Welcome to The Connected Church News!
Top 5 latest Digital & Social Media News in 5 minutes, to help your ministry stay on top of industry trends.
This week, we have news about Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter.
News 1: YouTube releases 4 new features related to video captions & subtitles
Source: YouTube
News 2: Facebook announces $10 million Creator Fund for VR (Virtual Reality)
Source: Facebook
News 3: Twitter launches Multi-Destination Carousel Ads with built-in customizations
Source: Twitter
News 4: Instagram to notify tech issues & account status via new in-app alerts
Source: Instagram
News 5: LinkedIn releases 2 new useful resources for communication & advertising
Source: LinkedIn 1 | LinkedIn 2
[News 1] YouTube releases 4 new features related to video captions & subtitles
Our first big news this week is from YouTube. Last week, YouTube made significant announcements related to captions and subtitles. I know many churches, ministries listening to me, you work with different people groups in different nations, speaking different languages and you create content for them. So this kind of announcements coming from a large channel like YouTube, is something that might need your attention.
There are 4 announcements out of which 2, I think, are very significant. So I’ll talk about that. And then you can go check out all the 4. There are 2 important announcements. One is: auto translation of subtitles on mobile. People on mobile, so far this was available only on desktop, but now people on mobile can select which language they would like to look at the subtitles, which can be big when you want to reach people in a certain people group, or people who speak a specific language. So pay attention to your captions.
Pay attention to your translated transcripts. The second is: Searchability. Youtube is bringing searchable captions functionality into transcripts, so people can actually look for a particular keyword in your transcript. They can search for it, and then they can go to that part of the video and watch it. So pay attention to your transcripts – how it is being uploaded, what keyword it has, etc. So it becomes very important. The other two are related to workflow and captions.
[News 2] Facebook announces $10 million Creator Fund for VR (Virtual Reality)
Our next news is from Facebook. Last week, Facebook announced a $10 million creator fund for VR, Virtual Reality programs and developments. I wanted to bring this to your notice because I want you, as a leader, to take note of the importance that the VR and AR, Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality space is starting to get. Facebook CEO earlier called his company, a ‘Metaverse company’ going forward in the future, because audiences preferences have started changing. They are looking for immersive experiences in the online space. Just looking at your phone or looking at just a screen is not going to be enough. They want Immersive experiences.
They want to enter into an online world and have these conversations and experiences. That is why companies are investing big in this space. So you as a leader, can start thinking about that. Think about whether your Ministry is ready for it. If you are in that space, maybe you want to develop something. Because Facebook says they are going to invest this $10 million in three areas: Community Competitions, Accelerator Program, Funding for Developers. So maybe you could look at something (in this list). I just wanted to bring this to your notice so that you can start thinking about the VR, Virtual Reality opportunities that are ahead of you.
[News 3] Twitter launches Multi-Destination Carousel Ads with built-in customizations
Our next news is from Twitter. Last week, Twitter made some announcements about advertising features, and one thing that really caught my attention was the ‘Multi-Destination Carousel Ad’ format. Carousel ad format has been around for a while now, but now they are adding this feature where you can add separate headlines, and separate URL links to each image on the Carousel ad. Carousel Ads, as you know, is one of the most popular forms of ads in almost all the platforms.
Now, Twitter being Twitter, with being a public channel that you can use for awareness, you can use for reaching people, you can use for getting opinions, they have lots of people on Twitter, and it’s a first channel that’s used for news, and sports, etc. So as the Church, or a Ministry, or a Nonprofit think about ways in which you can use this to reach people on Twitter, for a very specific cause. So, this article also has details about the other new features that they are adding for advertising and performance. So do pass this on to your social media and advertising team.
[News 4] Instagram to notify tech issues & account status via new in-app alerts
Our next news is about Instagram. Last week, Instagram released a couple of in-app alerts related to two things. One is tech issues and other is account status. The tech issues is basically, when Instagram goes down, you will get an in-app alert about why it went down. Obviously after it comes back. Something like that happened a few days ago, where it went down for hours.
If something like that happens, Instagram says you will be able to find out why it happened, what happened, etc., using in-app alerts. But what is more significant is the second part, where it talks about account status. Suppose you, as a Ministry or a Non-profit, post something that should not have been posted, according to Instagram, then you will get an alert related to that as well. So that’s called account status alert. And it will also tell you what happened if they pulled it down, why they pulled it down, etc., which I think is significant.
[News 5] LinkedIn releases 2 new useful resources for communication & advertising
Our final use of this week is from LinkedIn. Linkedin released two resources last week, which I thought would be useful for you, even if you don’t use LinkedIn! One resource is about inclusive language in communication. It is about when you communicate, when you write, or when you communicate even as videos, how to use language that’s inclusive – that doesn’t discriminate or doesn’t eliminate certain groups of people. So it’s very interesting. I think it’s very useful as communicators being in this space of nonprofits, churches, ministries, it’s important for us to know how to communicate effectively. So definitely have a look at this resource. It’s a PDF document.
The second resource is a resource specifically about LinkedIn and how to use various LinkedIn Ads in different parts of the funnel. Even if you don’t use LinkedIn ads, this particular infographic gives you a clear idea on how to structure the types of ads in the three different stages of the funnel.
Author of The Connected Church. Social Media and Digital Marketing Consultant for Nonprofits, Faith-based Organisations, Churches and Ministries. You can subscribe to Natchi’s email newsletter by clicking here.
