WTF is BeReal?

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WTF is BeReal?

Loves to write, loves to research, and loves the performance of all things social & blog strategy.

First, a quick PSA: We’ll be live with The Sauce every Monday evening at 7:30 PM EST. You can set a reminder on Twitter here

We’ll cover each edition along with a few other tips and tidbits for small biz and creators.

Hope to see you there! 

What we’ve got on tap for you today:

  • Facebook might be losing its grip? 
  • WTF is BeReal? 
  • Scheduling reels on creator studio
  • New IG Reels Updates and in-app edits
  • Zuckerberg swears  the upcoming metaverse isn’t cringey


And finally – a reminder that LinkedIn is one of those rare delights that sometimes just sneaks up on you. Have a great week! 
 

h/t: Morning Brew

The SocialVerse

The latest social media stories and updates we’re keeping a pulse on.  

Facebook is losing its grip as a ‘Top 10’ app as BeReal and TikTok grow

Facebook is struggling to keep up with other apps in the socialverse.

This year the blue giant has lost traction in the app stores. Last year, for instance, Facebook only fell out of the Top 10 free iPhone apps in the U.S. seven times. But this year, that figure has already soared to 97.

On another note, BeReal is the no. 1 app in the US. More on that below.

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What is BeReal?

BeReal has coined itself as the “social media app for people who hate social media.”

We know it sounds cliché, but authenticity is truly key for creating content on whatever platform you use. But in reality, the life of a content creator requires producing various elements to adhere to a certain style, aesthetic, timeline, or image.

BeReal removes those barriers. It maintains that nobody wants to connect or follow a picture-perfect version of you — people want to see the fleeting moments that make up your life. It’s an emerging social media app without filters that prompts users to take a candid snapshot at a different, randomly chosen time each day.

How it works: You get two minutes to pose once you receive the notification; the app captures the view from your phone’s front and back cameras, then shares the results with your friends.

Because BeReal is so limiting, it becomes freeing. The app does away with the option to plan, perfect, or alter your appearance or environment. Just you. Being real. Amicably ambushed in your authentic space.

Use cases for brands and business are still in flux, but we’ll keep you posted.

Have you used BeReal? Share your thoughts @thesauce_FFS.

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How to Schedule Reels On Creator Studio

If you’ve been tuning in to the Sauce, you know scheduling platforms are FINALLY giving us the option to publish reels.

Reels are a huge part of Instagram. On average, users spend 30 minutes a day watching reels.

Creator Studio doesn’t let you choose trending audio from creator studio, so you’ll have to upload your video with the original audio. But if you need to publish from a desktop, you now have the option to!

You can publish at a preset time and select Schedule from the list of options. Click the calendar icon to choose a date and then enter a time. You must schedule at least 20 minutes in advance and up to 75 days out.

You can trim your reel before publishing; just use the slider to trim content from the beginning or end. One last thing, before publishing any reel from Creator Studio, make sure to double-check the remix settings. By default, FB allows users to remix any public reel, which means anyone can use your video in their content.

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Instagram Cracks Down on Using Their App to Edit

If you’ve been repurposing your videos over to Tiktok (you should be), you’re making Instagram mad.

TikTok’s in-app editing tools aren’t that great. For example, Instagram’s green screen feature is SO much better than TikToks’. So many users would film their video intended for Tiktok on Instagram, download it, and then head over to TikTok to post. But, Instagram is deleting the original audio out of your video when downloading. So, say you’re talking in the video you’ve recorded; upon download, it’ll look like a bad lip sync with no audio.

To get around this, you can use a tool like igram.io, but you’ll have to publish to Instagram first.

On a happier note, Instagram has released more features, like the add yours sticker, popular on Instagram stories. This one can help your videos get discovered! Each time you share a new Add Yours prompt, Reels added by others will appear on a page dedicated to that prompt. Similar to original audio, whoever started the prompt will be featured at the top of the page, giving credit to the original creator.

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what we’re keeping a pulse on

Mark Zuckerberg Claims the metaverse Isn’t as Cringey as his cursed selfie

If you haven’t seen the selfie… well, now you have:

To mark the expansion of his Metaverse, Mark Zuckerberg shared a bland, rather ugly selfie. With the blowback from the shared image, Zuckerberg was quick to say the metaverse won’t look THAT wack. “The graphics and avatars are capable of much more — even on headsets — and Horizon is improving very quickly.”

For the world’s sake, I sure hope so.

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Google to focus on content authority for ranking

This ones for all you SEO gurus out there.

Google announced some critical updates on how they’ll rank content moving forward. They’ll be putting more emphasis on content quality and depth overarching your entire site, which should spark a change in your broader SEO approach.

We all know keyword stuffing is a no-no (including keywords in your content where it makes no sense to). But, I think this update will highlight more valuable results created by humans, for humans, as opposed to web pages that have been designed purely with SERP ranking in mind.

This update is building off of Google’s long-standing advice to keep human readers in the forefront of mind when writing the content and creating the keywords. As always, write with quality in mind.

Read Google’s Update Here

the trending SAUCE

Stop digging for the latest top trends; we’ve got them right here for you.

Trending IG Audios

Nothing can make me happy — Use this audio to show the “nothing” in your life that makes you happy. It could be your business or a product, or maybe your dog.

I’m not scared of lions, tigers, or bears — This one’s trending on Tiktok and Instagram! Lip sync to the lions, tigers, and bears part of the audio, and then show what you’re actually scared of. (Maybe it’s blenderbot…)

I’m Ready! — This one’s a great transition to show a before and after of getting ready. Or a before and after of your rebrand.