This week LinkedIn introduces a smarter way to search on the platform without using hashtags or keywords and TikTok introduces a new AI Voiceover feature that lets you create a simulation of your own voice! There is so much to get into in this week’s load of digital updates so let’s dive right in!

What’s new with Meta?

Business Chats Get a New Label

There is a new label marking for Business DMs so Meta can make the different privacy policies of personal and business interactions explicit! With the announcement of end-to-end encryption in personal Messenger chats, Meta is hoping to clarify that data collection in Messenger business chats does not fall under this policy and the chats can be used for marketing purposes. While this is a step towards greater transparency, the notification could be more explicit to ensure users fully understand the privacy implications when chatting with businesses.

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What’s new with Instagram?

More Text Tools for Your Stories!

Instagram is revamping their text tools with new customisable fonts, text animations and effects for their Reels and Story creation menus! These new formats are accessed in the same text tool menu as before, however, you now have the option to choose a font, with your choice of animation and specific effect for your text, whereas previously each font had a specific animation that you could not customise! We love playing around with these on our stories as something new and exciting for our followers, but if you’re using these for your content make sure your animations and effects aren’t taking away from your photo or message! Hayley gave you a little rundown on how they work here.

👀 Tests spotted on Instagram this week:

• According to Instagram, the new and improved text fonts, animations and effects will be available in reels and even carousels. Instagram has shown how images can also be layered in carousel posts using stickers that have previously only been seen in story creation!
• Instagram has teased a Collage feature that allows users to create customised collages from their photos to share in chats! This prompt showed up on some users’ Instagram last week, however when we pressed “Try it” nothing happened… so we will keep you updated if anything comes from this strange test!

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What’s new with Google?

Google Helps Retailers Stay Ahead of the Curve with New Shopping Insights

Google has recently announced several new updates to its Merchant Center platform, designed to help businesses better understand and capitalize on shopping trends. A new product trend insight feature highlights key purchase and shopping search trends on Google so you know what might be next for your business’s product line. There will also be new AI-powered analytics summaries of recent product performance so you can track how your different products are selling more easily than ever. One of the biggest updates is that you can now search conversational queries on Merchant Center to receive custom reports using your business’s sale data produced by generative AI. For example, you can ask for the performance of your best-selling dress for a tailored report of a specific item.

Our take: These new features are a game-changer for optimizing your Google Shopping campaigns better, faster and easier than ever before. Given Google’s dominance in product discovery, As Google remains a primary source for product discovery, it’s worth investing your time in optimizing your campaigns using the available insights so you can get the most out of your products!

Google and Microsoft Join Forces for Smarter Bidding

Google’s Search Ads 360 has added support for Microsoft automated bidding, allowing advertisers to optimize their bids across both Google and Microsoft search engines. This integration aims to help advertisers reach more customers and improve their overall performance. By combining Microsoft automated bidding with Floodlight data, advertisers can gain valuable insights into their campaign effectiveness and make data-driven decisions to optimize their bids.

Recommendations for Businesses: Try using Microsoft automated bidding in Search Ads 360 to reach more customers and make your campaigns more effective. By using Floodlight data and Search Ads 360 bid strategies, you can make smart choices to improve your marketing results.

What’s new with TikTok?

TikTok’s Fan-tastic Experience for Sabrina Carpenter Fans

In celebration of Sabrina Carpenter’s new album “Short n’ Sweet”, TikTok has created a special in-app experience where fans can complete five different tasks to unlock exclusive features like profile frames and filters and even be featured in a fan spotlight. This feature highlights TikTok’s value for music promotion and general exploration and discovery on the app. Additionally, Sabrina’s team has partnered with Meta to release a new chat theme with a “Short n’ Sweet” design, so there seems to be a thorough socials takeover strategy from her team right now! It’ll be interesting to see if these kinds of music and movie spotlights will be made available for more different types of campaigns like brand releases.

You can find this feature by simply searching “Short n’ Sweet” or “Sabrina Carpenter” on TikTok, or even if you comment on a video containing the #SabrinaCarpenter or #ShortnSweet hashtag, a pop-up animation will guide you to the experience! It’s a Sabrina World right now!

Say It with Your Own Voice (AI-Powered, of Course)

TikTok has introduced a new feature that allows users to create AI simulations of their own voices, enabling them to add their unique voice-overs to videos without straining their vocal cords… very interesting. This feature is powered by ByteDance’s AI voice replication software, which allows you to replicate any person’s voice with minimal input. While this feature offers some benefits, such as language translation and the ability to use your own voice-over videos without needing to actually speak, it also raises concerns about deepfakes and the potential for AI to replace human interaction on social platforms.

Our take: It will be super interesting to see how users implement this feature in their TikToks and how this could change the way voiceover TikToks are used, but for now we might stick with our real voices!

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What’s new with LinkedIn?

LinkedIn’s Smarter Search: Say Goodbye to Hashtag Hassle

Feeling lost in the sea of LinkedIn search results? Never fear, LinkedIn just introduced a smarter search system that understands your meaning, not just the keywords you type. This means you can ditch the hashtag headache – the platform now uses a broader range of signals to find relevant content for you, even if you don’t use the perfect hashtags. Focus on creating high-quality content with clear keywords, and LinkedIn will do the rest to connect you with the right audience.

Key features:

• Semantic Searching: LinkedIn’s search engine now uses semantic matching, allowing it to understand the meaning behind your searches and return more relevant results.
• Bye-Bye Hashtags: Hashtags are no longer crucial for discovery as the platform considers a wider range of factors to match your content with searches.

Recommendations for Business Owners: We believe individuals and business owners alike can benefit from this update. By focusing on high-quality content, you can leverage LinkedIn’s new search capabilities to connect with a wider audience without worrying about hashtags or keyword usage!

With LinkedIn’s enhanced search making hashtags less important, we’ll be curious to see if other platforms follow suit and make their search features smarter as well. Feel free to sign up for our weekly updates here (plus so much more hot goss) 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

Oh My Digital Team