Can you imagine what life would be like if every acquaintance you’d ever made turned up at your front door, demanding you listen to the latest thing they had to say? Quite apart from the catastrophic impact it would have on our biscuit stash, it would be madness at 24 fingers’ towers. 

Yet that’s what happens on social media every single time you hop onto a platform. Your feed is inundated with stuff: everything from group discussions to new items – not to mention ads, ads, everywhere. 

But how much of it is actually relevant or of interest to viewers? You probably scroll past a reasonable chunk of posts – and the same is true for every other person on the platform, which means businesses have to work their socks off to be seen. 

Luckily, the clever chaps at Instagram are working on a solution, dubbed Favorites. 

This feature would allow you to ‘favourite’ (we’re really not sure it should be used as a verb, but there you go) up to 30 accounts, prioritising their posts above all others, lifting them from the swirling mass chucked up by Instagram’s algorithm. 

Facebook, which owns Instagram, has something similar called Close Friends, and both features could prove to be both interesting and handy for business owners looking to make sure their brand cuts through all that noise. 

It would help bring potential customers’ attention to products and services they’re interested in buying, and also make feeds clearer and easier to browse. 

Before we all get too excited and start looking for the Favourites label, Facebook said: “This feature is an internal prototype that’s still in development and not testing externally.” 

We’ve heard that one before, but we reckon if word about Favourites has leaked out, chances are it’s not that far from being tested, even on a small scale. 

As always, we’ll keep our finger firmly on the pulse of social media’s shenanigans, and when we hear more, you’ll be the first to know. 

We’re 24 fingers, a digital marketing agency and a proud member of the 42 Club, Brentwood Chamber of Commerce, Excel Business Networking Group, the Trusted Business Community, the Organisation for Responsible Businesses and the Rotary Club of Brentwood à Becket. We help companies who are all fingers and thumbs with their social media grow their business and brand. Book your free strategy call here.

Fans of superb 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off will be familiar with the line: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Even the smartest of American teenagers would be hard-pressed to keep up with the comings and goings of social media, particularly Linkedin’s Stories shenanigans. 

In case you haven’t heard, the platform will be suspending the feature from 30th September. If you’ve bought ads that will run between Stories, they will be shown on the Linkedin feed, but in slightly more irritating news, an business owners promoting or sponsoring Stories directly from their page will have to remake them. 

Linkedin Stories just about lasted a year, and was launched at the same time as Twitter’s equally ill-fated Fleets, which were kicked to the kerb almost as soon as they were launched. 

In a blog post, LinkedIn’s senior director of product Liz Li said: “In developing Stories, we assumed people wouldn’t want informal videos attached to their profile, and that ephemerality would reduce barriers that people feel about posting. 

“Turns out, you want to create lasting videos that tell your professional story in a more personal way and that showcase both your personality and expertise.”

Li also revealed users wanted more functionality in Stories, as well as “more creative tools to make engaging videos”, not just stickers and prompts. Who said social media doesn’t listen? 

The good news is that Linkedin looks set to follow Instagram and Snapchat in taking inspiration from TikTok, and create its own feed that’s strikingly close (but not too much) to the ByteDance-owned platform. 

Given there are growing numbers of users on TikTok posting hints and tips about putting together CVs, interview and career advice, as well as kick-ass dance moves, we can see where Linkedin’s heading and why it would be a smart move for small businesses to stay ahead of the short-form video curve.  

Will we see the corporate equivalent of TikTok’s epic editing popping up on Linkedin? If Emma can find some dancing shoes that may well be a yes… 

We’re 24 fingers, a digital marketing agency and a proud member of the 42 Club, Brentwood Chamber of Commerce, Excel Business Networking Group, the Trusted Business Community, the Organisation for Responsible Businesses and the Rotary Club of Brentwood à Becket. We help companies who are all fingers and thumbs with their social media grow their business and brand. Book your free strategy call here.

From a certain point of view, social media looks easy peasy: chuck out the odd quote from someone famous here for Facebook, throw together a quick Instagram video on your smartphone and boooom – Robert’s your father’s brother. 

