Paid Social
Nov 9, 2023
Enhanced Lead Generation Tools and Partnerships
Meta introduces innovative lead generation ad tools, AI-powered features, and CRM integrations to boost quality leads for businesses. New features include WhatsApp chat ads, coupon offers through Instagram Direct, and an instant form ad format, plus full campaign automation using Meta Advantage. CRM integrations with HubSpot and Zapier streamline lead management. [Facebook Business]
Nov 9, 2023
In-App Shopping on Facebook and Instagram via Amazon integration
Meta has introduced a feature enabling users to connect their Facebook and Instagram accounts with Amazon for seamless shopping without leaving the social media apps. Users in the U.S. will now be able to shop Amazon’s Facebook and Instagram ads, viewing real-time pricing, Prime eligibility, delivery estimates, and product details directly within the social media platforms. (Maurice Rahmey) [post reported by CNBC and TechCrunch]
Nov 7, 2023
Enhanced Budgeting Updates
Two major changes for PPC pros: 1. Meta’s new daily budget flexibility allows up to 75% overspending on prime ad days, optimizing for high-opportunity moments. 2. Learn about the crucial threshold for campaign budget increases that avoids re-entering the learning phase. (Bram Van der Hallen) [post]
October 30 - Nov 5, 2023
Conditional Formatting returns to Custom Ad Reports:
The valuable conditional formatting feature for custom ad reports has made a comeback, allowing marketers to assign color scales to data columns for at-a-glance performance insights, enhancing the ease of identifying successful metrics versus underperforming ones. [post] (Jon Loomer)
October 30 - Nov 5, 2023
Multi-Advertiser Ads feature in Meta Instant Forms
Meta Ads Manager now allows instant forms to feature alongside those from other businesses, facilitating users to submit to multiple businesses at once. This feature aims to increase discoverability and engagement for businesses while potentially boosting lead generation efficiency. [post – source] (Dario Zannoni)
October 30 - Nov 5, 2023
Facebook Group Promotion is now available
Meta has introduced a feature enabling Facebook Group admins to promote their groups using the Meta Ads Manager. This aims to facilitate group growth by attracting new members through targeted ads. Customizable reporting metrics such as ‘Join group requests’ and ‘Cost per join group request’ are available to track campaign performance. [post] (Bram Van der Hallen)
October 16-22
Budget Scheduling Now Available for Q4
A new ‘Budget Scheduling’ feature allows advertisers to schedule budgets in advance and allocate higher budgets for specific time periods, such as peak sales seasons. Once the peak period is over, the budget will automatically revert to the initial daily setting, eliminating the need for manual updates. [post] Bram Van der Hallen
October 16-22
Meta Implements Verification for Custom Events
Advertisers using Meta’s platform will now need to verify their custom events via the Events Manager Overview. This new requirement aims to ensure the quality of custom events sent from your pixel, with an initial verification deadline set for mid-January. [article] Jon Loomer
Week 41
New Reel Ads
Facebook and Instagram are introducing innovative Reel features to enhance user engagement and shopping experiences. This includes Collection ads for seamless product exploration, Multi-destination reels, carousel ads for directing users to multiple product pages, and the “Swipe left” feature for transitioning passive viewers into active shoppers, all aimed at making Reel ads more effective for advertisers. [source]
Week 41
New Creative Features In Advantage+ Creative Suite
Facebook and Instagram offer creative enhancements through the Advantage+ suite, including automatic templates, 3D motion, aspect ratio adjustments, and image enhancements. Adding the right music or voiceover can increase user engagement, with Reels ads featuring music and voice-over scoring significantly higher in positive responses. Advertisers can now easily incorporate music into single image Reels ads during campaign creation to foster better results. [source]
Week 41
Meta Makes Manual Placements Harder to Access
Meta has added extra layers of navigation to manually select ad placements within Facebook Ads, requiring at least 9 clicks to customize your placement selections. This change makes automatic placements more prominent and can be interpreted as an attempt to drive users toward Meta’s predefined options. (Bram Van der Hallen – post)
Week 40
Gen-AI in Meta Ads
Meta is rolling out generative AI-powered features for ad creatives in Ads Manager, with a global rollout planned for next year. These features include Background Generation, Image Expansion, and Text Variations, which aim to enhance advertisers’ productivity, personalisation, and performance. [source]
Week 40
Placement Controls for Advantage+ Shopping
Placement Controls’ allows advertisers to exclude specific placements where their ads may appear. This marks a departure from the previous setup, where placement options were not customizable. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 39
Optimize for Value in Advantage+ Shopping
A new update allows advertisers to optimize for value in Advantage+ shopping campaigns. This feature aims to display your ads to users more likely to make high-value purchases. Additionally, you can set a desired ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) goal to maintain an average ROAS around a specific amount. To use this feature, select the ‘Sales’ campaign objective and set the Performance goal to ‘Maximize value of conversions’
(Bram Van der Hallen / Etienne Garcia 🌀 Roads)
Week 39
Only Advantage Detailed Targeting
Facebook Ads is replacing the ‘Detailed Targeting Expansion’ option with ‘Advantage detailed targeting’ in ‘Traffic’ objective campaigns, removing manual control over audience expansion. This update means that Meta may automatically reach a broader audience, potentially impacting campaign performance, and suggests considering the Engagement objective for driving engaged website visits instead of the Traffic objective.
