Rachel’s Social Snippets #34

Rachel’s Social Snippets #34 – Here’s your weekly round-up of social media updates and digital marketing quick tips, and what a week it’s been!! There’s wayyyy too much going on for me to include everything in just one Snippet 😲 so I’ve picked out a few that I think will be the most useful🥰

TikTok™ – Future Remains Unclear In The US As Trump Hosts Talks On Sale

To clarify, as of right now, TikTok is operating illegally in the U.S., due to the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act”, which was approved by the Senate, signed off by President Biden, and enacted on January 19th.

Meta™ – Meta AI In Panic Mode As Free Open-Source DeepSeek Gains Traction & Outperforms For Far Less 😲

Late last year Techstartups.com reported on a Chinese AI startup that surprised the industry with the launch of DeepSeek, an open-source AI model boasting 685 billion parameters. What made headlines wasn’t just its scale but its performance—it outpaced OpenAI and Meta’s latest models while being developed at a fraction of the cost. A month after releasing DeepSeek V3, the company has raised the bar further!

Instagram™ – Profile Grid Vertical-Aligned Finally Rolls Out To Everyone

You may have noticed a change in format on Instagram. The thumbnail images for your posts have switched to a more vertical-aligned presentation, as opposed to the regular square image display.

Instagram™ – Will Now Show Your Friends Which Reels You’ve Liked

Instagram’s adding a new element to Reels which could end up being a disaster, or it could encourage more engagement.

Instagram™ – Officially Expands Reels Length to 3 Minutes In US

Not so new, but in case you missed it, Instagram has officially announced that users can now create 3-minute Reels in the app, allowing some additional time for your short-form masterpieces.

If you’d like to feature in future ‘Digital Quick Tips’ please email me.

Instagram Tip
Workaround For The New Vertical Grid
My tip for this week is…
If you’ve been curating your Instagram Grid and you still want your images to look square rather than vertical, here is a ‘kind of workaround’.  It’s not perfect but it might work for some of you.

If you go to your post
Click the 3 dots at the top right
Click adjust preview
Select fit
Change the background to white or black, the only options available at the moment
Then your image will go back to being square but with a white or black top and bottom bar
Click to see example

—————————————————-
Video Tip
The Overlooked Secret to Better Business Videos
When it comes to creating videos for your small business, many people focus on lighting, scriptwriting, or choosing the right backdrop. While these are all critical elements, there’s a deceptively simple step that often gets overlooked.

Article kindly provided by Clockwork Eye Video Production

If you have a personal Microsoft account you will have access to Microsoft Designer (if not, it’s worth creating one). This software has a very similar look and feel to Canva, Fotor, Adobe Express etc. So if you don’t want to pay for these applications you might like to take a look at Designer. As well as being able to create the usual social media posts, posters, cards and so on, it has a lovely facility where you can create bespoke colouring-in sheets for the kids, and big kids (although you’re probably going to tell me all these type of apps have this facility 😁).
 
The simplest way to find Designer is to go to your Microsoft 365 home page via www.office.com.  Log in with your Microsoft account. Select the Apps icon on the left and Designer will be displayed near the top of the Apps list.

WORKSHOPS:
One-day, in-person – Harrogate
Run by me – Rachel Moore Social Media

☑️ LinkedIn For Business Workshop – £99

☑️ Social Media Content Creation Workshop – £99

☑️ Facebook & Facebook Advertising Workshop – £99

☑️ Limited places

Various dates throughout Feb, Mar & April 2025
👉 Click here for the full details 👈

WEBINARS:

Where To Start With A Website – Tickets £5
Run by Abbie – Polyspiral Web Design, SEO & Hosting

A beginner’s guide to creating a website, what you need to know when you start to either build your own website or have a professional do it for you. 

Thursday 6th February 14:30 – 15:30 (UK)
👉 Click here for details 👈

How To Become Consistent On Social Media – Free
Run by me – Rachel Moore Social Media

Struggling to maintain a consistent presence on social media? Then this webinar will be perfect for you as it provides, tips, tricks and strategies to help you overcome your posting overwhelm 🥰

Wednesday 5th February 15.30 – 16.30 (UK)
👉 Click here for details 👈

I hope you enjoyed Rachel’s Social Snippets #34.  If you found anything particularly interesting in this week’s Social Snippets let me know, so I can provide you with more of what you enjoy.

Thanks again for reading.

Warmest regards.

Rachel x

Rachel Moore Social Media Trainer, Consultant, Manager & Speaker

7 x Award Winning Social Media Trainer & Consultant

rachelmooresocialmedia.com
getMOOREsocialtraininghub.com
07904 007 660 | 01423 529 708
Click to Email