Meta (formerly Facebook) is revamping its ad game in early 2025, and it might affect your approach to wooing customers in certain Special Interest Categories industries. Instagram has also released a bunch of fun new tools to help you get more creative in time for the silly season. You ready? You know we are…

What’s new with Meta?

Meta Tightens Data Sharing for Sensitive Ad Categories in 2025

Meta is throwing a curveball at advertisers with new ad restrictions coming in January. This means your usual tracking tools might not give you all the juicy details you’re used to. It’s like your favourite marketing tool is giving you the silent treatment! From what we know so far, the restrictions will limit the ability of health and wellness businesses to track conversions and optimise their campaigns. We’re actively monitoring the updates for our clients to make sure we’re staying on top of the changes as they get rolled out. So if your agency isn’t keeping an eye on these changes for you, it might be time to break up.

What we know so far:

• Limited Data Sharing for Sensitive Ads: Businesses in health, finance and other sensitive categories will have limited data sharing for ad campaigns on Meta platforms.
• Focus on Building Relationships: With limited data tracking, building strong relationships and trust with your audience becomes even more important.
  

While the new restrictions might feel like a bit of a bump in the road, it’s a chance to get creative and focus on building stronger connections with your audience. After all, a good relationship is built on trust, not just tracking cookies!

📔 Other noteworthy updates from Meta this week:

• Meta added a new feature that allows direct messaging from Reels
• Facebook adds a new “Explore” feed in the Reels tab

If you’re a business owner or marketing team that wants to solidify your point of difference, win customers and grow your market share — enquire now to meet your dream team.

What’s new with Instagram?

Instagram DMs Get New Stickers, Location Sharing and Nicknames

Get ready to spice up your Instagram DMs with some fun new features! Instagram is adding a bunch of new stickers to choose from, making it easier to express yourself and add some personality to your chats. You can also share your location with your biz besties in DMs, letting them know exactly where you’re at (if you want to, of course). And to make things even more fun, you can now set nicknames within your DM chats (so much easier for organising!)

According to Instagram ““There are 17 new sticker packs and over 300 new stickers to share in your DMs when words just aren’t enough. Plus, now you will be able to favorite a sticker from your chat so that you can re-use stickers shared by friends or those you create with cutouts, too.”

These new features offer some fun and creative ways for businesses to connect with their audience on Instagram. With new stickers and the ability to share locations, businesses can create more engaging content in their DMs. Nicknames can also add a personal touch to communication.

Instagram Makes It Easier To Remove Inactive Profiles From Your Audience

Instagram is giving you the tools to clean up your follower list! They’ve added a new feature that helps you identify inactive profiles, so you can unfollow them and focus on building relationships with your most engaged audience.

📔 Other noteworthy updates from Instagram this week:

• Instagram will let you reset (and refresh) your recommendations In-Stream
• Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, drops some top tips for engaging your followers with Stories

👀 Tests spotted on Instagram this week:

• Instagram tests a new home for the DM button
• Instagram spotted testing a “Notify” sticker on Reels
• Instagram is Beta testing custom folders for businesses to organise messages
• Instagram has been sending prompts to some users to encourage follow-up replies in DMs
• Instagram has been testing out moving Highlights to their own tab
• Instagram has been spotted testing out new analytics metrics

Whether it’s the first time you’re outsourcing, it’s time to break up with your agency or you need a dream team to help you fill the shoes of your Marketing person while they’re out of action. Consider us your plug and play marketing team. With a wide range of skills and specialties, flexible packages and monthly contracts, we’re here to support you through every season of business. You ready? Enquire here.

What’s new with Pinterest?

📔 Noteworthy updates from Pinterest this week:

Pinterest drops their 2025 Predicts Report (and it’s hot).

What’s new with TikTok?

TikTok Launches Symphony Creative Studio to Attract SMBs

TikTok is setting its sights on winning the hearts (and marketing budgets) of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)! They’re rolling out a new automated ad creation tool called Symphony Creative Studio to make it easier than ever for SMBs to get started with advertising on TikTok. It’s free to use, and all you need is a TikTok for Business account, so there’s really no excuse not to give it a go!

This is great news for small and medium businesses! The new TikTok ad creation tool can help businesses get started with advertising on the platform easily. It might be worth checking out to see if it can help you create engaging ads for TikTok. Sources and related content

📔 Other noteworthy updates from TikTok this week:

• TikTok Highlights Key Trends of 2024, Including Music Discovery and Live-Stream Commerce Boom.

Our plug and play marketing team will guide your audience from brand fans to repeat buyers. Click through our quick and easy quiz to discover the best way we can support your business as you grow! Once you submit your answers we’ll be in touch with the next steps.

What’s new with LinkedIn?

LinkedIn Merges Audio Events with LinkedIn Live

LinkedIn is switching things up in the live department! They’re saying goodbye to dedicated live audio events, but don’t worry, it’s not the end of the road for audio content. Instead, they’re merging audio events with LinkedIn Live. This means you’ll still be able to host audio-only chats, but you’ll need to use a third-party tool and include a static image. It might take a little extra effort, but it could be a chance to spark even more engagement with your audience!

Key features/tips:

• Audio Events Merged with LinkedIn Live: Businesses can still host audio-only chats by using a third-party tool and including a static image within LinkedIn Live.
• Consider Third-Party Tools: Businesses will need to use a separate tool to host audio and integrate it with LinkedIn Live.

This update might require some adjustments, but it could still be a valuable tool for businesses. By using a third-party tool and including a static image, businesses can still host audio chats and potentially reach a wider audience on LinkedIn Live. As with any new feature, it’s worth testing it out to see if it works for your brand.

📔 Other noteworthy updates or tests:

• We’ve been seeing a LOT of whispers about the new platform Bluesky. We can’t wait to see if it’s the new platform, or if it flops (Threads anyone….)
• Snapchat tries to boost ad spend by introducing Sponsored Snaps

The countdown to the end of the year (and 2025) is well and truly on and we cannot wait to see what’s still to unfold (ESPECIALLY those Meta Special Interest Category updates). 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