Sonia Martin is a Content marketer and editor for Social Singam, the best social media news updates blog. She is a Digital marketing expert and WordPress fanatic who works closely with B2B and B2c Businesses providing content that gains social media attention and increase their search visibility. She enjoys traveling adventures, foodie and reading books when she's not working.
In 2018, Instagram added a very important feature called “Data Download” that users can download a complete backup of their Instagram account including photos, videos, comments, stories, direct message pictures, liked photos, and more. Users can download and backup their insta account information by using their android app or ios application.
Why is the backup of your Instagram data important?
Backing up your Instagram data is always being prepared for the worst possible scenario. While Instagram’s backup option is not perfect, at least it can help to prevent total loss of their account data if their account was to be banned, hacked, or deleted.
Recently, due to some technical issue, Instagram deactivated/deleted many accounts without any notification and this issue was resolved within a few days.
So every user should download their data from Instagram frequently for future purposes.
Download Instagram Data
Two possible ways to download your data are directly from the Instagram app or computer or mobile web browser. Here it’s a step-by-step guide to downloading your Instagram profile data easily.
Go to your Instagram profile & Tap on the hamburger menu (3 lines at the top right).
Tap on Your Activity.
Scroll to the bottom and tap Download your Information.
Enter your email address
Enter your Instagram account password.
Now tap next on the top right corner.
That’s all, you’re requested to download all your data from Instagram. Follow the same steps in your android or iPhone Instagram app and download your profile data.
Instagram will email you a link to a ZIP folder that consists of every photo you’ve posted, but also separate folders with every photo sent using direct messaging, every Instagram story you’ve posted or shared, your profile pictures, and your videos.
The folder also contains JSON files, which are JavaScript files used for structuring your Instagram data. More importantly, these JSON files are in a format of easily readable by both machines and humans.
How long does Instagram data download take?
Instagram usually sends a copy of your downloaded profile data within 48 hours and at max, it takes up to 14 days. The download link of your data only works for four days from when you receive it in your email. So without a delay, download and save your files when you receive the email link.
The Meta-owned photo and video-sharing platform, Instagram is now rolling out its new in-app post-scheduling tool to all professional accounts in its app after testing with selected users for the past few weeks. This new IG post scheduler tool allows businesses and creators to schedule their posts in advance without using any third-party apps or Creator Studio. This is very useful for all social media managers and creators who depend on social media scheduling tools like Hootsuite, buffer, Sendible, and others to schedule posts on Instagram.
Instagram’s new free post-scheduling option will allow you to schedule photos, Reels, and carousel posts directly in the app, up to 75 days in advance. Previously, Insta creators could schedule their Live videos up to 90 days in advance.
Once you have created a post or reel you can access the scheduling tool,
Tap ‘Advanced Settings’ before sharing the post
Tap ‘Schedule this post’
Select the time and date you want to go live
Tap ‘Done’ to Schedule
Creators and businesses will be able to see scheduled posts in the “Scheduled Content” section that is accessible via the hamburger menu. This section also allows you to reschedule content if needed.
Schedule Instagram posts on Facebook Creator Studio
Functionality wise this feature doesn’t add anything new as you previously schedule posts via Creator Studio on Facebook since 2020. But this new app Instagram social post schedule tool could make it easier to manage your content calendar, in particular, it helps you maximize your content performance.
As of now, this will only be available to Professional Accounts. If you have a personal account and do want to use the post scheduler tool, you can switch to a Professional Account in the app by simply toggling the option in your account settings.
Instagram Achievements Badges
In addition to this new scheduling too, Instagram also launched new “Achievements” badges in reels. Creators can unlock “Achievements” badges when creating reels by collaborating with another creator, engaging with their community by making Reels more interactive, creating more than one Reel in a week, or using trending audio and effects. Creators will be notified when they have unlocked an achievement after publishing their reel. They will also be able to keep track of the achievements they have and haven’t earned. The launch of “Achievements” badges comes after Instagram head Adam Mosseri revealed that he felt “urgency” to make the platform’s TikTok-clone Reels work. From this week onwards, Instagram is testing Achievements globally.