Week 39
Advantage+ Optimization for Creatives: Expand Images
Meta has introduced a new feature called Advantage+ Optimization for creatives, precisely the “Expand Images” function. This feature uses generative AI to expand images so they fit better in various placements automatically. It’s handy for adapting square images to vertical formats like Instagram Reels or Stories.
Week 39
Dedicated Work Profiles
Facebook is launching a feature that allows users to create a dedicated work profile separate from their personal profile. With unique feeds for each and no need to log in and out, the feature aims to simplify life for social media managers. Meta warns against impersonation and misrepresentation with additional profiles. (Matt Navarra) [source]
Week 38
Reminder Ads
Meta has rolled out a new ad type that allows advertisers to set up reminder ads for upcoming events directly within Ads Manager. The ads feature a ‘Remind me’ call to action and are aimed at audiences more likely to set reminders for your event.
Week 38
‘Benchmark Reports’ in Ads Reporting
Meta has added a new feature called ‘Benchmark Reports’ in its Ads Reporting tool. The reports offer insights into how your campaigns compare to those of similar businesses in the same industry, aiming to provide a more contextual understanding of your ad performance. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 37
Budget adjustments
With automatic budget adjustments, you can increase your daily budget to maximise promotions and sales. [source]
Week 37
Automatic Media Selection for Catalog Ads
Meta now allows advertisers to switch between product images and videos in Catalog ads automatically. This feature can be selected during the ad creation process and aims to optimise the visual content shown to users. (Dario Zannoni)
Week 37
Multiple attribution settings
Available in Meta Ads Manager and Ads Reporting, this feature is particularly useful for campaigns with multiple ad sets with different attribution settings for the same optimised event, aggregating results across settings like 1-day view, 1-day click, and 7-day click. ( Bram Van der Hallen )
Week 37
Multiple attribution settings
Available in Meta Ads Manager and Ads Reporting, this feature is particularly useful for campaigns with multiple ad sets with different attribution settings for the same optimised event, aggregating results across settings like 1-day view, 1-day click, and 7-day click. ( Bram Van der Hallen )
Week 34
Audience Controls and Advantage+ Audience Settings
Meta is introducing new AI-powered audience targeting features: Audience Controls and Advantage+ Audience Settings. The former sets non-negotiable criteria like location and age for your ads, while the latter acts as a “guide” for Meta’s machine learning to find your ideal audience.
Week 34
Audience Controls and Advantage+ Audience Settings
Meta is introducing new AI-powered audience targeting features: Audience Controls and Advantage+ Audience Settings. The former sets non-negotiable criteria like location and age for your ads, while the latter acts as a “guide” for Meta’s machine learning to find your ideal audience.
Week 34
New Option “Instagram profile”
You can now direct ad traffic to your Instagram profile in Ads Manager.
Week 34
GA4 data stream for FB/IG shop
You can now link Google Analytics 4 (GA4) with your Meta Commerce account to track purchases from your Facebook and Instagram Shops. This gives you a more complete view of your Shops Ads performance. To utilize this feature, you need to be running ‘Shop ads’ with ‘Website and shop’ as the conversion location and have a shop enabled with Facebook and Instagram Checkout.
Week 34
GA4 data stream for FB/IG shop
You can now link Google Analytics 4 (GA4) with your Meta Commerce account to track purchases from your Facebook and Instagram Shops. This gives you a more complete view of your Shops Ads performance. To utilize this feature, you need to be running ‘Shop ads’ with ‘Website and shop’ as the conversion location and have a shop enabled with Facebook and Instagram Checkout.
