LinkedIn is joining the modern dynamic ad movement:

> Advertisers can upload up to four images or videos at once and draft up to five headlines and descriptions that will automatically be mixed and matched to generate up to 64 unique ad versions in minutes.

This is like Google’s responsive ads or Meta’s dynamic offering (if that still exists).

LinkedIn will only deliver an ad once every 48 hours to a user, presumably this approach avoids that entirely.

The TikTok ownership transition provides an interesting comparison of data collection practices between the US and China (or at least this particular ownership group and whatever agreements they had in place to facilitate the sale).

> Here are the three biggest changes to TikTok’s privacy policy
> > Adds Precise Location Tracking

Previously this was just based on SIM card and IP signals, now GPS and location data is folded in.

OpenAI is taking the Netflix approach to launching ads in ChatGPT and going for the premium price point from the jump

From Adweek:
> OpenAI is asking select advertisers to commit at least $200,000 as it rolls out beta ads

From The Verge:
> OpenAI is reportedly asking a high price to advertise on ChatGPT, around $60 per 1,000 views, or triple what ads on Meta’s platform usually cost

It’s likely that these cost targets plus a long road to figuring out what works best means it’ll be a while until self-serve ChatGPT ads are available to most advertisers.

Meta clearly wants to own the new hardware platform: glasses.

Really, really badly.

But what if Snap’s Spectacles make more sense?

> Whereas Snap, which has really begun leaning into its identity as a messaging platform more than a social network, is really going to, I think put communication and sharing of communication between users at the heart of Spectacles and that is going to, I think, give it a purchase in a way that the Meta’s Ray-Bans have not.

Is Meta listening?

In early October I posted
> Meta needs to ditch the horizontal ad placements and replace that asset bucket with one for 4:5 in the ad builder

Earlier today, when editing the “Right Column, Search Results” placement it now shows 1:1 as the recommended size (in the one account I’m in that I did this in, so YMMV).

The main Feeds placement bucket still says 1:1 recommended, but it looks like it’s trying to default to a 4:5 size in the preview pane. So change may be afoot there as well.

Creative became the new targeting. Now, creative velocity is becoming the performance bottleneck.

It started with TikTok, where it was said creative had a 72 hour lifespan. Now Meta wants more, more, more

According to Foxwell Digital, best practice is now:

> Every five to seven days, refresh your ad set with 5–10 new creatives that look and feel different.

The other implication of that post is partner or die. If you’re not running partnership ads, what’s even the point? (is inferred)

Chat 4 Ads

From Meta…
> We will start personalizing content and ad recommendations on our platforms based on people’s interactions with our generative AI features

> Whether it’s a voice chat or a text exchange with our AI features, this update will help us improve the recommendations we provide for people across our platforms so they’re more likely to see content they’re actually interested in

Google is continuing its transformation to Meta Ads:

• View-Through Conversion Optimization: “You can now improve upper-funnel results by letting Google Ads optimize for conversions driven by ad views, not just clicks.”
• Story Image Ads in PMax: “Performance Max campaigns now support vertical 9:16 image ads”

The agents are coming: Open Source Google Ads API MCP Server
> The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is the open standard that allows Large Language Models (LLMs), like Google Gemini, to connect with and act upon external data sources and applications. By releasing an MCP Server specifically for the Google Ads API, we are making it possible for any MCP-compatible AI application to understand and analyze advertising campaigns through natural language.

ChatGPT adds Instant Checkout (which sounds a lot like Perplexity’s Pro Shop).

Buy from Etsy sellers (Shopify coming soon) without leaving your chat thread. This continues the trend of every platform trying to become a shopping platform (see: Google Shopping, Meta Shops, TikTok Shop, etc.)

> Merchants pay a small fee on completed purchases, but the service is free for users, doesn’t affect their prices, and doesn’t influence ChatGPT’s product results.

Google and Meta Ads are saturated and automated.

There is no in-platform secret sauce and the days of scaling your sales to the moon on one or the other are in the rear view.

They’re still the best at what they do, but you need something else if you want outsized results.

What’s your new frontier?

Not sure how accurate this insight into Meta’s ad algorithm is, but it’s still helpful to think through.

> The 15-Second Framework:
> • 0-3 sec: Hook
> • 3-5 sec: Value prop
> • 5-8 sec: Benefits
> • 8-15 sec: Problem/Solution

I’d make that the 16 second framework and extend the Value Prop or Benefits if needed. Use ThruPlays to your advantage.

> What Meta’s AI actually sees:
> → Setting = income level
> → Person = demographic
> → Language = education
> → Problem = life stage
> → Music = cultural signals
> → Colors = emotional state

Jon Loomer’s Core Meta Advertising Principles for the modern era:

> 1. Limit the number of campaigns
> 2. Prioritize conversions
> 3. Embrace algorithmic targeting
> 4. Avoid removing placements
> 5. Limit the number of ad sets

& don’t forget:

> Meta now prefers “creative diversification” by format, angle, approach, and text. Utilize five primary text and headline options for each ad. Create very different versions of your ads within a single ad set.