Well yes, and then again no… We at 24 fingers towers know there’s a lot more going on than what people scroll through on their feeds. Business posts are a small part of a much bigger overall strategy, crafted pieces of content that serve an important purpose, and analysing whether they’re working is a mammoth task in itself. That’s why we’re going to look at social media audits, why you should have them regularly and what they can do for you. 

We heard the sharp intake of breath at the word ‘audit’ but don’t worry, this will be your kind of scrutiny, because its sole aim is to improve your business and boost your bottom line. So, let’s start at the beginning and ask a few important questions.

What is a social media audit?

Put simply, it’s a review of the metrics generated by your business’ social media posts that examines growth, highlights potential opportunities and what you can do to enhance your social media presence.

It helps you identify the bits of your social media campaigns that are working and those that aren’t doing quite so well, as well as spotlighting who you’re reaching, when and where, giving you a deeper understanding of engagement levels and how many sales you’re generating from your content. 

Does a social media audit really matter?

If your business is going great guns, then you might think “probably not” and move swiftly on but we say “woah there Nelly”. Knowing what your top-performing posts are means you’ll get a better insight into what your audience actually likes and prompts them to turn a click into a purchase. 

Do they prefer written content or are they gobbling up videos? Are they scrolling during the day (sneakily, and at work like the rest of humankind) or do they hop on in the evening when the shoes are kicked off and the cork’s out of the wine?

Tweaking your strategy, even just a little, after a social media audit could see a huge difference in sales and revenues, and that can only be a good thing. Likewise, if your brand isn’t performing as well as you’d like, you can pinpoint exactly what isn’t working, stop wasting your energy and try something new. 

How will a social media audit help?

Good question. First of all, as we’ve just said, it will help you understand your audiences better but it will also inform you where and when to find them. As anyone who has ever been up in the wee small hours, furiously putting together a business marketing plan knows, anything that helps pinpoint your ideal customer is worth its weight in gold.  

Second, social media audits will flag up any brand inconsistency, which can be a relatively easy fix but will reap huge rewards if everyone on every platform where you have a presence can recognise you quickly and easily. 

That leads us neatly to the third advantage: your brand will be known as credible, reliable and organised (even if you don’t always feel the same). The value from that is, to coin a phrase, priceless. 

Finally, a social media audit can help you set defined yet achievable business goals, whether it’s to grow your audience on a particular platform (having discovered that’s where a lot of your customers are lurking), increase sales figures or boost growth by a particular percentage. 

When should you have a social media audit?

It depends. Some companies have them quarterly, while others prefer monthly. What you really ought to be asking is who should carry out your social media audit, because that’s potentially a lot of data to wade through and understand. Luckily, that’s where we come in. 

We can crunch the numbers any time you want, whether it’s once a week or once a year, and generate insights into your business that will help shape your next move. We will analyse trends, identify opportunities, tell you where things are going well and offer advice on what to do for campaigns that haven’t quite hit the mark. 

Want to get started? Our 24 fingers are flexed and ready to go… Get the ball rolling here.

We’re 24 fingers, a digital marketing agency and a proud member of the Brentwood Chamber of Commerce, Excel Business Networking Group, the Trusted Business Community, the Organisation for Responsible Businesses and the Rotary Club of Brentwood à Becket. We help companies who are all fingers and thumbs with their social media grow their business and brand. Book your free strategy call here

The world of social media never stands still, not for one second. It’s part of the reason we love it, but the speed of change can take some business owners by surprise. Take the international launch of Instagram Reels ads, for instance. 

Reels has only been around since August 2020, but it’s already expanded to include features including Insights, Remix and Live, all so it can keep up with rival platforms (we’re looking at you TikTok). 

It migth all be enough to make your head spin but the addition of ads to Reels is a sweet opportunity for business owners to widen their audience and expand their reach. 

Instagram Reels ads look just like any other post, so they’re looping videos, full screen and run for up to 30 seconds. The slight difference is they will have a “sponsored” tag below the advertiser’s account name, so anyone viewing it will be aware it’s an ad. 

