We thought we had made a good work by reviewing all 2013 on social media into one document, but honestly, 3 months after that, we feel the field has just been accelerating a lot, and it's not (only) about Facebook buying back Whatsapp for billions. Over the last 3 months, noticeable changes include: A lot of new ad formats on Twitter, where you will soon be able to do retargeting ads (to deliver them to people who already visited your website). More, you can also turn your actual database of e-mails into followers by uploading to Twitter, which is a great tool if you want to address specifically your existing customers, because they're always cheaper to reach than any new customer, right? The most popular format of advertising on Facebook, Sponsored Stories, will be pulled off on April 9th. Why? Because Facebook lost about $20m in lawsuits for this ad which, quick reminder, would strongly associate you with a brand, even when you didn't want too. Don't worry, there's still a lot of nice formats to play with on Facebook, and new ones as well. LinkedIn had 500 Influencers so far that you could follow for their news and insights. This number is now 25000, and you can apply to be one of them if you are particularly brilliant, insightful, and respected. We think it's a super tool for CEOs or any holder of an expertise and willing to share it. As a social media agency, we're also happy to see something which will probably increase the quality of postings on Linked (yes, just like us, you saw this ugly wave of "Solve" and "Answer it" stupid pseudo IQ-test questions). Oh, and last but not least, The Patch is now a monthly live event at The Hub in Singapore. Do come and join us on April 9th for the next session, it's a good way for you to know how these updates apply to your brands/projects, and for us to know more about you and your needs. The rest of the updates are in The Patch :) See you next month, Agence Tesla Asia

1. The Patch
Social media new features updates for marketers
January-March 2014
• Google vs. Spam: no more SEO boost for guestblogging & hunt for the fake views on Youtube
• Say goodbye to Facebook Sponsored Stories!
• A lot, lot, lot of new ads for Twitter
• Are you an influencer? Then, do publish on LinkedIn
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2. Peak of the month
Understanding Social & Mobile in a blink
After Facebook purchased Whatsapp for $19bn, messaging apps are called “the killer app”
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3. Facebook
Video Ads are coming to Facebook
Long-awaited video ads should come soon:
•
Facebook is already toying with Autoplay feature in the newsfeed, with a bonus for native formats
(read: Instagram videos rather than Youtube clips)
•
Video ads price range: $1-$2.5M for 15 seconds. Facebook made it clear it had a better reach and
efficiency over TV during prime-time, and will make you pay for it
=> Let’s wait for the first Video ads to play and prepare when pricing is within SMEs reach
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4. Facebook
Reach is decreasing a lot for Pages on Facebook
Several studies confirm another drop
in the “reach” of Pages updates to
fans
•
Two studies with a corpus of 5000+
Pages found between -42% & -44%
reach of Pages since August 2013
•
New algorithm is giving more
weight to friends, less to brands,
and more to “Link Share”
=> Do take time to review all new
updates from Facebook as it changes
a lot of what you do
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5. Facebook
More direct response marketing on Facebook
Facebook tries new buttons and call to
actions in advertisement on mobile
•
Shop Now
•
Learn More
•
Download
•
Sign Up
By mixing these buttons with “Custom
Audience” (data from your own website
or app), you can reach segments of
visitors to drive more conversion and
increase engagement with your service
You could as an airline target visitors of
your website who did not book with a
10% promotion on Facebook and a “Buy
Now” incentive
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6. Facebook
No more Sponsored Stories starting April, 9th!
The most efficient – and controversial –
ad format says goodbye in April:
•
Sponsored Stories used to add one of
your friend’s face near the ad, making
it more reliable
•
Lawsuits on this association of a profile
and a commercial cost Facebook $20M
last year
•
There will still be social-powered Ads
which will include people actually
Liking your Page or Post
You can still use Promote Page, Boost
Post and a lot of other less social ads,
in addition to more targeting options
as seen in this deck
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7. Facebook
More targeting details for Facebook ads
Yes, Facebook can go even further that what it does now in terms of targeting
•
More location details, and possibility to exclude some zipcodes or areas within a region
•
Target people who changed recently their status (In a relationship, new job...)
•
Aggregation of Pages and other likes into more readable Interests (“Baseball” will hit people liking
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different baseball related pages, groups)

8. Facebook
Compare your Page insights with competition
A few more tools to help Page admins and Community Managers
•
Your Insights will now show similar pages and their mains stats to compare with yours
Do check extensively Insights, they give a lot of info on who are your fans, and what they like
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9. Google
Don’t expect guest-blogging to boost SEO anymore
The spam team @ Google is taking a radical stance towards guest-blogging
•
SEO-wise, guest-blogging will not count anymore, because of too many spammy guest blog so far
•
You can still practice guest-blogging, but only for branding, exposure, or reach in a specific
community, it will have no impact on your rankings anymore
=> Keep sharing & engaging, SEO is only one part of the game, and people gathering in communities
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will still see the value of authentic posts on other platforms.