Week 33
Multi-advertiser ads:
Facebook and Instagram have introduced multi-advertiser ads, allowing users to discover and compare products from different brands in a carousel format. For instance, after engaging with a wedding dress ad, a user might see adjacent carousel ads for related products like wedding cakes. (source)
Week 33
Multi-advertiser ads:
Facebook and Instagram have introduced multi-advertiser ads, allowing users to discover and compare products from different brands in a carousel format. For instance, after engaging with a wedding dress ad, a user might see adjacent carousel ads for related products like wedding cakes. (source)
Week 31
RIP Facebook Shops
On August 10, your shop may be removed depending on your region and checkout settings. If your shop is no longer supported, you won’t be able to tag products in posts, create new custom audiences, or make new lookalike audiences. However, you can still use product tags on Instagram ads.
To keep your shop, ‘Checkout with Facebook or Instagram’ must be enabled in the US. Shops without this option will no longer be supported, except for businesses in the listed international markets. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 31
RIP Facebook Shops
On August 10, your shop may be removed depending on your region and checkout settings. If your shop is no longer supported, you won’t be able to tag products in posts, create new custom audiences, or make new lookalike audiences. However, you can still use product tags on Instagram ads.
To keep your shop, ‘Checkout with Facebook or Instagram’ must be enabled in the US. Shops without this option will no longer be supported, except for businesses in the listed international markets. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 31
Audience tracking in third-party tools
To track audiences in third-party tracking tools, you can now add an audience type to your website’s URLs. You can add other parameters when you create or edit an ad. (Barış Sapmaz)
Week 31
Hidden Manual Placements
When creating new campaigns in Ads Manager, Meta now hides the Manual Placement option by default. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 30
Recommendations from Meta Marketing Pro
When available, recommendations from your Meta Marketing Pro will now appear in the Account Overview interface of Ads Manager. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 29
Additional Reporting Options for iOS 14+ App Campaigns
This feature lets you report results from Apple’s SKAdNetwork for iOS 14+ app campaigns. It is beneficial for comparing results between Meta and Apple’s SKAdNetwork, keeping in mind that they use different attribution time periods and have varied methods for comparing single- and cross-channel results.
Week 29
Additional Reporting Options for iOS 14+ App Campaigns
This feature lets you report results from Apple’s SKAdNetwork for iOS 14+ app campaigns. It is beneficial for comparing results between Meta and Apple’s SKAdNetwork, keeping in mind that they use different attribution time periods and have varied methods for comparing single- and cross-channel results.
Week 29
Instant Form Browser add-on
This new feature for its Lead Generation objective combines a Facebook instant form with your website URL to help advertisers generate more leads. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Here’s how it works:
- Interaction: When users click on your ad, they will be redirected to your website where an instant form will appear.
- Conversion: Users can then easily submit the form or continue to browse your website. This creates a seamless experience for potential leads, making it easier for them to submit their information.
Week 29
Dataset
The location of your Facebook Pixel is being shifted to a ‘Dataset’. If you’re unable to locate your Pixel in Business Manager, it means that Meta (formerly Facebook) has already transferred it to a Dataset.
With this change, a single Dataset can now encompass website, app, and offline events. Datasets enable convenient connection and management of event data from various sources such as websites, mobile apps, and physical store locations. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 28
Info labels adjustment
It appears that Meta is now using “Info labels” to optimize CTA buttons for better performance.
Info labels provide important details about a business, and Meta can utilize these labels to provide users with more information. At the ad level, below the CTA button selection, you will find the option to include info labels. Currently, there are three custom info labels to choose from: free shipping, return policy, and payment options. ( 👨🏻 💻Tung Nguyen-Thanh – Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 27
Custom Website Events Requirements
Advertisers using custom website events will need to verify their events to ensure they intended to send the event data. This verification process is a one-time step for each new custom website event created. If events are not verified, they will be discarded. Advertisers can complete the verification process in Meta’s Events Manager. It is recommended to inform your team and clients for future reference. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 26
Create Ads that Click to WhatsApp without a Facebook Account
WhatsApp Business app to create Facebook and Instagram ads that click to WhatsApp without needing a Facebook account, as well as new ways to connect with customers more efficiently. (source)
Week 26
Engaged-view for video ads
This new attribution model measures conversions that occur after a user views a substantial portion of a skippable video ad and then converts within 24 hours. It is similar to the Engaged-view conversions for YouTube campaigns. (Bram Van der Hallen)
This view-based conversion attribution will only be available for campaigns using skippable video ads. It differs from the 1-day view attribution by registering an “Engaged-view” when a user plays at least 10 seconds of a skippable video ad or watches at least 97% of the video ad’s total length if the video ad is shorter than 10 seconds. When a user meets the criteria for an Engaged-view, any subsequent conversion within 24 hours will be attributed to the campaign as an Engaged-view conversion.
The feature is currently rolling out and, once you have access, you can report on Engaged-view attribution, you can select “Compare attribution settings” in the reporting columns of Ads Manager.
