Every day, brands and their top shots ponder on how to leverage social media to amplify their presence. It is not about following the mere trends, it is about catching the right eyeballs which increases their visibility and delivers satisfaction to consumers. In this fast-moving world where all information is available at our fingertips, social media is a part of a brand’s journey and its hustle to bring the spotlight to itself.
Meanwhile, social media platforms go through regular changes and updates day-to-day, it becomes difficult to catch up with all. Nonetheless, to keep up with these updates is important, to make it simpler for brands to grasp all the updates in one, Marketing Mind has curated its fortnightly list of must-see social media updates.
This fortnight, Indian athletes including- Aman Sehrawat, Manu Bhaker, Nishad Kumar, Sumit Antil and Swapnil Kusale have set up their WhatsApp Channels and joined Threads. As per the platform, this will take their engagement with their fans a notch higher, these athletes will share exclusive content, behind-the-scenes, and training regimes through these new mediums too. This development adds weight to the fact that today the best way to reach fans or consumers is through social media platforms.
With Google, WhatsApp Business, Snapchat and more participating in the raise, it has been exciting to keep track of all the new features. The platforms have also introduced certain updates that can help advertisers and brand makers make their products and services shine this blooming festive season. With this, let us take you on a journey to better understand the updates of various social media platforms-
1. YouTube
At YouTube’s annual event, Made on YouTube in New York, nine new features including new creation tools, fresh tools to form communities and latest features for viewer interaction and creator monetisation were brought.
First, Dream Screen, which was announced last year, lets the user generate YouTube Shorts background. Now, the latest video generation model from Google DeepMind- Veo, will allow users to generate more realistic backgrounds with standalone video clips to Dream Screen.
Next, Auto Dubbing which can save time and further assist creators as the platform will be expanding to more creators in the following months. Following this, it is to note that creators will soon be able to organise their content into seasons and episodes for them to be more visible on television screens.
In addition, the platform also introduced tools like Hype, Inspiration tab on YouTube Studio, Communities, Community Hub, Gifts- powered by Jewels and YouTube Shopping which has now over 2,50,000 creators, and the affiliate program will be expanding beyond the US and South Korea to Indonesia, and Thailand and Vietnam in the coming weeks, as per the blog post.
2. Instagram
In a blog post Instagram said, “Before August 19, 2024, developers could not create Instagram reminder ads that used some features available via Meta Ads Manager but not via Marketing API. This lack of parity created unwanted friction for our partners and their customers who wanted to run reminder ads.”
With this, Instagram is now supporting additional reminder ad features via the Instagram Marketing API. These features include the ability to reach people on Instagram Reels placement with reminder ads, adding events to ads optimising for thruplay or reach, and more.
“Instagram reminder ads help advertisers bridge the gap between promotion and launch time by encouraging people interested to set reminders. People who opt-in receive reminders when it matters most before the event,” it further stated.
“Instagram reminder ads can now be delivered to Instagram Feed, Stories, and Reels placement when created using Instagram Marketing API. This change allows developers to reach people on Instagram Reels placement with their reminder ads,” it added.
On a different note, Instagram introduced ‘Instagram Teen Accounts’, an experience for teens, which will be guided by parents. These accounts will have built-in protections which limit who can contact the teen users, the content they come across, and allow them to explore their interests.
These teen accounts will include an array of features. As per the platform, with default private accounts, teens need to accept new followers and people who do not follow them can not see their content or interact with them. Further, teens will be placed in the strictest messaging settings, so they can only be messaged by people they follow or are already connected to.
Additionally, they will automatically be placed into the most restrictive setting of sensitive content control, which limits the type of sensitive content teens see in Explore and Reels. Also, teen users can only be tagged or mentioned by people they follow.
It is noteworthy that the platform will automatically turn on the restrictive version of its anti-bullying feature, Hidden Words, which will restrict the offensive words and phrases on teens’ comments and DM requests. To add a little something more, these accounts will also have time limit reminders as the users will get notifications telling them to leave the app after 60 minutes each day and sleep mode will be turned on between 10 pm and 7 am, which will mute notifications overnight and send auto-replies to DMs.
The platform clarified, “We’ll automatically place teens into Teen Accounts, and teens under 16 will need a parent’s permission to change any of these settings to be less strict.”
“We know parents want to feel confident that their teens can use social media to connect with their friends and explore their interests, without having to worry about unsafe or inappropriate experiences. We understand parents’ concerns, and that’s why we’re reimagining our apps for teens with new Teen Accounts. This new experience is designed to better support parents, and give them peace of mind that their teens are safe with the right protections in place. Teens will also get access to a new feature, made just for them, that lets them select topics they want to see more of in Explore and their recommendations so they can focus on the fun, positive content they love,” it stated.
3. WhatsApp
As the festive season approaches at full speed, at its first WhatsApp Business Summit in India, the platform announced several features and updates that can bring more traction to businesses across the country, create in-chat experiences for customers and drive performance.
As per the platform, millions of small businesses use the WhatsApp Business app in India. With developments being introduced to the platform left and right, Meta Verified is available to all eligible small businesses in India using the WhatsApp Business app. With this, businesses that choose to subscribe and demonstrate their authenticity will receive a verified badge, impersonation protection, account support, and premium features that help amplify their brand online and make it more efficient to chat with customers. The same badge will appear on their WhatsApp Channels and Business pages, making it easy to share on social media and websites.
Small businesses in India that use the WhatsApp Business app can now send customised messages to their customers, faster and efficiently.
The platform said, “This new feature, available for a fee, gives businesses the ability to send personal messages with a customer’s name and customizable call-to-action buttons and will also enable them to schedule the day and time the messages are sent.”
Furthermore, the platform launched WhatsApp Business Yatra in India, where it will go to various tier 2 and 3 cities in India to provide on-ground, in-person training to small businesses.
