Facebook F8 2018: 5 Takeaways for Social Media Marketers

The two days of incredibly exciting announcements at the latest annual Facebook F8 Conference came to an end. While the event was meant primarily for developers, there are all kind of insights for digital marketers to learn and get ahead of the curve.

We followed the conference and would love to share the top 5 things we think social media marketers should take away from this Facebook F8 Conference 2018.

Dating features

Facebook is taking on Tinder by launching a new set of dating features. People can opt-in to create a dating profile on Facebook and it will only be visible to non-friends who are also searching for love. Facebook will match people by dating preferences, things in common, and mutual friends. They’ll have the option to discover others with similar interests through their Groups or Events. The dating feature is going to be rolled out later this year.

We kinda’ saw this coming, didn’t we? Who would be best cupid? Someone who knows us better than we know ourselves: Facebook. It knows what we like, what we don’t, what we say we don’t but we never stop checking their page. So yes, if there’s a soulmate for each of us out there, Facebook is the best prepared to find it.

What that means for marketers: If this set of features are successfully adopted by users, are we going to see clever marketers infiltrating “FaceDate” to spread the word about their products and services? This can open a possibility for brands to interact with consumers in new and exciting guerilla ways. We might see brands creating fake profiles to promote new movies or TV shows, encourage users to swipe right for the chance to win goodies, or run quizzes to ask users for their choice on a specific topic.

We’re not sure if there will be any ads in the long run, but one thing is clear: Facebook is doubling down on creating “meaningful experiences”. And no matter the environment, brands should create campaigns that fit within the context and are driven by content that grabs the attention, is rewarding and entertaining. After all, brands should prove that they can add value to customers’ daily lives and do so with delightful experiences.

Clear history

Facebook is building a new privacy feature that allows users to clear their “browsing history on Facebook,” much like you’d clear your cookies on a browser. This feature makes total sense for Facebook considering the recent controversy around Cambridge Analytica and it’s probably an attempt to calm the waters. It’s good news for those who are more privacy-conscious, though it will make your Facebook experience less personalized.

What that means for marketers: It’s hard to really predict what this will mean and how many people will actually clear their app history. The privacy data scandals are too recent to understand if this is just the hype after the shock or a long-term choice that users will prefer and opt for.

A lot of questions spring in our marketer’s brains. The feature will allow users to erase the data for some apps and websites or not store that data at all at any times. It’s possible that plenty of users will choose option one. We’ve become accustomed to being reminded about products that we’re interested in buying and it might be almost comfortable to let the brands fight for our attention and the products to come to us – not to do the entire research ourselves.

But no matter what, Facebook will probably find a way to protect their number one revenue source – the advertisers.

Facebook is reopening its app review process

Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook has re-opened its app review process following the pause hey took after the Cambridge Analytica crisis. This is welcome news for developers, including us 🙂

Facebook had to balance safety and privacy with keeping developers loyal. It was important for them to make sure no other shady apps are slipping through their review process, but also to keep their developers happy so that they keep building experiences that keep users engaged.

What that means for marketers:

Social media marketers will continue to have access to a diverse pool of tools to manage their Facebook Pages, making some awesome features available again. For example, publishing to Facebook Groups has been frozen since the data scandal. This announcement means that app reviews are back on track and legitimate tools will be able to provide such features again.

What that means for Planable:

Finally, now that reviews are open again, Planable has the chance to bring back the Facebook Groups publishing feature. We feel optimistic about passing the app review and will keep our users updated on the progress.

We’re also keeping our hopes up for Instagram direct publishing. Now that Facebook is letting apps back in, it might accelerate the process of giving all developers access to their new Instagram API.

Facebook messenger refreshed

The extremely popular messenger app will go through a revamp. David Marcus announced that they’re testing AR effects functionalities. According to Facebook, these functionalities will help brands create better and more interactive experiences.

M Translations is the second big update we’ve heard at F8. M Translations is an automated translation tool that will help reduce language barriers between friends as well as brands and consumers.

And lastly, Messenger’s design gets a beautiful update that will make the app feel less cluttered with all the new features they’ve been adding lately.

What this means for marketers:

Facebook messenger is becoming more and more brand-friendly lately and it seems that we’re continuing on the same path. AR functionalities will be an opportunity to skip the boring approaches and attract attention before everyone starts taking advantage.

When it comes to M Translations, customer support might just become easier. As most companies nowadays have a global audience, localizing customer support isn’t easy. Especially for startups. This is an opportunity to have those conversations and not be pulled back by language barriers.

Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories enjoyed a massive success ever since they came on. That momentum can’t be lost so new updates will make Instagram stories even better. Firstly, users will enjoy more third-party integrations such as GoPro. Spotify is also an announced integration and it sounds pretty amazing.

What this means for marketers:

Instagram is bringing increasingly great results for brands especially since the platform becomes more and more popular. Stories are just another way for the right brands to interact and attract fans and customers. We’re guessing that these kinds of integrations will only increase Instagram Stories popularity and the feed itself might be surpassed. So brands, as always, should hop on and enjoy the latest trend.

That’s a wrap on the major announcements from Facebook’s F8 conference 2018. It’s exciting news for us, social media marketers – we’re always ready for a change.