Week 26
Video attribute
Meta has quietly added the “video” attribute to the product data specification for catalogues. Videos must be direct links from your CDN, not from hosting platforms like YouTube. Advantage+ catalog campaigns should start serving catalogue video assets very soon if they don’t already. (Tony Zara – source)
Week 25
Preview Advantage+ creative optimisations
When working with 4:5 visuals, you can use this preview tool to check the safe-zones and adapt your visual accordingly, making sure that important elements on your visual aren’t being hidden/dropped when Advantage+ creative is enabled. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 25
RIP Audience Expansion
The option to enable or disable audience expansion when selecting interests and behaviours is no longer available. This means that Facebook may now deliver ads to a broader audience beyond the specific targeting selections made by advertisers. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 25
Cannes Lions Festival
At the Cannes Lions Festival, Meta announced enhancements to Reels and future AI-powered solutions for businesses.
Expanded ads on Instagram Reels, app promotion ads on Facebook and Instagram Reels, and music optimization in Facebook Reels aim to drive performance and reach new audiences. They also began to test the newly launched brand suitability Inventory Filter to ensure brand safety.
Expanding ads on Reels
Bringing app promotion ads
Testing music optimization in Facebook Reels
Week 21
Instagram search results are available via the Instagram Marketing API
Instagram search results are available via the Instagram Marketing API. This new ad’s placement does not require an upgrade. Developers will be able to use “INSTAGRAM_SEARCH” as one of the placement options when creating ads. (source)
Week 21
Audience Control
As shared previously as audience control, you can also exclude specific cities within selected countries in Advantage+ Shopping campaigns on Facebook for more targeted ad placements. (Barış Sapmaz)
Week 19
Reels program expansion
Meta is expanding its Ads on Reels program, inviting more creators to join and testing a similar program on Instagram. The payout model will be based on performance rather than earnings of ads, with payouts determined by the number of plays. Creators in 52 countries can participate and must complete the onboarding process to earn from Ads on Reels. (source)
Week 19
Reels program expansion
Meta is expanding its Ads on Reels program, inviting more creators to join and testing a similar program on Instagram. The payout model will be based on performance rather than earnings of ads, with payouts determined by the number of plays. Creators in 52 countries can participate and must complete the onboarding process to earn from Ads on Reels. (source)
Week 19
AI Sandbox
Meta has announced new features for advertisers, including the AI Sandbox, which will test generative AI-powered ad tools, and new features in its Meta Advantage suite of ad automation tools. (source)
Week 19
Audience Controls’ for Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns
Meta introduced ‘Audience Controls’ for Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns, allowing limits based on age or location for ad visibility. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 18
Branded Content Ads becomes Partnership Ads
Instagram is renaming its branded content ads as partnership ads and expanding the ad format to include more types of organic content. This allows advertisers to amplify content from a creator or partner’s handle and continue to create new partnership ads in Ads Manager without an existing post. (source)
Week 17
Advertisers no longer need to choose a specific type of location targeting
Facebook has removed the dropdown menu for location targeting and has left only the “Living in or recently in this location” option, which signifies that other options have been removed. Advertisers no longer need to choose a specific type of location targeting. (source)
Week 17
Advertisers no longer need to choose a specific type of location targeting
Facebook has removed the dropdown menu for location targeting and has left only the “Living in or recently in this location” option, which signifies that other options have been removed. Advertisers no longer need to choose a specific type of location targeting. (source)
Week 17
New Features
Bram Van der Hallen reported several updates, including:
- Content creators can now generate ad codes for Instagram posts to promote them as branded content ads.
- The ‘Advantage custom audience’ option to reach people beyond your custom audience is now enabled by default, so check it if you want to avoid automatic expansion.
- A 4-day A/B test option for ‘Standard enhancements’ in ad performance is available (see screenshot).
- ‘Aggregated Event Measurement‘ is now available to reach more people who use iOS apps.
- ‘Instant Articles’ placement is no longer available in ad sets.
- ‘Facebook search’ can now be included as a placement in Reach & Frequency campaigns.
- WhatsApp can now be selected as a ‘Conversion location’ to generate leads through automated chats.
Week 17
New Features
Bram Van der Hallen reported several updates, including:
- Content creators can now generate ad codes for Instagram posts to promote them as branded content ads.
- The ‘Advantage custom audience’ option to reach people beyond your custom audience is now enabled by default, so check it if you want to avoid automatic expansion.
- A 4-day A/B test option for ‘Standard enhancements’ in ad performance is available (see screenshot).
- ‘Aggregated Event Measurement‘ is now available to reach more people who use iOS apps.
- ‘Instant Articles’ placement is no longer available in ad sets.