Many small businesses cannot afford to have a separate marketing department. But that doesn’t mean that marketing should be neglected. There are many things that you can do to market your business effectively, even if you don’t have a dedicated team. This Social Singam guide explains how to become your own marketing department in no time!
Developing a Marketing Strategy in Digital
The first step in DIY marketing is to develop a marketing strategy. This strategy should be based on your business goals and objectives. Once you know what you want to achieve, you can begin to develop a plan for how to get there.
One critical component of your marketing strategy should be identifying your target audience. Who are your ideal customers? What do they need or want? How can you reach them? Learning this information will help you develop messaging that resonates with your audience.
Determining Your Marketing Channels
There are many different types of marketing channels you can use to reach your target audience. Some common digital marketing channels include email, social media, content marketing, and paid advertising. Experiment and analyze different strategies to see which ones work best for your business growth.
Email Marketing
You can use email to stay in touch with current customers and connect with new ones. To be successful with email marketing, you’ll need to create high-quality content that your audience finds valuable. You should also segment your email list to only send relevant messages to each group.
Social Media Marketing
Social media is a powerful marketing tool that can help you reach a large audience. There are various social media platforms available in the internet world, each of its having own strengths and weaknesses. It’s essential to choose the right platform for your business and goals.
Some popular social media platforms include:
Facebook: Facebook is the largest social media platform, with nearly three million active users. It’s a great platform for building relationships and connecting with customers.
Twitter: Twitter is a microblogging platform that allows users to send short, 140-character messages called “tweets.” It’s ideal for sharing news, thoughts, and updates.
Pinterest: Pinterest is a visual bookmarking platform that lets you save and share images and videos. It’s an excellent hub for promoting your products and services.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is the topmost professional networking website for individuals and also for businesses. Create a LinkedIn page for your business and establish your brand and more importantly, you can generate quality engagement with leads.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is the process of creating and sharing valuable content to attract and convert customers in your niche. Common types of content include blog posts, infographics, ebooks, and whitepapers.
Content marketing is an excellent channel for building relationships with your audience and establishing yourself as an expert in your content marketing industry. It can also help you generate leads and drive sales in your marketing campaign.
Similar to email marketing, you must create high-quality, relevant content to succeed at content marketing. And you’ll need to promote your content through social media and other marketing channels.
Image Credits To – Respona
Paid Advertising
Paid advertising is a form of marketing that allows you to pay for the placement of your ads on search engines, social media platforms, and other websites. It can help you reach a large audience quickly but can also be expensive and time-consuming.
It’s crucial to have a clear understanding of your goals and objectives when using paid advertising. Be sure to create relevant ads for your target audience and track your results to see what is and isn’t working.
Tools of the Trade
There are many great tools available to help you with your marketing tasks. For example, Hootsuite can help you manage all of your social media accounts in one place. Google Analytics and Google Search Console is a free tool offered by Google which helps you to track your website traffic, clicks, impressions, and where your visitors are coming from. And Mailchimp is a superb tool for developing and sending email campaigns. Hubspot is the best all-in-one tool for content marketing which helps inbound marketing, sales, and customer service.
Moreover, if you ever work with freelance marketing professionals, you may need to get used to the PDF format; PDFs are easier to send back and forth via email because they allow you to combine several documents into a single file. Make sure you have an online word to pdf conversion tool to simplify the process.
Wrapping Up
As a small business owner, you may not have the budget for a dedicated marketing team. Fortunately, there are many ways to market your small business effectively on your own. By developing a strong marketing strategy and utilizing the various tools at your disposal, you can become an effective marketing department without hiring any employees!
Snapchat is rolling out its initial set of parental control features for Indian users. Earlier in August, the popular social networking and messaging platform introduced an in-app parental control tool – Family Center in the US and some other markets. This helps parents to see their teen’s activities on the Snapchat account without disclosing the content of their chat. Teens will also be able to notify their parents when they report an account or a piece of content to the platform.
