New Social Changes and Platforms for 2024

Key Takeaways:

Find out some of the newest updates to popular eCommerce platforms.

Discover two emerging platforms you might want to experiment with. 

A new year brings a host of new social updates and emerging platforms for digital marketers to know — and 2024 is no exception! Discover some of the top social changes and two exciting new platforms to boost your social selling success this year. 

Pinterest Updates: Expanded eCommerce Tools

If your brand is present on Pinterest, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with these platform changes. These updates underscore Pinterest’s commitment to evolving as a platform that not only inspires but also actively facilitates the discovery and purchase of products, offering innovative ways to connect with your audience.

Pinterest Selling Features

Buyable Pins

More commonly known as “Shop the Look” pins, these pins allow users to purchase products directly, featuring pricing details and a direct link to your eCommerce website. This seamless integration facilitates an easy shopping experience right from the pin itself.

Pinterest Shop

This feature lets you create a shopping profile to showcase and sell products directly on Pinterest, enhancing product visibility and accessibility.

Promoted Pins and Ads

Promoted pins are paid advertisements designed to increase visibility, while Pinterest ads offer more advanced targeting options for reaching specific audiences.

Changes to Advertising on Pinterest

Pinterest has introduced several updates to its advertising options to boost audience engagement and provide businesses with more creative and effective ways to reach potential customers:

Showcase Ads

These ads allow you to display multiple pins in one unit, showcasing a variety of products or styles in a single advertisement.

Quiz Ads

Interactive and dynamic, quiz ads engage users by offering personalized recommendations based on quiz responses, adding a tailored touch to the advertising experience.

eCommerce Integrations

To streamline the selling process on Pinterest, new eCommerce integrations have been introduced. Integration options for Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Adobe Commerce simplify the process for merchants to sell on Pinterest, making it more accessible for you to use these platforms.

Creative Studio and Business Manager

As the Pinterest platform continues to grow, it now offers two new functions to make social selling easier, ad management simpler, and content organization more streamlined. 

Creative Studio

A new tool designed to expedite pin creation, Creative Studio offers lifestyle imagery options to enhance the performance of ads, making it easier for you to craft compelling content.

Business Manager for Agencies

Similar to Meta’s Business Suite, this collection of tools is tailored for agencies, facilitating efficient planning, launching, and managing of portfolios and client initiatives on Pinterest.

Facebook Updates: 2 Changes for Facebook Shop

If you’re not familiar with Facebook Shop, it’s an online store that the platform lets you create right on your Facebook Business page. It offers a customizable and shoppable experience that syncs with your website’s inventory. That way, customers can shop from the platform without having to navigate to your website and find the product they’re interested in. 

2024 brings two new updates worth noting for those who use this Facebook eCommerce tool. First, product tagging and audience creation will no longer be available if your shop does not comply with Facebook’s guidelines. Though, exceptions may be made for omnichannel and subscription-based businesses.

Second, Facebook Shop is changing the checkout process. As of June 5, 2023, all new shops created in the U.S. are required to use the checkout feature on Facebook and Instagram. For existing shops, those without checkout on these platforms will become inaccessible starting April 24, 2024. If your business falls into this category, you must enable the checkout feature on Facebook and Instagram by April 24, 2024, to maintain shop activity and product tagging capabilities.

Instagram Updates: Tweaks to be Aware Of

Recent Instagram updates have significantly enhanced the platform experience, especially for content creators. New editing tools include undo and redo options, as well as the ability to zoom and search the camera roll directly from the app. These improvements are particularly beneficial for crafting reels, streamlining the process from recording to posting and saving valuable time for creators.

In terms of analytics, Instagram has improved insights for reels by expanding the “plays” metric to distinguish between initial plays and replays. This change offers content creators deeper insights into reels’ performance, so you can refine your Instagram content strategy with more precision.

Another notable update is the introduction of multiple links in user bios, moving beyond the single-link limitation. It’s like Linktree but it integrates directly into Instagram, allowing you to share a broader array of links with followers directly from your bio. This lets you direct people to different parts of your website and specific resources you want them to view instead of just your website’s home page.”

 “Instagram now lets you add multiple links to your bio. This makes things easier for you and your customers. You can direct people to different parts of your website instead of just your website’s home page.”

Joe Santoro, TTG Account Manager

LinkedIn Updates: 2 New Additions

From an eCommerce perspective, LinkedIn can be a fantastic place to connect with prospective shoppers as well as potential new hires as you expand your brand. The platform recently introduced two new updates to make content planning and growing your team even simpler. 