- ‘Facebook search’ can now be included as a placement in Reach & Frequency campaigns.
- WhatsApp can now be selected as a ‘Conversion location’ to generate leads through automated chats.
Week 14
Inventory filters
Meta rolls out inventory filters and third-party brand suitability verification for Facebook and Instagram feeds, using AI and aligning with GARM’s suitability framework. Advertisers can choose from expanded, moderate, or limited inventory to control monetizable content. Reach could be impacted and CPM increase if you decide to limit the inventory. (source)
Week 14
Safe zone guardrail
When you upload vertical media, you can now enable the ‘Safe zone guardrail’ toggle. When enabled, this guardrail will show you where it’s safe to place overlays on your video to avoid overlapping with other elements. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 12
Reminder Ads
Reminder Ads allow users to opt into alerts about specific events in the app, as shown in the example screens below. (source)
Week 12
Contextual keyword-based ads
Instagram is introducing contextual keyword-based ads in search results. Users searching for a particular keyword, such as “Skin Care,” will see relevant ads in their search results feed. (source)
Week 8
Additional attributed conversions
It may not be available to you at this moment. Additional attributed conversions results in Meta Events Manager can help you see how good is your Conversion API compared to your Pixel. You can start to learn how to interpret your additional attributed conversions results below. (source – Juan Felipe Simonsen)
Week 3
Ad Accounts Updates
Meta added a quick way to stay informed on how your ad account and campaigns may be affected by changes in platform policies and government regulations. (Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 2
RIP Creator Studio
Meta is moving the Creator Studio tools to Meta Business Suite. Meta Business Suite will become the hub for creators to manage their Facebook pages and Instagram business accounts. (credit to Bram Van der Hallen)
October 16-22
“Out of Phone” for Out-of-Home Advertising
TikTok introduces “Out of Phone,” a new advertising solution that enables brands to extend their TikTok campaigns into the physical world via screens in various public spaces like billboards, cinemas, and retail stores. The initiative aims to give brands the ability to amplify their presence across diverse and far-reaching audiences beyond the mobile platform. [source]
Week 41
Search Ads Toggle for In-Feed Campaigns
TikTok has announced a new feature, the Search Ads Toggle, which allows advertisers to display their existing In-Feed Ads in TikTok search results. This feature aims to enhance the visibility of brands by serving ads alongside organic search results, targeting high-intent users actively looking for related information. [source]
Week 40
No More Ads On TikTok Paid Plans
TikTok is reportedly planning to launch a trial of its ad-free subscription service, allowing users to access content without interruptions from ads for $4.99 per month. While influencer marketing campaigns will still appear on the paid version of the app, ads served by TikTok will be excluded. [source]
Week 40
TikTok Creative Assistant
TikTok has launched an AI-powered virtual assistant called TikTok Creative Assistant, aimed at helping brands and creators streamline their creative processes on the platform. The assistant offers features like brainstorming ideas, refining scripts, and providing insights on creative best practices, all integrated within the TikTok Creative Center. [source]
Week 38
Attribution Analytics – A First-Party Measurement Solution
TikTok has launched Attribution Analytics. This first-party measurement tool allows advertisers to move beyond last-click attribution models and comprehensively understand the customer journey on TikTok. The new feature, Performance Comparison, is part of this release and enables advertisers to visualise conversions across different time windows to tailor their attribution strategies effectively. [source]
Week 38
Attribution Analytics – A First-Party Measurement Solution
TikTok has launched Attribution Analytics. This first-party measurement tool allows advertisers to move beyond last-click attribution models and comprehensively understand the customer journey on TikTok. The new feature, Performance Comparison, is part of this release and enables advertisers to visualise conversions across different time windows to tailor their attribution strategies effectively. [source]
Week 38
Search Ads Toggle
TikTok has launched a Search Ads Toggle, allowing brands to feature their ads in TikTok’s search results. This new feature aims to connect brands with high-intent users, and you can opt-in by turning on the toggle in your placements’ settings. (source)
Week 38
Events API
Shopify has enhanced its TikTok integration with the introduction of the Events API, improving ad delivery and measurement for e-commerce merchants. The TikTok Pixel tracks visitor actions, and with the Events API, it offers a more direct and secure data-sharing method. This results in a 19% increase in event capture and a 15% improvement in cost per action. Merchants can easily customize data-sharing levels between Shopify and TikTok. (source)
Week 26
TikTok Creative Challenge
An exciting in-app feature that enables creators to participate in brand challenges by submitting video ads and earning rewards based on performance “without posting on their profile”.
