Another big week with Instagram’s CEO sharing plenty of algorithm insights and more Meta news. Instagram releases a Q&A about growing your business’ following, while their CEO gives an interview about adapting to the complicated algorithm and Meta is to remove one of their major ad formats! Read about all of these updates and soooo many more in this week’s blog below.

What’s new with Meta?

Dynamic Creative to be Phased Out

The feature that has been a fixture of Meta since 2017 is due to be phased out, leaving the Flexible Ad format as the other key option. This format can be chosen within your ad and allow you to provide up 10 images or videos, 5 primary text options, 5 headlines and 5 descriptions. Flexible Ad will then choose the optimum version of your ad to show audiences.

Our tip:

• Use the Flexible ad format to continue showing audiences the version of your paid advertising that they are most likely to engage with!

Want some help running your Paid Ads? Book a free 20-minute-chat here and never worry Meta updates again.

What’s new with Instagram?

Instagram’s Q&A Reveals ways to Grow Your Following

More insights are given to small businesses, social marketers and creators on how to grow your following through reels, carousels and engagement and what the fastest growing accounts are doing differently!

Key updates:

• Reels are the Best way to Reach New Audiences: Reels are recommended as the best channel to grow your following as they appear in “Reels” and explore tabs, where users are found to spend a lot of time discovering new content. Creators with 10 reels per month (on average) have been seen to have the best follower growth rates.
• Feed Posts Engage your Audience: Feed posts and carousels are ways to engage with your audience and in turn can improve the distribution of your content.
• Carousels may have multiple Engagement Opportunities : If a follower has not scrolled all the way through all slides of your carousel, the post may get shown to the user again starting with the unseen photos or videos acting as “new” content.
• Engagement can lead to Growth : Likes and comments can be used as indicators that determine whether content will be shared with users that don’t follow you. Therefore, posting engaging content and interacting with your followers in the comments can improve your overall reach.
• What is engaging? Instagram recommends making content that is:
  • Relatable and humorous, that leads to sharing
  • Engages your audiences to DM, comment or reshare on stories
  • Including a hook in the first 5 seconds of reel to keep users viewing
  • In line with content that drives the most engagement in your insights

Recommendation for Business Owners: Find out what content your audience enjoys engaging with and what content you and your business enjoy creating. There are many different ways your business can grow your following and it all depends on what works best for you.

Instagram’s CEO Shares Insights on Algorithm Mechanics, Creator Earnings, and Beyond

Adam Mosseri, Instagram’s chief, recently discussed several key factors influencing post reach on the platform during an interview. He emphasized the growing importance of video-type content, revealing that more than half of Instagram’s user time is spent on video. However, Instagram aims to foster a more interactive experience than platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

Key updates:

• A Focus on Video Based Content: The CEO noted the significance of video content on Instagram, noting its game-changing impact on content engagement. This is supported by the claim that half of Instagram users’ time is spent on video content.
• Shift Towards Prioritising Private Engagement: The CEO recommends paying attention to “sends per reach” meaning, how many people from the total reach sent the post to a friend, as this content tends to have the best visibility due to it driving the most value for the overall community.
• Empowering smaller creators and Improving Monetization: The platform is adjusting its monetization strategy to accommodate both long and short-form content, with a particular emphasis on nurturing smaller creators who are less reliant on other platforms.

Recommendation for Business Owners: Consider focusing your social media strategy to include more video based content, carousels or improving your “sends” metrics!

Share Comments to Your Story!

We found out this new update accidentally, when screenshotting a comment and getting a prompt to share it on our story!

Key updates:

• Swipe on a comment: Users can swipe left on comments on their own posts to share the comment to their story, accompanied by a sticker of the post that was commented on!
• Tap to change colour: When drafting your story with the chosen comment, tap on it to change its colour!

Recommendation for Business Owners: Use this feature to share great customer feedback or even FAQs about your products! But make sure you have permission from commenters to be shared on your socials!

👀 Tests spotted on Instagram this week:

• Instagram developing “Create an AI version of yourself” feature. The early-stage testing involves a chatbot designed to emulate the voice of Instagram influencers, responding to fans’ inquiries.
• Instagram tests new ads placed on top of user stories. The platform experiments with a new ad format, showing banners either above or below your friends’ stories, directing viewers to promoted apps.
• Instagram tests “Prompts” in Feed and Reel posts’ comments. Users will be able to choose the ‘Prompt’ option, available when composing a caption, to create a custom prompt that will appear at the top of the comment section.
• Instagram tests adding Feed posts into Story Highlights.

Want to take Instagram off your hands? Book a free 20-minute-chat here and have a months worth of content scheduled at all time, your comments replied to and NEVER have to struggle with content ideas again!

