Social media features every content creator should know about

3 social media features for content creators

Photo by Adem AY on Unsplash

As digital content and social media’s outreach increase every day, so do the features and updates on social network platforms. With regular weekly updates and new tools available for content creators, the marketing strategy for brands and social media influencers takes new faces in the ever-changing social media landscape.

Social media applications and platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube have billions of active users who are constantly engaging with content posted on these social networks. To help you reach these users with your content, we’ve put together a list of different features to help you better engage with your audience. From Instagram Reels to Snapchat Discoveries, here’s everything you need to know about social media features.

Instagram Reels 

You can share short, fun videos on Instagram using the Reels feature. This feature is usually used to post 30-second clips of viral challenges and trends that will keep your followers entertained. Reels allow you to measure the number of views you get on your video and you can post the video clip with related trending hashtags to give you a better chance of higher engagement. 

There are other video features available on Instagram too, such as IGTV, Instagram Live, Stories, and regular video posts. However, Reels are becoming more commonly used over other video features, as these videos show up on the Instagram Explore Page. If you wish to post a longer video, IGTV allows you to post up to an hour worth of video footage. 

Snapchat Discover

Snapchat offers a variety of features that keep its young demographic engaged, making it a great tool for content creators and businesses to advertise their products or services in interactive ways. It’s also a great way to get your content in front of more eyes, especially Millennials and Gen Zers. 

Snapchat’s Discover feature hosts news and entertainment stories, original shows and series as well as sponsored posts from influencers. Brands and content creators can get featured on Snapchat’s Discover by either becoming a publishing partner with Snapchat or by submitting your Story to Snapchat’s Story, which is public. Regardless of the type of content you produce, you can keep your audience engaged  on the platform by posting tutorials, reviews, and Q&As related to your content.

YouTube Ads

According to statistics from Fortune Lords, almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day, making it the biggest video streaming platform in the world. It is also the second-largest search engine just behind Google. Content creators can post videos for free on the platform or pay for advertising to reach a larger audience. These ads are played before viewers watch a video or during the middle of a video on the platform. 

Other helpful features content creators should know about on YouTube are thumbnails and links. By adding these things to a published video on your Channel, viewers can click and go directly to another video on your Channel (e.g. another episode in a series you produce or a review of a product you mention in a video). This is a more user-friendly way of linking to your content as opposed to adding links to your video description, which some viewers may never see.