Meta’s various apps are the closest we have the US to everything apps. The feature sets are deep enough that people can use them in different ways.

> in multiple interviews with 15- to 26-year-olds, Gen Z people, they said that they used Instagram to keep in touch with friends, scope out crushes, build businesses, and pour over cooking videos. But out of all of its features, they seemed least interested in the polished public photo feed that had once been Instagram’s marquee offering.

Zuck’s dream of fully automated ad platform is starting to come true

> Meta said that nearly two million advertisers are now using GenAI video generation tools. That’s about 20% of Meta’s entire advertiser base based on the latest available estimates. > > I do think it was really telling that Zuckerberg was careful to say that these tools are the most valuable for small and medium-sized businesses and that agencies will continue to play an important role with big brands.

👓

> Al glasses gained further traction in the first half of the year, with Ray-Ban Meta more than tripling in revenue year-over-year.

&

> Following the category-defining success of Ray-Ban Meta, the #1 selling Al glasses in the world which had sold millions of units since launch…

&

> the insatiable demand for Ray-Ban Meta

Meta is mentioned 32 times in this eyewear company’s earnings report.

Oakley and Prada versions are next.

Zuckerberg isn’t just saying the quiet part out loud, he’s saying it a lot.

> we’re going to get to a point where you’re a business, you come to us, you tell us what your objective is, you connect to your bank account, you don’t need any creative, you don’t need any targeting demographic, you don’t need any measurement, except to be able to read the results that we spit out. I think that’s going to be huge, I think it is a redefinition of the category of advertising.

Listening to my morning Celtics podcast when host John Karalis uses the example of leaving a party as a metaphor:

> You know when you’re getting ready to leave a party and you start looking at your watch and you’re like “ok, I’m going to start looking for the opening here”. And unless somebody comes along and hits you with a great story, unless somebody comes along and hooks you to stick around…you’re going…

Meta is growing its smart glasses lineup 🕶️

Another name brand partnership, this time geared towards a different consumer. Clearly there is revenue here.

> Like the existing Meta Ray-Ban glasses, the Oakley model features a front-facing camera, along with open-ear speakers and microphones that are built into the frame. After they are paired with a phone, the glasses can be used to listen to music or podcasts, conduct phone calls, or chat with Meta AI. By utilizing the onboard camera and microphones, Meta AI can also answer questions about what someone is seeing and even translate languages.

Turns out Meta is like X and LinkedIn, it doesn’t want your links in the main post.

Users have reported seeing the following message when preparing to post a link in Facebook page posts:

> Maybe that means that you should be including all of your post links in the first comment, and an image in the main post, which is what many high-performing publishers on Facebook are currently doing.

If you’ve been paying attention, this isn’t a surprise

> Using the ad tools Meta is developing, a brand could present an image of the product it wants to promote along with a budgetary goal, and AI would create the entire ad, including imagery, video and text. The system would then decide which Instagram and Facebook users to target and offer suggestions on budget
> > Meta also plans to enable advertisers to personalize ads using AI, so that users see different versions of the same ad in real time, based on factors such as geolocation

Jon Loomer has been writing a lot about Meta Instant Forms lately, so here’s a round up of recent test features and ideas on improving lead quality.

Recent updates / tests:

• Multiple choice questions
• Optimize for conversions on site and in form at the same time
• Turn off autofill (no more old contact data?)
• SMS verification
• Form layout optimized to each user
• Promo codes

How to improve quality (list of 16 ideas):

How will marketers react to uncertainty (thanks tariffs!)?

According to EMARKETERS Zach Goldner:

> I think what marketers are going to do is what they always do during turbulent times.
> > Clamp down more on experimental spending
> > Reallocate more toward safer bets, like search > > Lean more into the triopoly: Google, Meta, and Amazon

A Chinese pullback should lead to lower CPMs but be brave

Zig to the above zag

From Meta:

> we are expanding ads in Threads to all eligible advertisers globally, as well as access to inventory filter. This new placement—Threads feed—will be on by default for new campaigns using either Advantage+ or Manual Placements. Advertisers have the option to opt out of Threads feed via Manual Placements.

Meta is adding a deluxe version of its smart glasses this year, likely trying to keep its lead.

> plans to include hand-gesture controls and a screen for displaying photos and apps

The screen is limited—just a corner of one lens—but v2 is already in the works with both lenses getting in on the party.

App focus sounds like pics + maps + notifications. Handy first gen mix for a heads up display.

What is the minimum viable ad length?

It depends! (Classic marketer answer)

> Ads need to reach an “identification threshold” — the minimal time to be recognized and spark emotion. Conventional ads do this quickly, while unconventional ones take longer but gain little from extra attention afterward.

How do you apply this?

> Typical ads benefit most from more frequent but shorter exposures, whereas atypical ads benefit most from longer exposures (even if it’s less frequent).

TechCrunch shares that a social media tester found:

> a “Write with Meta AI” prompt on Instagram that allows people to get AI-generated suggestions for comments to users’ posts.