10. Google
Google hunting down fake views on Youtube
It has always been easy to buy fake clicks, views, fans. A bit less on Youtube:
•
Until now, Youtube would scan views for spam immediately after they occurred
•
From now on, they will periodically validate the video’s view count, removing fraudulent views as
new evidence comes to light
=> Keep sharing & engaging, SEO is only one part of the game, and people gathering in communities
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will still see the value of authentic posts on other platforms.

11. Instagram
An Instagram handbook for brands
A great educational tool from Instagram, in both printed and online version
•
Curates the best from brands such as Disney, Patagonia
•
5 key tips for brands: be true to your brand, share EXPERIENCES, find beauty everywhere (easy with
filters), inspire action, know your audience (and post accordingly)
=> Instagram is about sharing moments, this is how they “killed” Kodak, who bet on the technical side
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of cameras.

12. Twitter
Promote your Twitter account on mobile
An old Twitter ad format, Promoted
Account, turn mobile
•
Your account and its profile picture
+ biography will be pushed to users
timelines based on keywords or
follower count or location
•
You are billed ONLY when an
interaction happens (RT,
mention/reply, follow)
=> Great to try it as the vast majority
of Twitter users access it on mobile
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13. Twitter
Retargeting advertising on Twitter
Twitter Retargeting is coming soon!
•
Visitors of your website can be retargeted on
Twitter
•
Because you address people who already know
you, you can deliver more relevant ads
•
You can also segment users from your website
(retargeting the ones who spent time but did
not buy, for instance)
=> Retargeting is the creepy side of the data you
let everywhere online. As an advertiser, though,
you will be conquered in a minute
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14. Twitter
Address your customer base on Twitter
Three new tailored advertising formats for
Twitter. The first one is the CRM approach:
•
Give your email database to Twitter (which
will keep it but not seeing the e-mails itself)
•
Twitter will look if your users are on Twitter
•
You can then address a specific ad on Twitter
to your customers (to turn them into
followers, or to deliver a special offer)
=> CRM approach is a good way to break the
walls between your users on the website and
Twitter (you can do the same with Facebook)
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15. Twitter
Target keywords, popularity on Twitter
Three new tailored advertising formats for
Twitter. The second one is ID Approach
•
You are looking for a specific target
audience on Twitter
•
You can look for users based on the
keywords they use (in their bios or in
their tweets)
•
You can filter by follower counts (to keep
the most proeminent, for instance)
•
Exclude specific e-mails, Twitter IDs or
keywords to avoid too much noise
=> It’s another very intuitive ad format, it’s
easy to find who you want on Twitter, so do
focus on the copy/picture/call to action
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16. Twitter
New design and features to retrieve growth
A few issues for Twitter user growth pushes for redesign
•
Direct Messages now allow pictures to be shared, to counter WhatApp or Instagram
•
You can now swipe between Timelines, suggesting you will be able to do some by List
•
Last but not least, Twitter tries out “Favoriting” accounts rather than just messages
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17. Twitter
Twitter to set foot in e-commerce
Still experimental, but here’s how Twitter Commerce feature could look like
•
Using again the “Cards” format to embed picture and a button to call-to-action
•
To be thought of with the new sets of ads (retargeting, CRM, etc) rolling out this year
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18. Twitter
New analytics for Twitter Cards
Twitter Cards, launched in 2012, are a visual embed for brands. They now have analytics:
•
•
You can compare the performance of your Cards vs. global average on Twitter
Details of Impressions, CTR and actions (app install) are given as well
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19. LinkedIn
You can now publish articles on LinkedIn
A feature long reserved only to 500 influencers, you can now publish on LinkedIn
•
Publishing should be for long-form or important updates, showing your expertise. Keep the
traditional “updates” for quick news you just forward.
•
You can now follow (and be followed), thanks to these publications, by people out of your networks
=> 25000 new influencers have been chosen, but you can apply for early access here
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20. Pinterest
New filters for recipe search on Pinterest
Pinterest improves search on recipes so F&B and restaurants have another incentive to be there:
•
You can filter per specific diet type (vegan, gluten-free)
=> It takes little time to upload your menu pics and tag them well, so F&B should really consider it
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21. Tumblr
Promote your blog with “Sponsored Trending Blog”
Rather than just pushing a post, you can now
push via ads your Tumblr blog
•
The “trending” category is now open to
any blog which pays for it
•
You can target by gender, location,
keywords
=> Not a huge change, but can make sense if
as a very visual brand (luxury, media, travel)
you have a Tumblr blog to promote
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22. Thanks!
Agence Tesla, a social media agency in Singapore and Paris
Martin.pasquier@agencetesla.com
Follow us on Twitter @agencetesla or www.agencetesla.asia
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Why “The Patch”? In computing, a “patch” is a software update to correct bugs, improve
performance or update a program. We want to “patch” marketers with the latest curated
social media new features.
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