One of the latest features to enhance user experience on LinkedIn is Post Scheduling. This new functionality allows users to plan and schedule content in advance, making it significantly easier for individuals and businesses to maintain a consistent presence on the platform without the need to manually post content in real-time.

Another feature, called Recruiter, is set to release in April 2024. It’s an AI-assisted candidate discovery tool designed to streamline the talent acquisition process, offering a more efficient way to connect with potential hires on the platform.

Nextdoor Updates: 2 New Features to Embrace

Does your target audience tend to be less active on widespread platforms like LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook? You might want to turn your gaze to and focus your efforts on Nextdoor. It’s a hyperlocal social networking platform designed specifically for neighborhoods, boasting a current user base of 42 million. It’s an invaluable resource for obtaining recommendations on local products and services directly from neighbors, making it an essential tool for boosting local engagement. 

Nextdoor recently rolled out two new features to enhance the experience both for eCommerce stores and their customers. The Discover Tab makes it easier for users to find and support great local businesses, meet neighbors with shared interests, and stay informed about what’s happening in your area. It’s a fantastic way for businesses to increase visibility within the local community and for users to feel more connected to their neighborhood.

Ads Manager is a user-friendly tool designed to help your business more effectively reach your target audience. With improved targeting capabilities and a simplified ad management process, this feature allows you to craft and deliver messages to the most relevant local audiences, so your advertising efforts are both efficient and impactful.

TikTok Updates: Meet TikTok Shop

Though the future of TikTok in the US is currently uncertain, there are some important new features to note as we await its fate. TikTok Shop, which was introduced in 2021, is one of the top tools that has contributed to eCommerce business success on the platform. Not only does this tool have a low barrier to entry, you can start using it even if you have few or no followers. But it has multiple integrations with popular eCommerce tools including Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Adobe/Magento, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and Amazon.

4 TikTok Shop Features to Leverage

Here are just four functions within TikTok Shop you can leverage to increase your small business’s profits on this platform:

1. Live Shopping

This feature revolutionizes the online shopping experience by allowing you to promote and sell products in real-time. It fosters an interactive environment where you can demonstrate products live, answer viewer questions, and create a sense of urgency and exclusivity, making the shopping experience more engaging and personal.

2. Shoppable Video

By creating entertaining videos that feature products, you can make your store’s offerings instantly purchasable with just a tap. This integration of shopping and content consumption streamlines the buyer’s journey, offering a seamless experience from discovery to purchase.

3. Shop Page

TikTok Shop provides an in-app space to display your product catalog. This dedicated area allows users to browse and shop directly within the TikTok app, enhancing convenience by keeping the shopping experience within a single platform.

4. Shop Tab

Situated within TikTok’s centralized marketplace, the Shop Tab presents a variety of products from different sellers in one consolidated view. This feature makes it easier for users to discover and explore a wide range of items, enriching the shopping experience with diversity and convenience.

“One advantage of TikTok shop is its low barrier to entry. This means that you can sell via shoppable videos or live streams even if you just set up your TikTok account and don’t have any followers yet. You don’t have to hit a certain threshold of followers to unlock this feature, as you had to in the past with some apps. With TikTok, you can start selling right away.”

Jenee Esquivel,
TTG Account Manager

2 New Emerging Platforms to Keep Tabs On

The social media landscape is constantly evolving, with new platforms emerging that aim to capture the attention of digital audiences. Two platforms that have recently made waves are Instagram Threads and Lemon8, each offering unique features that cater to current social media trends and user preferences.

Threads by Instagram

Launched in July 2023, Threads is Instagram’s answer to X (formerly known as Twitter), designed specifically for sharing text updates and engaging in public conversations. This platform allows anyone with an Instagram account to create a Threads profile. Threads aims to foster a space for more focused and meaningful discussions, moving beyond the visual-centric content Instagram is known for, and diving into the realm of text-based dialogue and community engagement.

Lemon8

Entering the scene as a new lifestyle content community app, Lemon8 presents itself as a hybrid between Instagram and Pinterest. It focuses on sharing photos and videos across various lifestyle categories such as beauty, fashion, food, travel, fitness, and pets. Unlike the vertical scrolling that’s become the norm on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, Lemon8 introduces users to a horizontal or “feed” scroll, offering a fresh way to explore content. This unique scrolling experience, combined with its broad content categories, positions Lemon8 as an intriguing new player for those interested in lifestyle content.