🌊 The sea change happening in the world of social media // New Facebook group features // Meta forced to sell Giphy

Mari has the scoop for you Greetings {NAME}, There's a SEA CHANGE happening in the world of social media - maybe you can feel it, too? [Sea change - slow mo wave] Here's the change I see. We are quietly moving: - AWAY from the constant push for more followers, reach, engagement and all the public-facing vanity metrics, and - TOWARDS focusing on metrics that matter + quietly building genuine relationships, making sales, and growing businesses. I say 'quietly' because nobody is talking about this. They're simply behind the scenes, being very strategic, just getting on with things without any fanfares and song and dance about it. In fact, there is a growing swell of savvy, strategic business owners and entrepreneurs quietly focusing on their own successes and not succumbing to all the hype and constant push for bigger, better, badder social media metrics. ;) I've been talking about this sea change in pretty much all of my presentations and keynotes this year. I've been sensing, feeling, hearing and seeing this unfold gradually for some time. The other day, I had a very interesting conversation with a colleague about the current state of the entire social media landscape. One of her friends runs a social media agency and recently lost two clients, as the stance of these two businesses was basically that social media wasn't doing anything for them and they didn't see the point in continuing to keep publishing content. Oops. :( Well, whilst it's certainly true that the 'crank out nonstop content' model died off a few years back, there are proven approaches that are working really well today. So, don’t throw the social media towel in just yet!! I can tell you that 90% of social media marketers are getting it wrong and making costly, big mistakes. BUT, it's not too late to turn things around! Right now, I'm putting together a special one-time WORKSHOP addressing what I see is a big elephant in the social media room. I'm outlining four clear, very different paths to success with social media so we can each identify what we might be getting wrong and embark on the right path. I'll keep you posted!! Meantime, I'd love to hear your input on what you're seeing with your own business, your own social media marketing efforts and just 'out there' in the social media landscape in general. Feel free to reply to this email. I posted about this topic in my Social Scoop FB group and FB Page and have been amazed at the insightful responses. Come [join the conversation]( in my private group or on my Facebook [Page](). (Or, [LinkedIn](=) or this [Twitter thread](=)). Instagram Is Testing An In-App Scheduling Tool for Posts and Reels Instagram confirmed that it's testing native in-app post scheduling with a percentage of its global users. If you use either Creator Studio or the Meta Business Suite desktop or mobile apps, you can already schedule to Instagram. But, maybe it's just easier for you to schedule inside the Instagram app. We'll see. [Learn more here](. Facebook Rolls Out New Features In Groups Meta kicked off its sixth annual [Facebook Communities Summit]( today, announcing a number of changes to "help people engage more deeply around the things they care about, strengthen community culture, and make it easier for admins to manage their groups." Meta says, "Building community is core to Facebook’s mission in bringing the world closer together, and while community has made its way into every corner of the app, Groups continue to be the central place where people go to do more together." Most people on Facebook are members of at least 15 active groups, and there are more than 100 million group joins every day. [Learn more about the new features here](. (Tbh, I didn't see anything earth-shattering here, but maybe that's just me. LOL). Meta Forced to Sell Giphy I'm actually relieved to hear that Meta is being forced to not own Giphy!! I don't know about you, but I use Giphy quite a bit - mostly on other sites/platforms and for downloading GIFs to use in emails and presentations/slide decks. Of course, every action we take in Giphy would give Meta tons more data points. So, hurrah for the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)!! In case you didn't know, Meta bought Giphy - the largest supplier of animated gifs to social networks such as Snapchat, TikTok and Twitter - in 2020. Along with being forced to sell Giphy, Meta was also fined £50.5m ($70m) by the CMA. Meta was accused of deliberately breaking rules. (Uhm, does this sound familiar?! ) Btw, the fine is >150x higher than the previous record for similar offenses. The CMA said, "This is the first time a company has been found by the CMA to have breached an [order] by consciously refusing to report all the required information." Sheesh! [Read more on the BBC](=). [image] That's all for this issue of my Social Scoop e-zine. Got questions? You're welcome to reply to this email and my team and I will do our best to respond in a timely manner. Also, for sure meet us in my super lively and supportive [Social Scoop Facebook Group]() - celebrating 21k+ amazing members. Cheers 'til the next time, Mari Smith CEO, Mari Smith International, Inc. Premier Facebook Marketing Expert Top Social Media Thought Leader Author, The New Relationship Marketing Coauthor, Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day [image] If you wish to unsubscribe or CHANGE or UPDATE your information, please click this link: [Unsubscribe]( Mari Smith International 11956 Bernardo Plaza Dr., #201 San Diego, California 92128 United States