What’s new with Google?

New Google Advertising Opportunity

Google has announced that the Google TV network will allow connected TV sets to be a new advertising channel for brands. This network, reaches over 20 million monthly active Google TV users and caters toward the growing trend of ad-supported streaming services. This provides advertisers the opportunity to expand their reach to the living room with large household screens.

Key updates:

• Non-Skippable ads through Google-TV: Businesses have the opportunity to enter the big screens of a household through non-skipable ads or 6-second bumper ads.
• Available through Google Ads: Google TV network can be accessed through Google Ads and Google Display & Video 360, allowing you to plan, buy, and analyse your Google TV campaigns alongside your current digital video campaigns. Just select the Google TV network when setting up your video campaign to optimize your reach on a household’s largest screens.

This is yet another step towards digital marketing taking over traditional advertising, and we are here for it!

What’s new with YouTube?

👀 Tests spotted on YouTube this week:

• YouTube tests comment sorting by topics on Shorts clips. This new feature sorts comments into themes using AI, making it easier for users to navigate and engage with discussions relevant to each video.
• YouTube Announces Implementing Thumbnail A/B Testing. Channel managers can select up to three thumbnail images, which will be sample tested with users to compare their performances.

What’s new with TikTok?

TikTok provides insights into Key Factors for Brand Marketing

A TikTok report delves into essential elements for effective brand messaging in today’s competitive landscape: emphasizing creativity, memorability, relatability, boldness, inclusivity, and respect for consumer attention. It breaks down these considerations into three main pillars:

• Empathy: Understanding and reflecting what matters to people in content creation
• Resonance Standing out amidst media saturation and inspiring viewer action through compelling messaging.
• Creation: Highlighting how TikTok’s tools facilitate effective content creation.

Recommendation for Business Owners: This report confirms what we already know about TikTok: it can give businesses a stronger and more personal connection with their audience.

👀 Tests spotted on TikTok this week:

• TikTok introduces Image Search to TikTok Shop in some regions. TikTok further positions itself as an online shopping hub by expanding its testing of similar product image search.

Struggling to get results with TikTok? Book a free 20-minute-chat here and we’ll prepare a strategic content calendar, along with direction for filming, editing all of your TikTok’s, posting and community management. And we provide a monthly report so you can see exactly how it’s contributing to the bigger picture.

What’s new with LinkedIn?

LinkedIn Launches Premium Company Pages

LinkedIn expands its business profile offerings with the launch of its new Premium Company Pages offering. Premium Company Page subscribers can elevate their presentation and toolset with the new features to help promote their business.

Key updates:

• Custom CTA buttons: Premium users can customise their call-to-action (CTA) buttons to help generate leads.
• Auto-invite Users: This feature will automatically invite people who are engaging with the company page or content to connect with the company.
• Featured Profile Content: Pin key details to the top of your account or page to include services offered, compelling reviews or important media.

Recommendation for Business Owners: If LinkedIn is an important marketing avenue for your business, consider upgrading to LinkedIn premium for these benefits.

LinkedIn Introduces New Page Admin Dashboard

LinkedIn rolls out changes to your Pages admin view to make your brand more engaging, responsive and connected to your audience.

Key updates:

• Track Notifications: The “Today’s Actions” view lists recommendations and actions to take as a Page admin, including comments and mentions that the page should engage with.
• Identify and Engage with Page Contributors: The “Manage Posts” displays your Page’s most recent posts, to manage Page activity, join conversations happening on your content, and grow engagement.
• Track Page Performance: The “Track Performance” module highlights vital statistics about who’s interacting with your Page, including impressions, how often you’re being searched and the amount of new followers you’ve gained.

📔 Other noteworthy updates or tests:

• Users Attempt to Opt Out of Meta Using Your Posts for AI Training, *Spoiler Alert!! It’s not possible!*
• Use Nostalgia in your Social Media Strategy to provoke an Intense Emotional Response for Engagement and Shareability!
• BeReal Sold for $500M To French Video Game Developer
• Pinterest tests Expansive AI tool to Enhance Ad Performance. Pinterest is experimenting with new AI-based automated ad campaigns known as “Performance+,”. This will offer enhanced methods to optimize every aspect of creating Promoted Pins through a systematic approach. Early results have seen a 10% improvement in cost per acquisition, with 50% less input required to the campaign creation.

That concludes this week’s round up of digital updates with even more insight into how to grow your social media following and improve engagement amongst your followers. Sign up for our weekly summary here so you never miss the best updates. AND don’t forget, if you do miss out you can always go back to last weeks blog posts here.

XOXO

OMD SQUAD