We’re back with the 411 on all things social. This week, Instagram’s new policy restricts boosting for full-screen carousel images, which could impact your ad promotion strategies. Meanwhile, Google’s rise in no-click searches, signals shifts in search behaviour. Ready to stay up to date? Let’s go.

What’s new with Instagram?

Instagram restricts boosting for full-screen carousel images

Instagram has implemented a restriction on promoting carousel posts that include images of varying sizes, particularly those with full-screen aspect ratios. This new policy means that if a carousel contains a full-screen (9:16) image, it cannot be boosted as an advertisement​.

Recommendation for Business Owners: To ensure your Instagram marketing efforts remain effective, avoid using full-screen images in carousels if you plan to promote them. Stick to standard aspect ratios for all images within your carousel posts to maintain the ability to boost and maximize your advertising reach.

Play DJ with your Instagram Reels

Instagram has introduced a new feature that allows users to add up to 20 audio tracks to their reels, significantly enhancing creative possibilities. This update, part of Instagram’s focus on short-form content, enables users to align audio tracks with text, stickers, and video clips directly within the app, creating a more dynamic editing experience.

Key Updates:

• Users can add up to 20 audio tracks to a single Reel.
• The new feature supports aligning audio with various elements like text and stickers.
• Created audio mixes are attributed to the user and can be reused by others.

Recommendation for Business Owners:

Businesses should leverage this new multi-track audio feature to create more engaging and versatile reels. By utilising multiple audio tracks, brands can enhance their storytelling and produce content that stands out, fostering deeper engagement with their audience. Additionally, the ability to create reusable audio mixes can help in building a unique brand sound that others can share for even more brand visibility.

Instagram Reels Now Features Overlay Ads

Meta is once again expanding its advertising capabilities by introducing overlay ads on Instagram Reels, building on the success of similar ads on Facebook Reels. These ads appear as banners at the bottom of reels during playback and come in single-image or image carousel formats. This development aims to tap into the high engagement rates of reels, which are rapidly growing in popularity.

Recommendation for Business Owners: With the highly active reel audience, businesses should leverage these new ad placements. Utilising both single-image and carousel formats can enhance ad creativity and product showcasing. Plus, early adoption of these placements, combined with strategic targeting, can maximise visibility and engagement with potential customers​.

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What’s new with Google?

Google Search Behavior Insights

A new study from Datos and SparkToro reveals that over half of Google searches result in zero clicks, meaning users find their answers directly on the search results page or abandon their searches. Key contributing factors include Google’s rich snippets and the prominence of its own properties like YouTube and Google Maps.

Key Updates:

• 58.5% of U.S. and 59.7% of EU searches end with no clicks.
• Nearly 30% of U.S. clicks go to Google-owned properties.
• AI Overviews impacted search behaviour, with mobile searches declining.

Recommendation for Business Owners: Optimise for rich snippets and direct answers, create content for Google platforms, and adapt to AI features.

Google Ads Unveils Enhanced Keyword Targeting: Improve Search Matching and Brand Control

Google Ads has come to the rescue through their introduction of new keyword targeting updates to enhance search query matching and provide advertisers with even more control over brand-related traffic.

Key Updates:

• Search Term Reporting: Aggregates misspelled queries with correct spellings, revealing more search terms.
• Negative Keyword Management: Automatically blocks misspelled versions of negative keywords.
• Brand Inclusions: Limits broad match campaigns to specified brand-related queries.
• Brand Exclusions Expansion: Extends brand exclusions to all match types and Dynamic Search Ads.

Recommendation for Business Owners: Optimise keyword strategies using these new features to enhance targeting precision, reduce ad spend waste, and improve campaign performance.

What’s new with TikTok?

TikTok Teams Up with Eventbrite: Streamline Your Event Promotion with In-App Integration

TikTok has announced a new integration with Eventbrite, allowing creators to promote events directly within their videos. This partnership aims to streamline the event promotion process, making it easier for users to discover and attend events through the app.

Key Updates:

• Creators can now embed Eventbrite links directly into their TikTok videos.
• Users can click these links to view event details and purchase tickets without leaving the app.

Recommendation for Business Owners: Businesses should utilise this integration to promote their events directly through TikTok, leveraging the platform’s extensive user base to increase event awareness and drive ticket sales.

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.

Other updates:

Apple is enforcing a 30% service fee on Facebook and Instagram ads initiated from iOS apps worldwide. Previously only applied in the US, this fee is now global, and Meta will pass this cost onto advertisers.

Key Updates:

• 30% service fee on ads initiated from iOS devices
• Fee previously applied only in the US, now worldwide
• Meta passes this fee directly to advertisers

Recommendation for Business Owners:

To avoid the 30% service fee, publish ads from a desktop or non-iOS device. This will help maintain your return on ad spend and avoid unnecessary costs.

👀 Tests spotted this week:

• Pinterest has been spotted testing a new AI tool that generates backgrounds for your existing images, giving you more control and options to enhance your product photos
• Instagram is testing a new feature called “Super Stories,” which enhances user engagement by allowing stories to stand out more prominently within the app
• YouTube has been spotted testing “Community Spaces” to boost fan engagement by providing dedicated areas for fan interactions and exclusive content

Well, another week and a whole lot of changes as always in the digital world. Stay updated by subscribing to our weekly summary here. AND don’t forget, if you do miss out you can always go back to last week’s blog posts here.

XOXO

OMD SQUAD