Image Credits – Snap Inc
How Snapchat’s Parental Control Works
This tool mainly helps parents who have teenagers between the age of 13 to 18. By using the in-app tool, called Family Center, parents can invite their teens to join the Family Centre on Snapchat. When teens accept an invitation, parents can examine their children’s friends list and who they have messaged in the last 7 days. It also gives the ability to report safety concerns and potential abuse to Snap’s Trust and Safety team to review anonymously.
A few years ago, Snapchat introduced some additional measures, such as a minimum of 13 years to signup for Snapchat, requiring teens to have mutual friends before they can start chatting, and also it does not allow teenagers to have public profiles.
To use this family center features parents and guardians must install the Snapchat app on their devices and opt-in invite process to link their accounts to those of their teenagers. Once the accounts are linked, the tool can be accessed with all its controls through the Snapchat app’s Profile Settings or by using the search feature for “family” or “family center” from the app’s Search functionality.
Snap said they are working with local nonprofit organizations FXB India Suraksha and CyberPeace Foundation to launch its Family Center feature in India. This parental control option is followed by the launch of its competitive social networking platforms including Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Jeremy Voss, Snap’s head of messaging products, had said that this feature makes the right path for strengthening the safety and well-being of young snap users, while still preserving autonomy and privacy.
Image Credits – Snap, Inc
Snapchat Stats in India
India is an important market for Snapchat inc, where it has more than 109 million monthly active users, according to Sensor Tower statistics. Recently, Snap introduced its premium service Snapchat+, in the South Asian market and also Snapchat for web features too.
“Snapchat is a central communications tool for so many young Indians, and as our community continues to grow, we know parents and caregivers want additional ways to help keep their teens safe. Our new in-app Family Center tool will help parents get more insight into who their teens are friends with on Snapchat, to help foster positive conversations about online safety while respecting the privacy and autonomy of teens,” said Uthara Ganesh, Public Policy head, of India, Snap, in her statement.
Inviting a video call through a link is common in apps like Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet. But now the World’s most popular messaging app WhatsApp is also rolling out this feature so that users can share a link of a call with family members, friends, and whoever is in the WhatsApp contact list. With over a billion users accessing across the globe, this feature could help WhatsApp calling become simpler to start a video call conversation.
📞 Excited to introduce Call Links on @WhatsApp so you can easily start or join a call using just a link. Available for both audio and video calls starting this week. pic.twitter.com/SfSJMlMYEm
Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg today announced this feature that users can now join WhatsApp calls through this link with a single tap. He also tell that the Whatsapp company is testing 32-person encrypted video calls. In April 2022, they announced the extended group call feature but now it will be rolling it out for a limited number of users.
In a recent product announcement meeting, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that: “Most people use feeds to discover content and use messaging for deeper connections.”
How To Create Video Call Link on WhatsApp
Users can create a WhatsApp video call link under the calls tab. Once the link is created, users can share these dedicated URL links for WhatsApp group video and audio chats.
The call links feature is rolling out this week to all users but there is no confirmation whether it is for android or ios users or for both. So if you need this call link option, you should have an updated version of Whatsapp. This audio & video chat link expires after 90 days of inactivity. If you send it to someone who doesn’t use WhatsApp, they will be redirected to download the app.
Snapchat launched a new web app Snapchat+ which is in July for paid subscribers in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Snapchat Plus subscribers offer access to early and exclusive features like the ability to pin a friend as a BFF, exclusive badges, story rewatch count, Snapchat web, and more. Snapchat Plus costs $3.99 per month and counts over a million users.
Now the desktop version of Snapchat is available for entire global users.
On Snapchat for Web, users can send snaps, and messages and also chat via video and voice calls. The web version of Snapchat also includes access to the mobile app’s messaging features, including chat reactions and Snapchat emojis. It also now features more than 10 Lenses for video calls. Snap’s head of messaging products, Nathan Boyd, said a web version of Snapchat was an “unmet opportunity” for the company during The Verge’s interview in July.
Snapchat’s web browser version gives a smoother user interface and more space to chat and video call with friends in the same window. Nearly one hundred million users call others using Snapchat every month, the company said in July, and they’ll typically chat with other users right before they close the app.