The global launch follows testing in Australia, India, Brazil and Germany, and there may be tweaks as it goes along, as Instagram’s Adam Mosseri said the firm was not 100% happy with the format. Luckily for them, we’re always on our toes at 24 fingers and ready for the next change social media throws at us. 

We’re 24 fingers, a digital marketing agency and a proud member of the 42 Club, Brentwood Chamber of Commerce, Excel Business Networking Group, the Trusted Business Community, the Organisation for Responsible Businesses and the Rotary Club of Brentwood à Becket. We help companies who are all fingers and thumbs with their social media grow their business and brand. Book your free strategy call here.

It’s finally December, and after a 2020 that has put us all through the wringer, many people are decking their halls with boughs of holly and throwing tinsel around like there’s no tomorrow. 

Here at 24 fingers towers, we’re every bit as keen to get into the Christmas spirit, but before we can start necking egg nog and nicking mince pies (Ed’s note: no snogging under the mistletoe this year please), there’s just a little more work to be done, including speaking at this year’s Festive Freelance Fair, held by our friends at the Freelancer Club. 

That said, it hardly feels like work when it means we get to talk about the thing we love the most – social media – and help people to boot. 

The Freelancer Club’s virtual Festive Freelance Fair takes place on 15th December, and we’re delighted to say our Emma Goode will be among the industry leaders taking part, presenting The Top 10 Things Every Freelancer Should Do To Grow Their Social Media. 

“I can’t wait for this event,” said Emma. “I’m so excited to offer advice about getting the best out of social media to the freelance community. It’s the backbone of the UK economy and has been hard hit by Covid, but I’m sure we can help freelance businesses bounce back and be fighting fit like never before.”

“The Festive Freelance Fair is a much-needed celebration of all things freelance following a tremendously difficult year for so many self-employed and startups alike,” said founder Matt Dowling.  “We’re thrilled to provide such insightful speakers with a platform to inspire a broad range of freelancers and help facilitate connections on both sides. It may have been a rocky 2020 but we’re ending it on a high!”

Tickets for the Freelancer Festive Fair are free but limited for Freelancer Club’s followers, customers and members. Don’t miss out – register to join the event and listen to Emma’s presentation here.

We’re 24 fingers, a digital marketing agency and a proud member of the Brentwood Chamber of Commerce, Excel Business Networking Group, the Trusted Business Community and the Organisation for Responsible Businesses. If you’re feeling all fingers and thumbs with your online marketing, use our hands (and hearts and minds) to get extra digits on your bottom line. Book your free strategy call here.

Strange things are afoot in social media land… After spending years knitting together the two platforms, Facebook-owned Instagram recently announced it would allow new advertisers to create Instagram ads without a Facebook page.

Naturally, everyone’s eyebrows at 24 fingers shot skyward at this news, but then we dug a little deeper. 

First, the feature is currently only available in the US and Turkey and there are no plans to expand it elsewhere. That said, it wouldn’t be the first time Facebook did something unexpected. 

Second, any campaigns run under this new tool will use Instagram to track ad performance, rather than Facebook.  

For those itching to know how to set it up, first of all head to your Instagram profile, tap the post you’d like to advertise and then tap promote under the image. 

Fill in the destination, audience, budget and duration details, then tap ‘next’. To complete the ad, tap ‘create promotion’ under ‘review’. Once the post has been approved it will go live.  

There’s a lot of discussion in the media about whether the ability to run Instagram ads without a Facebook page is linked to the backlash against Facebook and its policing of hate speech on the platform. 

Several big advertisers are pulling campaigns from the social media giant over the controversial issue, and it could be that creating a barrier of separation between Facebook and Instagram could give marketers a way to continue to reach audiences without compromising their principles. 

An Instagram spokesperson told AdWeek the change had been in testing for months and was nothing to do with the latest headlines, but we think the timing of even a limited roll-out is interesting to say the least. 

Whether the ability to run Instagram ads without a Facebook page will be expanded to other countries or take in brands that have advertised on both platforms before will remain to be seen, but we’ll keep an eye on what’s occurrin’. 

Want to get the best out of your social media ad campaigns? Talk to us at 24 fingers and we’ll make sure you go straight to the top of the class.