Creators can explore various challenges, review the challenge brief to learn about the reward pool and guidelines and submit their own video ads. Creators must be at least 18 years old and have a US-based account with a minimum of 50,000 followers. (source)
Week 24
Interactive Add-Ons
Interactive Add-Ons are now available globally for In-Feed Ads. Interactive Add-ons offer a unique way to entice engaged viewers with popups, stickers, and other visual elements. (source)
Here are more details about the options:
Premium options:
- Pop-out Showcase: Drive clicks and encourage action by showcasing your product through a pop-out element.
- Gesture: Surprise and engage your audience with interactive gestures, leading to clickable display cards.
- Super Like 2.0: Captivate viewers with floating icons and invite them to a landing page after the Super Like effect.
Standard options:
- Display Card: Drive clicks with visually appealing visuals to highlight messages or offers.
- Gift Code Sticker: Boost conversion and loyalty with special incentives for new and existing customers.
- Voting Sticker: Deepen community connection by enabling audience participation through polls or quizzes.
- Countdown Sticker: Create FOMO and generate excitement for upcoming events with a scrolling timer.
Week 23
TikTok’s Open Applications
TikTok has introduced Open Applications on the TikTok Creator Marketplace to make it easier for brands and creators to connect. Open Applications allow advertisers to post campaign details, enabling creators to proactively apply their ideas, relevant videos, contact information, and proposed fees. This feature acts as a job posting or casting call, facilitating collaborations that reflect brand values and resonate with audiences. (source)
Week 8
Top Products
This tool makes it easier to discover winning products in your region and category. (source – Bram Van der Hallen)
Week 6
Video Insights
You can explore broader performance trends in your video library and compare against industry benchmarks for each metric. (source)
- Compare your ad performance against industry benchmarks.
- Dive deeper into the specific video elements that are making your ads perform.
- Inspire new videos and optimize your production workflow through an informed content strategy.
Week 6
View TikTok profile goal
TikTok introduced a new “more profile views” goal designed to help you do— lead your audience from your video to your profile, where they can really see what makes you special. (source)
Week 2
TikTok Academy
Tiktok launches a new virtual always-on global education platform, designed to develop TikTok expertise for marketers of all backgrounds. (enrol now)
Nov 15, 2023
YouTube premium enhancements
YouTube Premium introduces early access to experimental features, including a conversational AI tool and AI-generated comment summaries. US members can enjoy exclusive promotional offers, enhanced 1080p HD video quality on various platforms, and seamless cross-device viewing. Premium badges showcase achievements for members aged 18 and older. [Youtube News]
October 16-22
AI-Driven “Spotlight Moments” Debuts on YouTube for Targeted Ads
YouTube introduces “Spotlight Moments” a new AI-driven ad package allowing advertisers to capitalize on popular, relevant videos during key cultural events. Exclusive to Video Reach & Video Views campaigns, the new offering aims to boost brand visibility and engagement by dynamically curating sponsored playlists that automatically update based on trending content. [source]
October 16-22
AI-Driven “Spotlight Moments” Debuts on YouTube for Targeted Ads
YouTube introduces “Spotlight Moments” a new AI-driven ad package allowing advertisers to capitalize on popular, relevant videos during key cultural events. Exclusive to Video Reach & Video Views campaigns, the new offering aims to boost brand visibility and engagement by dynamically curating sponsored playlists that automatically update based on trending content. [source]
Week 37
Creative Guidance & Voiceover Tools
Google improved its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities on YouTube, offering new video features such as creative guidance and voiceover tools to boost ad performance.
