointing out that the divide between short-form VS. long-form video is getting ever more blurred.
Interactive Stickers (for Reels!): IG has long enabled users to embed “interactive” stickers in Story posts whereby viewers can input questions, respond to polls, take quizzes, swipe meters, etc. Welp, that features’s been activated within Instagram Reels.
This is a HUGE feature update because it marks the first time in IG history users can, quote-unquote, interact with actual media in the main feeds—beyond likes, comments, and so forth. Seeing as how IG’s algorithm is pretty much predicated on engagement/interaction, don’t miss out on this new feature!
Grid Pinning: in an earlier video I said this feature was coming and now it’s here. Navigate to your profile, tap on the post you’d like to pin, hit the “•••” in the top right corner, and select to pin it! Presto!
My advice, though, is that you feature your absolute best, most welcoming content AND/OR posts that purposefully outline your product(s)/service(s).
The average professional sends out 40+ emails per day with approximately a 100% open rate. Through the lens of email-marketing performance benchmarks, that’s epically impressive 🤯.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m all for mass/bulk email marketing. However, there’s a strong case to be made that we should all conduct an audit of our everyday email signatures to ensure they’re properly optimized.
And think about it this way: the clickthrough performance of calls-to-action (CTAs) in your email signature will likely be just as good or better than those included in your mass email campaigns. My point is, it’s low-hanging fruit.
Postscript: something like… “P.S. Should you hear of anyone looking to Buy, Sell or Invest in real estate, would you please connect us? It would be my great privilege to serve as their REALTOR®.”
Contact: include your cell phone, email address, social links, website, and more – every time! Don’t be the person whose signature is only included in the first email of a thread, whereby a recipient has to go digging to find your number.
Deliverables: perhaps you have a Home Valuation landing page, or an IDX-powered home search site, or downloadable PDFs like a buyer or seller guide). If you do, link to them!
Instagram is testing a new feature: PINNED POSTS.
TikTok has long enabled its users to “pin” videos to the top of their respective pages, and, of course, “pinning” Tweets or Facebook posts is old news. Welp, evidently, it’s time for IG to catch-up.
The question is—assuming the feature gets officially released—what should you pin? My advice: either pin content that provides an ideal first impression of what your page is all about content-wise OR a post/video that outlines the value proposition of of your business.