Snapchat Web Login
To log in to Snapchat for Web, you need to enter web.snapchat.com on your browser and log in with your Snapchat username and password. Now complete two-step verification on your phone. Once you open Snapchat on Web, you can continue your conversations from where you left them on a mobile app.
When you use Snapchat on Web, your Bitmoji will appear in chats that indicate to others that you’re using the chat via your desktop. In addition, the web version of the app includes a privacy screen that hides the Snapchat window if you click away for another task.
Same as the Snapchat mobile app experience, messages that are sent via the Snapchat web are automatically deleted after 24 hours and it also prevents users from taking screenshots. Snap inc, earlier shared that the average caller on Snapchat spends more than 30 minutes a day on calls. Everyone sees Snapchat as a mobile-first platform so they decided to bring Snapchat’s core features to the web after listening to feedback from users. Soon they plan to add the app’s other features, including viewing Stories and Memories to Snapchat for Web in the future.
The biggest launch of Snapchat for Web feature comes as the social media platform has been the right way to compete with TikTok and Instagram because both of the apps can be accessed via the web.
Snapchat’s New Features
Snapchat Chat Shortcuts
Question Stickers
Lock Screen Widget
In addition to Snapchat on the web, they also introduced new chat shortcuts at the top of the chat tab to make it easy ways to do things like unread Snaps, messages, missed calls, and replies to stories. The snap company says the shortcuts will also remind you if you need to reply to someone and also show you when your friends’ birthdays are coming up.
Snapchat is also launching a new “Question Stickers” feature to let users ask questions in their stories in an AMA-style. You can use the feature and ask funny questions to your friends. It’s very similar to Instagram’s question sticker.
Snap has also launched Lock Screen Widgets for iPhone users now that the iOS 16 update has come out recently. These widgets allow users to create shortcuts for the conversations they want.
Douyin is a Chinese version of TikTok that allows users to create, edit and share short videos and live streams with lots of filters, effects, audio, and music. This app contains many short-form user videos, from genres like trending music, dance, entertainment, pranks, stunts, tricks, sports, vlogs, jokes, and more with durations from 15 seconds to ten minutes.
Douyin was launched under the name of A.me before rebranding to Douyin (抖音 literally “shaking sound” in Chinese) in December 2016. Douyin app was developed in 200 days and within a year it hit 100 million users and more than one billion videos viewed every day.
TikTok is an international version of Douyin, which was originally released in the Chinese market in September 2016 by ByteDance(TikTok) owner Zhang Yiming. After that only TikTok was launched in 2017 outside of China for iOS and Android. After merging with another Chinese short video social media platform, Musical.ly, on 2 August 2018, it became so popular and available worldwide.
How To Download Douyin or Chinese TikTok
You can download this Douyin social media app direct from their official website by scanning the QR code or installing the package on your device. This Douyin Chinese app is available for PC, smart tv, iOS, and Android app store.
If you are in china and you want to use TikTok, you can download this app on the TikTok website straightway.
Is Douyin the Same As TikTok?
Even though both the Tiktok and Douyin china (抖音中国版) platforms are owned by the same Chinese tech company Bytedance, both have a very similar user interface but no access to each other apps content and features completely different. The main difference is users can’t interact with each other. The Chinese and international versions of this TikTok app douyin have very different registration processes, policies, and content. The same search words result in completely different content and profiles on both apps but it is very successful due to their algorithms that recommend content to their users on the “For You” page.
Their servers are based in the market where the respective app is available. Douyin contains an in-video search feature that can search by people’s faces for more videos of them and this app also have features such as booking hotels, purchasing products, and making geo-tagged reviews. Also, Douyin app offers to send messages to other users so that you can use it as a messaging app.
It doesn’t matter whether the product is localized. Our strategy is to globalize products and localize content” – Owner’s of Tiktok/Douyin
Recently TikTok is the top preferred search engine option for Gen Z users. While speaking at Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2022 in July, Google’s Senior Vice President told that the company has its eye on TikTok: “In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search. For DouYin in 2022 Q1, it established a search engine with 550 million active users.
