Twitter Offers New Customer Support Features for Businesses“These new features enable businesses to tell users they provide help on Twitter, indicate when they’re most active, and ensure people know they have the option to send them a Direct Message,” according to Twitter. The new features can be activated on the new Customer Support Settings Page on Twitter. Businesses are required to have already enabled Direct Messages from everyone before accessing any of the new features.Instagram Stories Copies a Popular Snapchat FeatureIn a direct copy of Snapchat, Instagram Stories now allows users to post photos throughout the day that will disappear after 24 hours. Stories provides an easy, fun way to create engaging content on Instagram while continuing to take advantage of features like geotagging and hashtags that marketers will appreciate. Instagram also has a Discover section so users can find your stories easily. “If you have ever wanted to try out Snapchat-style content to market your business, then this is your chance,” writes Anthony Maina on Small Business Trends.Best Practices: Learn a Few Tricks from the Top 50 Snapchat MarketersIf your business is considering Snapchat and you feel like you don’t know how to get started, take a look at what some of the top 50 marketing influencers on the fast-growing platform are doing. Even if you know who you want to follow, because of the way Snapchat works, it can be hard to find someone: you basically have to know what their user name is. This list will jumpstart your Snapchat learning. “With 100 million daily users and 7 billion daily page views, Snapchat has engagement other networks like Facebook can only dream of,” notes Josh Steimle, CEO of digital marketing agency MWI, writing on Mashable.Allo: Can Google Finally Compete in Messaging?Google’s entry into the chat app market, Allo, rolled out in September, marking another step by the company to compete with, oh, everybody. Dieter Bohn, executive editor at The Verge, provides a mixed review: it’s good enough, but not good enough yet to compel people to switch from their current messaging apps (e.g., Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp). “Over the years,” he writes, “we’ve watched Google flail around in its attempts at social — witness Hangouts and Google Plus and what the time wasted on Google Plus did to Hangouts. But now, messaging is very much at the center of what we spend our time doing on phones, and Google doesn’t have access to that in the way it knows the web or our email.” However, he notes, Google has two longer-term advantages here: 1) it’s Google, and 2) Google Assistant (its AI product that competes with Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Microsoft’s Cortana) is built into Allo.Daniel Lieberman helps companies, organizations, and individuals use the Internet to communicate, market, and brand themselves using the most up-to-date tools and techniques. Based in Shelburne Falls, Mass., he also is the founder and CEO of Spelt Gourmet, the home of creative wheat-free cooking. Visit danieljlieberman.com Contact him at 413-489-1818 or [email protected].
