How can you keep up with all the changes happening in social media as they roll out? Let’s break down a few tips and tactics to find the news stories on the latest with social media so you don’t miss an update again.
Quick tips to stay up to date with social media changes:
- Create a Twitter list of relevant social media news sources, influencers, and platform-specific announcements. Some great sources are TechCrunch, Mashable, Hubspot, and Social Media Examiner.
- Follow the hashtags on Twitter and Instagram.
- Set up Google Alerts to have the news sent to you daily.
- Follow or subscribe to curated social media e-news. We have one curated just for you. Check it out here: newsletter.nowmarketinggroup.com.
- Subscribe to podcasts like Social Chefs, iSocialFanz, and Social Media Social Hour.
There are three main ways to keep up with what’s happening online. You can read the plethora of blogs and news dedicated to social media platforms, listen to podcasts to gain perspective on how people are incorporating the changes, or visit live trainings and conferences. Read on to see where to catch breaking news and how to make keeping up with changes easier.
Blogs and Curated News
One of the mainstays for gathering information, blogs and news companies are incredibly valuable for learning what new technologies are being incorporated into your social media platforms. Most social media platforms also have a blog or press room where they announce new features. You can follow these blogs and choose to receive updates in your inbox, however, this may quickly become overwhelming.
You can also use tools like Paper.Li to curate content from your favorite organizations and receive it in one nice email. This helps a lot with inbox overload. Instead of several emails, you get one nice newsletter with all your favorite news sources in it.
Twitter lists are also a great way to curate content specific to your interests, and following hashtags is also a great way to keep up with breaking news.
Some of our favorite blogs: check out TechCrunch, Mashable, and Social Media Examiner
Podcasts and Videos
While headlines and articles are great to catch up on and provide vital information about updates, nothing beats a good podcast to provide important context and dialogue about what changes to platforms will mean for your business. Many times during a podcast not only will they give the update but they will also discuss it in-depth and talk about ideas and ways to incorporate the change into your everyday social gameplan. And, podcasts and videos usually rely on multiple points of view with guests and several hosts.
Podcasts are also easier to keep up with because of the format. It’s easy to pop on a podcast during your commute, as you workout, or while you clean around the house.
You can also follow the experts on Facebook or Instagram, who often will go live on the platform when big news is dropped. You can even get notified when they go live so you don’t miss out on anything. Find the person who can break platform-specific information that will be relevant to you: Mari Smith for Facebook, Jenn Herman for Instagram, Brian Fanzo for new technology, and many others.
Some of our favorites: check out Social Chefs, iSocialFanz, and Social Media Social Hour.
Conferences and Trainings
If you can afford to, we highly recommend heading to a couple conferences a year. It’s great to get hand-ons learning and hang out with real people to bounce ideas of off. Conferences are a space for in-depth learning with detailed strategies to implement. Many times they offer Q&A sessions where you can get your specific questions answered and speakers are often available throughout the conference to chat with attendees.
Of course, it’s also a great opportunity to meet with like-minded individuals, networking and connecting with people in your space. You can build relationships with people in real life!
Some of our favorites: check out Social Media Marketing World, Social Fresh, Social Media Strategy Summit, and Inbound with Hubspot.
How do you keep up with all the changes happening on social media platforms? Let us know in the comments!
Pro Tip: Keeping up with the changes doesn’t mean that you follow the “shiny objects”
Don’t fall for shiny object syndrome. Just because a new platform has launched or a new rollout has happened, it doesn’t mean you have to use it for your brand.
It’s a fine line. If you don’t innovate and meet your customers where they are at, it could be devastating for your business. But you also don’t want to be changing so fast people can’t keep up or doing things on a whim with no real plan.
Evaluate what the changes are, how your audience might use them, and whether it provides them with any value.
We discussed this topic during our #TrainingTuesday live stream. Check out what hosts Jessika Phillips and Mike Gingerich had to say.
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