Difference Between Douyin and TikTok
Source – Adchina io
Users Comparison and Video Creation on Douyin vs TikTok
TikTok – As of June 2022, TikTok U.S. users aged between 10-19 have a Tiktok account which is 37.2% of whole users of this app and 64% of users are under 30 years old. So we can call it a Teen App because the content is mainly shared by these young people daily, with native content being the mainstream. Generally speaking, young people in Europe and the United States tend to be cool, Middle Eastern users show off their wealth, and Southeast Asia looks simpler and rustic.
Top 5 most followed TikTok accounts
Khaby Lame
Charli D’Amelio
Bella Poarch
Addison Rae
Will Smith
Douyin – Compared to TikTok, Douyin has become a universal app in mainland China. With the rapid-fire growth of users, another significant change in Douyin is reflected in the content position, which is also changing towards a more mainstream and diversified direction.
Initially, TikTok’s video length is just 15 seconds after the tremendous growth in usage they extended the post videos length up to 3 minutes and now users can upload videos of up to 10 minutes.
The longest video Douyin’s international edition (抖音国际版) can post is a 15-minute video.
Content on TikTok vs Douyin
TikTok (Douyin – 抖音）algorithms are 10x more powerful and addictive than other social media platforms. The most popular posts shown on your profile are completely different between the two platforms (Douyin vs Tiktok). Douyin videos are more focused and content-driven than TikTok. This Chinese international version of Tiktok’s most videos has a computerized automated voice that narrates in Chinese. In contrast, TikTok generally relies on the creators explaining their own videos which given a trend, and many TikTok celebrities, singers, dancers, and artists become famous through this.
Douyin provides a wide variety of videos all on the recommended pages that include film, music, skills, health tips, foods, pets, travel, television clips, etc. Whereas TikTok gives more priority to pushing content from various regions through big data algorithms.
But in Douyin search fully depends on keywords, the more fans and likes the account ranks on top, and the keywords of pushing more views to your videos.
Live Stream on Douyin vs Tiktok
Livestream videos are more popular in the Chinese e-commerce industry, and Douyin is on top of that. A small tv icon on the top left corner of the app screen directs users to its live broadcast feature. The live feature will help to build brand awareness, for small businesses looking to promote content and sell their products directly.
TikTok also offers live streaming features but it’s also popular among its users.
In a recent survey,
50% of TikTok users purchase after watching Tiktok live.
50% of users are more interested in branded live content than normal TikTok users.
1 in 5 live streaming users watch TikTok LIVE and of that group, 62% watch it every day.
Recently July 2022, TikTok Drops Plans for Expanding Live-Stream Shopping in the US.
In-app Purchases: Douyin vs Tiktok
One of the most notable features of Douyin is its in-app store which helps the user to purchase just a tap away. Users can Purchase small cosmetics items to larger home appliances products like Facebook marketplace products. So that many companies use user-generated ads and directly link products to their profile.
KOLs (Key Opinion Leader) feature products on their “suggested products” page. They also have links to the affiliated Taobao Store or the in-app Douyin store on their profile.
While Douyin and TikTok are both short-form video platforms but they are very different from a social media marketing viewpoint. The major differences between these two are market region and content. Both the apps are good features in their own way which surely helps to build brand awareness, and promote your products, services, and content.
Twitter recently launched the first stage of live testing of the ‘Edit Tweet’ feature which is the top most requested feature by Twitter users in very long years. Edit Tweet is a feature that helps people make changes to their Tweets if there are any typos, missed tags, images, videos, and other facts missing within 30 minutes after its published.
if you see an edited Tweet it's because we're testing the edit button
The edit tweet function is tested internally by the Twitter developers team and will be rolling out for Twitter Blue subscribers later this month. Twitter Blue currently costs $4.99 per month.
Now, this service is available for only selected Twitter Blue users and that too in the USA, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand regions users. So India and other country users will wait for a few more months to get this awesome feature.
How does Twitter Edit Feature Work?