The AI-powered tool analyzes video ads for essential elements like brand logo, video duration, voice-over quality, and aspect ratio and then offers actionable recommendations for improvement. [source]
Week 37
Multiple Video Formats for YouTube
Multiple Video Formats for YouTube: you can now select various formats when creating a new YouTube Ads campaign. To use this feature, go to your video ad campaign settings and enable the ‘Multiple Video Formats’ section. This is excellent news, particularly for our clients. (Emir Bayutmuş)
Week 37
Segmentation video format
YouTube Ads now allow you to segment videos in reach and demand generation campaigns. You can get insights into impressions, view rate, conversion rate, and ROAS. These details are available for Skippable in-stream, Bumper, In-feed, and short video formats. (Benjamin Vanderberg & Adriaan Dekker)
Week 35
YouTube video asset analytics
This new feature allows you to dive deeper into how your content is performing. You can access insights on audience retention, segmented by creative, gender, and device among other metrics. To find these insights, go to your video campaign, click on “videos,” and then open the analytics tab. The feature also offers recommendations and best practice tips, including YouTube’s ABCD creative framework, to help you optimise your content. (Maximilian vom Eyser)
Week 35
YouTube video asset analytics
This new feature allows you to dive deeper into how your content is performing. You can access insights on audience retention, segmented by creative, gender, and device among other metrics. To find these insights, go to your video campaign, click on “videos,” and then open the analytics tab. The feature also offers recommendations and best practice tips, including YouTube’s ABCD creative framework, to help you optimise your content. (Maximilian vom Eyser)
Week 34
Cross-media Reach
You can measure how far and wide your video campaigns are going, all while filtering out duplicate views across different campaigns. Even better, you can also stack these insights against traditional TV metrics. This lets you see how your campaign is doing in terms of unique and incremental reach, broken down by demographic. ( Arpan Banerjee )
Week 34
Applied ‘Video Enhancements’
A fresh update lets you see where the ‘Video Enhancements’ feature was used, helping your ads automatically adjust to vertical or horizontal formats. ( Tiago Goncalves )
Week 34
New “view rate” metrics
You can now see “view rate” metrics for individual YouTube formats, such as in-stream, in-feed, and Shorts. ( Maximilian vom Eyser)
Week 32
YouTube is testing a new anti-adblocker feature
YouTube is testing a new anti-adblocker feature, displaying a timer indicating when the next ad will play for users with adblockers. This move aims to encourage non-paying viewers to either allow YouTube ads or upgrade to YouTube Premium, which offers an ad-free experience. (source)
Week 31
View rate insights
You can discover the view rate insights categorized by platform. As an example, in-feed and shorts content exhibit significantly lower engagement rates. (Benjamin Vandenberghe)
Week 31
Upload video creatives directly
You now have the ability to add video creatives directly in Google Ads without uploading them to a YouTube channel first can streamline the ad creation process and offers advertisers more flexibility.
Week 27
Video Enhancements
YouTube has introduced a new beta feature called Video Enhancements. This feature allows Google to resize your videos to square (1:1) and vertical (9:16) formats. (Alex Walser)
It appears that the Beta Video Enhancements feature has been silently enabled across all YouTube accounts and campaigns. If you do not want other versions or formats of your YouTube videos to be advertised, it is important to opt out of this Google Beta. Currently, there are no reviews available for this AI-generated video beta. (Thomas Eccel)
Week 20
30-second unskippable ads on connected TVs
YouTube will introduce 30-second unskippable ads on connected TVs, which will replace the two, 15-second consecutive ads that run today when advertisers target top videos through the YouTube Select program.
Next, YouTube is bringing new Pause experiences to CTV, so you can drive awareness or action by owning that unique interactive moment when people pause a video. (source)
Week 41
Message Ads Reintroduced
LinkedIn has announced that users can launch message ads from the campaign manager as always. However, the EU location targeting remains discontinued for sponsored messaging campaigns. [source]
Week 39
New Revenue Attribution Report
LinkedIn has unveiled its new tool, the Revenue Attribution Report, to assist B2B marketers in demonstrating the effectiveness of their ad spend. This tool goes beyond traditional metrics and connects advertising data with CRM outcomes to provide insights into how marketing investments impact vital business outcomes such as revenue, pipeline generation, and win rates. [source]
Week 38
LinkedIn Enhances Sales Navigator with Generative AI Search Tools
LinkedIn has upgraded its platform by incorporating generative AI features. New tools like “Filter with AI” offer more precise searches, while “Account IQ” compiles essential info on potential contacts. These enhancements are designed to make identifying leads and doing research much more effortless, streamlining outreach efforts. [source]
Week 31
“draft with AI”
LinkedIn has launched the “draft with AI” beta feature, powered by GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer). This new feature aims to assist users in writing enhanced content on the LinkedIn platform. (Jack Rowbotham)
Week 23
The Place to B2B
B2B services are being introduced to support marketers in meeting challenges, including the B2B Index, ranking B2B marketers every 6 months in the B2B Marketing Benchmark (source) and new GAI tools and ad formats:
In-Stream Video ads will help reach buyers at different stages of their journey.
“To support a full-funnel experience, marketers can tap into In-Stream Video ads to scale their campaign reach and connect with professional audiences across our network of publishers. These ads, which will appear on mobile or desktop apps and sites, will play at the beginning (pre-roll) and middle (mid-roll) of long-form video content on trusted publisher sites across the LinkedIn Audience Network.”
AI Copy Suggestions: LinkedIn is rolling out AI Copy Suggestions to create ad text and headlines based on LinkedIn Page data.
Audience Insights API: This new API will provide unique LinkedIn insights for better audience understanding.
Starting in July, Conversation Ads and Thought Leader Ads, which enable promoting content from verified employees, will be generally available.