“In a first-of-its-kind initiative for WhatsApp, we will soon be launching the WhatsApp Business Yatra in India, where we will go to various tier 2 and 3 cities in India to provide on-ground, in-person training to small businesses. We believe that small businesses, with the right digital skills, can supercharge India’s digital economy, and therefore, as part of this initiative, we will train small businesses in setting up their WhatsApp Business accounts, creating catalogues, educating them on how to set up ads that click to WhatsApp, and much more. We will also build a resource centre on our website, which will act as a quick-access tutorial centre for these businesses.” it said.
Sandhya Devanathan, VP, Meta in India, said, “The ubiquity and ease of WhatsApp places it at the centre of India’s transformation, helping businesses fuel compelling ideas and new models of growth. These features and programs, which we are announcing today, demonstrate our commitment to helping businesses maximise their value per dollar while providing exceptional customer experiences on WhatsApp.”
4. Snapchat
One of the things that Spanchat introduced included a new simplified profile design allowing Snapchatters age 16 and older to easily access their personal and public accounts. Also, for users of age 16 and 17, the highest privacy safety settings are by default turned on. Creators can customise their public profiles and can also pin the Snaps of their choice to the top. Additionally, Templates make it easier to create and share great Snaps using photos and videos from Memories and Camera Roll and they will consist of a soundtrack.
The platform in a blog post said, “Every day, there are nearly 15 billion interactions between creators and their fans on Snapchat. With the Replies and Quoting feature, Snapchatters can reply directly to a creator’s Snap. Creators can then turn that message into a photo and video response, allowing for deeper engagement with their audience.”
The platform further said, “Our partners continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible with augmented reality, bringing to life the things you care about- from art and science, to sports and music, beauty and shopping, and everything in between. Today, over 300 million Snapchatters engage with augmented reality every day on average.”
As per the platform, during Super Bowl LVIII, the NFL took over the jumbotron at the stadium with ‘Snapchat Cam’, powered by Camera Kit technology, which lets partners bring AR into their own applications, websites, and in the real world.
Snapchat has brought Snapchat Cam to more than 50 venues, teams, artists, and broadcast partners, like the Indiana Fever at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Further, it has launched Lip Syncing Lens with Eminem in celebration of his new song ‘Fuel’. This visual Lens experience will support many tracks from Snapchat’s Sounds library.
It is to note that, Snapchat launched the fifth generation of Spectacles, its new see-through, standalone AR glasses that enable the user to use Lenses and experience the world with friends. Spectacles are powered by Snap OS, its operating system designed to enhance how people naturally interact with the world.
Spectacles also work seamlessly with mobile devices. Through the new Spectacles app, users can use their phone as a custom game controller with Lenses, launch Spectator Mode so others without Spectacles can follow along, mirror their phone screen, and more.
5. Google
Google introduced several new features and AI at DMEXCO, one of Europe’s digital marketing events.
First, Gemini models can assist in building better Search campaigns in more languages. The platform in a blog post said, “Google Search matches consumers with the right businesses who can offer what they want, right when they’re looking. This creates huge opportunities for businesses to connect with customers in their moments of need to drive results and ROI. The conversational experience for Search campaigns has already helped hundreds of thousands of businesses build high-performing Search campaigns using generative AI. The results speak for themselves: small business advertisers that use the conversational experience in Google Ads are 63% more likely to publish Search campaigns with ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ Ad Strength.”
“We want even more businesses to have access to this technology so, in the coming months, the conversational experience in Google Ads will expand to German, French and Spanish languages,” it further stated.
Performance Max is supported by Google AI end-to-end, dynamically optimising the budget to help users multiply conversions across Google’s full range of channels and audiences. In MMMs run by TransUnion among Retail and Consumer Electronics advertisers in the US, Google Performance Max campaigns drove 19% higher ROAS in 2023 than AI-powered and automated performance campaigns on the largest social platform by share of spend.
The platform clarified, Demand Gen campaigns create and convert demand using immersive, visual-first storytelling on YouTube and non-Search inventory. And Demand Gen campaigns allow you to customise your Google AI strategy by channel, audience and creative to tailor messages for the customers you care about most. On average, advertisers who added Demand Gen to their Search and/or Performance Max campaigns saw 14% more conversions.
“Across all AI-powered campaigns, a high volume and diversity of creative assets are essential. To help, we’re expanding AI-powered image editing to new campaigns beyond Performance Max. You can now enhance image assets in Search, Demand Gen, App and Display campaigns as well. You can even spotlight your own products by selecting and editing images directly from Google Merchant Center,” platform added.
And it is making asset generation available in six new languages- German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and Italian. More advertisers will be able to generate a wide variety of ad copy and images for Performance Max, Demand Gen, App and Display campaigns.
Following this, talking about Performance Max it noted, “Our latest creative reporting will help you chart a clear roadmap to excellent Ad Strength. We’re continuing to improve asset reporting, including introducing conversion metrics for each asset. And starting next month, new asset coverage reporting in Performance Max will help you pinpoint underperforming asset groups and receive specific recommendations to improve them, such as “add 2 long headlines” or “add 3 square images”.”
With this feature, the platform is also giving the user better visibility into their campaign performance. The platform has combined insights, explanations and recommendations into a single view. As per the platform, this will help users understand if a campaign is on track to deliver results within the expected bid target.
Next, Google launched the beta version of campaign-level negative keywords in Performance Max. They will start rolling out this feature by the end of the year.
With this development, the platform clarified, “New optimisation levers are also coming to Demand Gen campaigns. Omnichannel bidding will be available in beta in the coming months to help you maximise both online and in-store conversions.”
Finally, in October, it will release support for buying Demand Gen campaigns in Display and Video 360.