“For this test, Tweets will be able to be edited a few times in the 30 minutes following their publication. Edited Tweets will appear with an icon, timestamp, and label so it’s clear to readers that the original Tweet has been modified. Tapping the label will take viewers to the Tweet’s Edit History, which includes past versions of the Tweet.”
An edited tweet will have a label, icon, and timestamp to notify the user that it has been modified, and so that users can tap the label to view the tweet’s edit history and that past versions of the tweet. The main reason for a time limit and tweet edit history is publicly accessible to protect the integrity of the conversation.
Back in July, Twitter announced a 67% price increase for Twitter Blue subscriptions. So this Tweet edit feature could see overall Blue revenue jump as a result.
Can I Edit All My Old Tweets?
No. Twitter will not let you edit your old tweets. You will only be able to do multiple edits on a tweet up to 30 minutes after it is posted.
The world’s top video platform YouTube introduced new features and updates for shorts creators and viewers. They keenly watched the YouTube shorts video’s performance and launched a new feature called Watermarks on Downloaded Shorts. This helps to stop users from re-posting YouTube Shorts clips to other social media apps.
If you’re a YouTube video content creator who downloads your own Shorts from YouTube Studio to share across other social platforms, you’ll now find a watermark added to your downloaded shorts video.
This feature is completely rolling out over the next few weeks on desktop, and also they plan to expand this to the mobile user over the upcoming months.
“If you’re a creator who downloads your Shorts from YouTube Studio to share across other platforms, you’ll now find a watermark added to your downloaded content. We’ve added a watermark to the Shorts you download so your viewers can see that the content you’re sharing across platforms can be found on YouTube Shorts.”
This is a good initiative from youtube and very useful for cross-promotion. But the real struggle is mainly for creators because sharing watermark videos could be penalized on other social apps. The real goal might look like restricting quick video sharing throughout apps, which allows you to make it a bit more difficult for creators to certainly re-submit their Shorts to Reels or TikTok as well, as a method to construct their presence in every app.
It’s well worth noting each TikTok and Reels additionally consists of watermarks on downloaded clips, a good way to limit the same, so it’s now no longer unexpected to look at YouTube and take a comparable approach. But still, it’s any other attention – and with the present-day system making it so smooth to simply re-publish your brief clips throughout every app, a form of low-attempt baiting procedure, to look what you may get as a result, it’s any other strategic attention for creators.
Pinterest has added another option to drive more traffic from your Idea Pins with lots of new Board Sticker options that enables you to highlight a specific Pinterest board via your Idea Pins in the app. The Idea Pins were originally called Story Pins but to avoid confusion with similar features on existing social media platforms and to give a better intention behind this new Pinterest product, the name changed to Idea Pins.
In the above image shared by influencer marketing analyst Lindsey Gamble, the new Board Sticker is now available to some ios Pinterest app users in the sticker tray within the Idea Pin creation flow. By tapping on that, you’ll be able to choose from your existing boards to link to, with various display formats for your Board Sticker, texts, and music, and add to your frame.
🚨 NEW 🚨 Creators can now link out to their @Pinterest Boards in Idea Pins via a new Board sticker. 📌
Whats the benefit of this? 🤔
It’s a easy way to increase visibility for their Boards especially ones that are part of brand collaborations. 🤝 pic.twitter.com/z2ZV2bOQud
That Pinterest stickers will link users directly go to your dedicated topic board, which could help to highlight more of your Pin content and drive more referral traffic from those links.
Creators can add up to 5 board stickers per image & add up to 20 board stickers max in an Idea Pin. So you’re not restricted to a single sticker per frame. Creators can able to tag any public board they own, but they can’t tag private boards or other creators’ boards.
This could be the best way to highlight specific products or services that you offer, via direct links back to your bigger display of Pins, to further highlight your offerings.
The main intention of the added Pinterest stickers link on the boards could also help to drive more clicks, and with the holiday season presto approaching, it may be worth mapping out, say, a Christmas gift idea board, which you could also link to in unborn Idea Leg sweats.
At present, the option is only available to selected users on iOS. Though it’s not available to everyone just yet. So, SocialMediaToday experts asked Pinterest for further word on the rollout of the option, and they will update this post when they hear back.