Week 8
Interest-based targeting options for LinkedIn ads
Interest targeting now includes 20+ new Service Interest attributes and 120+ new Product Interest attributes. Service Interest attributes is the newest interest category. It allows you to target people who are interested in the services you provide. (get the list)
Week 6
LinkedIn product roadmap
If you’re interested in the latest LinkedIn product roadmap, you are served. This includes new pages, ad formats and LinkedIn audience network features.
Read more: Micro Series Product Roadmap (credit Hayley Dixon)
October 16-22
X Introduces Two New Premium Tiers
Elon Musk announced that X (formerly Twitter) will soon offer two new premium subscription tiers—one cheaper but with ads and another more expensive tier that removes ads entirely. This move comes as platforms like Meta and TikTok are also considering or testing ad-free tiers. [source]
Week 37
X Partners with Google for Programmatic Ads
In a bold move to recapture ad revenue, the company once known as Twitter is now leveraging Google Ad Manager to tap into the lucrative world of programmatic advertising. X wants to make a strong comeback in the ad space by giving advertisers access to real-time online auctions. [source] (Richard Ingilby)
Week 35
$250 in ad credits to small and medium-sized businesses
X Ads is offering $250 in ad credits to small and medium-sized businesses that will spend $1,000 on their ads next month. This move comes amid claims from X’s CEO that the company is “close to breaking even” and is regaining advertiser trust. However, the ad credit offer and mixed signals from the market suggest that X’s recovery may not be as robust as claimed. [source]
Week 32
Sensitivity settings
X is enhancing its collaboration with Integral Ad Science to provide advertisers with machine-learning-driven sensitivity settings, allowing them to choose content adjacency for their ads. (source)
Week 30
Less noticeable “Ad Markers”
The X app has recently updated its ad display, replacing the traditional ‘Promoted’ tag at the bottom of posts with a smaller ‘Ad’ marker at the top right. This change seems to make promoted posts appear more natural in-stream, potentially minimizing disruption for users. (source)
Week 30
Less noticeable “Ad Markers”
The X app has recently updated its ad display, replacing the traditional ‘Promoted’ tag at the bottom of posts with a smaller ‘Ad’ marker at the top right. This change seems to make promoted posts appear more natural in-stream, potentially minimizing disruption for users. (source)
Week 4
Search Keywords Ads
As a beta test, advertisers can now bid to insert Promoted Tweets solely among specific search results, reaching people with high real-time intent & improving ad relevance. (source)
Week 35
Keyword Suggestions
Reddit has introduced a new Keyword Suggestions feature to enhance its existing Contextual Keyword Targeting solution. Using machine learning and natural language processing, Keyword Suggestions recommends relevant and brand-safe keywords to advertisers to improve targeting and campaign efficiency. [source]
Week 34
8 new and updated ad products
Pinterest unveils 8 new and updated ad products for enhanced user engagement: Pinterest has launched a suite of new and improved ad tools to improve the complete user experience, from discovery to purchase. The updates include features like Premiere Spotlight, Quiz Ads, and eCommerce integrations with Salesforce and Adobe Commerce. [source]
Week 32
85 new interest targeting options
Reddit is scaling up its interest targeting options for advertisers, going from 66 categories to 152. This expansion aims to offer brands more opportunities to reach the audiences that matter most to them. (source)
This new granularity splits many previous interests into new subgroups. For instance, the general category of “Healthy Living” is now broken down into more focused areas like “Exercise & Fitness” and “Outdoor Activities.” (see list)
Week 24
2 new ad products are available in beta
Pinterest has unveiled two new advertising solutions aimed at boosting campaign success on its platform: Premiere Spotlight and Travel Catalogs.
Premiere Spotlight: This high-impact awareness ad solution allows brands to exclusively own premium placements on Pinterest for a specified period, maximizing visibility with Pinners. Brands can utilize video ads that occupy around 50% of a mobile device’s screen on Pinterest’s search page, ensuring maximum impact and reach.
Travel Catalogs: Building on Pinterest’s product catalogue technology, Travel Catalogs enable travel brands to easily upload their travel products to the platform. Pinterest automatically transforms each listing into a dynamic product Pin, featuring relevant travel booking details such as hotel information, pricing, images, descriptions, and a direct link to the booking website. Brands can target users based on location data to reach a wider audience of travellers.
Week 23
2 new ad products are available in beta
Reddit’s unique community-driven environment and high-value user base make it an appealing platform for advertisers. The 2 new ad products are available in beta to qualified Reddit advertisers globally. (source)
- Contextual Keyword Targeting allows advertisers to associate specific keywords with their brand
- Product Ads aim to connect brands with users who are in research mode and ready to make purchase decisions.
