Social media platforms are full of hidden features. Easter eggs are those little-known hacks that will help you reach the right audience, find content you love, and streamline your social media experience. 

When I consult on social media planning, I love showing my clients extra tips and tricks. Some of these hacks will streamline your scrolling. Others will help your brand stand out. Whether you’re using social media for business or just yourself, check out a few of these useful social media hacks. 

Curate Twitter content with lists

Want to organize the tweets you see? Twitter offers the ability to create lists of your favorite accounts — and view other people’s lists too. When you click on the list, you’ll only see tweets from those accounts. Check out lists about your interests or hobbies, or follow brands like yours. 

To create your own list, simply click the “Create a list” icon at the top of the page. To find other accounts’ lists, simply click “Discover New Lists” when Twitter prompts you, then click “Follow.” You can read Twitter’s How-Tos here, or more ways Twitter Lists can help you here.

Save tweets for later with Twitter bookmarks

Most users are familiar with Instagram Bookmarks, but did you know you can save your favourite tweets, too? Simply open a tweet, then click the “Share” icon. One of the options will be “Add Tweet to Bookmarks.” Voila. Your tweets are saved under “Bookmarks” for later. Bookmarks are private, so it’s a better way to save things for later than simply liking a tweet.

Remove unused Instagram filters

Are you scrolling through all the Instagram filters to get to the ones you want? You can hide your unused filters, making it quick and easy to access the ones you use every day. 

To hide a filter, simply click and hold the filter. An option to “Drag to Hide” will pop up. If you want a filter back, scroll to the very end of the filters and click “Manage.” All your hidden filters will pop up. 

Create custom Stories stickers

Stickers are trending on Instagram Stories. Using a verified GIPHY account, you can add branded stickers, unique to your business. They’re perfect for highlighting calls to action or promoting brand awareness. To get your own stickers, head over to GIPHY (the company that powers Instagram Story GIFs), and create an account. If you’re a business, you can apply to have it verified. Once you’re in, have fun creating GIFs unique to your business. I’m just starting to build a library there, but if you search in stickers for Anita Kirkbride, you should see a few!

Instagram Stories Countdown

If you’re promoting an event, the countdown in Instagram Stories is a must-have. The countdown feature is hidden within “Create Mode” when you’re crafting a story. Simply type in the date and time of your event, and this little widget will show viewers how long until kick off. Your fans will feel compelled to reach out, you know, yesterday. 

Automate FAQs with Facebook chatbots

Many business owners report spending too much time answering the same customer questions. I always recommend they set up the Facebook chatbot. When a viewer opens your page, a Messenger box will pop up. Viewers will see a list of frequently asked questions. All they need to do is click their question and the chatbot will answer automatically with your prewritten reply. You get to customize all the questions and the answers in your settings. This little hack will save you precious time, but you can only have four questions, so make sure they’re the best ones!

Add bold and italics to your posts

The goal of any post: stop the scroll. And the easiest way to stand out is by surprising your audience with something unusual. What’s more unusual on social media than stylized text? It’s impossible to bold or add italics in most social media platforms themselves, but luckily, there’s a quick workaround. Simply input your text into a third-party site like www.yaytext.com, then copy and paste it back into your social media platform. 

Advanced search feature on Twitter 

You can “listen” to the chatter in your industry with Twitter Advanced Search. Try seeing who is talking about “fitness goals” under the hashtag #mondaymotivation, or check out what accounts with more than 100K followers are tweeting about entrepreneurship. Check it out here twitter.com/search-advanced?lang=en. 

Curate your Facebook feed

Are you keeping an eye on your competitors? Do you want to see more posts from specific friends? Luckily, you can curate how frequently posts from different accounts show up in your feed. 

From your personal account, click the three dots on a Facebook business page for the “Follow Settings,” then add the business to your favourites. For friends, add them to your “Favourites” from their profile. And if you don’t want to see anything from an account, click “Unfollow”. It’s not perfect, but it will help Facebook know who’s important to you.

Center-align your Instagram bio. 

A bio in the center of an Instagram profile is eye-catching. Unfortunately, there’s no formatting option to put your text in the center, but we’ve made it easy. Simply copy the space between these lines (not the lines themselves). ||⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|| Now, paste the spaces before each line of text in your bio. Add or delete spaces as needed to get the alignment right. 

What hidden tricks have you discovered on social media? Did you already know about the eggs on our list? Let us know in the comments below.