(This is known as “pulling a LinkedIn”)

Content creation and engagement on social platforms has shrunk as they’ve turned more into entertainment and social sharing platforms.

But they need content and signal to feed algorithms and extend scroll sessions.

Minimize the effort to dopamine release.

Display is dying

> Returns on programmatic ad auctions are returning so little, Digiday could not find a source to speak on the record. One anonymous revenue lead at a North American publisher says they’ve seen double-digit CPM decreases across the board in 2025. An executive says online display ads bought through auction in the fall are down as much as 30% compared to 2023’s Q4

AI (and other algorithms) + the growth of retail media (thanks 1st party data) + longstanding wariness around programmatic = growth of more attractive (or hyped) alternatives for marketers

Meta changed the default inventory filter setting to allow ads to deliver alongside all content:

> Beginning on February 24, 2025, we’re gradually changing the default setting of inventory filters for in-content ads and Audience Network to expanded

Now would be a good time to check your settings if you’re particular about what content your ads appear within / next to.

via Jon Loomer

Marketers are bystanders.

In the words of Peter Drucker:

> The bystander sees things neither actor nor audience notices. Above all, he sees differently from the way actors or audience see. Bystanders reflect, and reflection is a prism rather than a mirror; it refracts.

As a marketer, you operate in this middle space, at a slight remove.

Your job is—to continue the metaphor of actors and audience—to manage the fourth wall. The vital point where performance meets audience and the magic happens (or doesn’t).

Like IBM, Oracle, and Sun before it, Apple seems at risk of moving from innovator to infrastructure—a big player that no longer steers the market but plays a foundational role in enabling the players that do.

> Apple Scraps Work on Mac-Connected Augmented Reality Glasses > > Headset group struggles to find path forward after Vision Pro > > Canceled device would have rivaled Meta’s future AR glasses

Confusing themselves for the market and losing track of trends until it’s too late to be an early mover.

Does Meta have its long-desired hardware platform? Or at least the start of it?

It’s extended the contract with the Ray-Ban parent company for more years of smart glasses collaboration.

Now, according to Bloomberg, Oakley is joining the crew.

Plus…

> Company resumes work on smartwatch and develops AirPods rival > > First real AR glasses, dubbed ‘Artemis,’ are planned for 2027

The question used to be: what will replace the smartphone?

> the organizing principle of digital advertising, which is the individual consumer. What Facebook — now Meta — is better at than anyone in the world is understanding consumers not as members of a cohort or demographic group but rather as individuals, and serving them ads that are uniquely interesting to them. > > brands are created for cohorts or demographic groups, because they need to be manufactured at scale; > > thus the opportunity for an entirely new wave of companies that were built around digital advertising and its deep personalization from the get-go.

From the abstract of the paper Do Influencers Influence? A Meta-Analytic Comparison of Celebrities and Social Media Influencers Effects 📝

> Findings reveal that social media influencers (SMIs) are more effective than brand-only advertising and that there is no significant difference between SMIs and celebrity endorsers. Taking these factors into consideration, the effects are moderated by perceived credibility and influencer types, indicating that mega-influencers are relatively more persuasive, while nano-influencers are less persuasive compared to celebrities, respectively. Findings imply that there is a “sweet spot” wherein SMIs are most effective and distinct from celebrity endorsers, providing support for more nuanced conceptualizations of SMIs and calling for future research to explore additional enhancing and attenuating factors.

Sources told the Financial Times that Meta is planning to expand its partnership with Ray-Ban to make glasses with a little display on the inside, so users can gaze out at the world with a digital overlay

The sources said Meta wants to add a screen on the inside of the glasses that would be able to flash things like text messages, and that the product might be ready to hit the shelves as early as the second half of next year.

On-lens optics is the next big step.

From Platformer’s 2025 predictions:

> Everyone copies Meta Ray-Bans. The other tech giants come around to the idea that glasses, not headsets, are what will turn mixed-reality applications into a mainstream success. By the end of the year, consumers will have multiple good Meta Ray-Ban alternatives to choose from.

Agreed.

Meta now sets 1-day engaged-view by default in a campaign’s attribution setting.

Jon Loomer also reports this attribution type has been updated to be click agnostic.

Just an FYI, I wouldn’t bother changing this unless you only want click attribution (which I’m not sure is the best route these days).

😎😎😎

> Meta plans to add displays to its Ray-Ban smart glasses as soon as next year, as the US tech giant accelerates its plans to build lightweight headsets that can usurp the smartphone as consumers’ main computing device.

> According to people familiar with the matter, the company has accelerated Orion’s development following the enthusiastic response of early testers.

The next form factor has been decided.
Ambient computing is coming.

via the Financial Times

from @Manton: I support the mad king

> take any other potential feature and run it through the feedback of an oversight committee, the outcome is the same. Bloat.

> Directionless products fail. They lose their soul.

Committees replace the initial energy that drive a company.

Look at Meta compared to the other big tech companies. Regardless of your feelings towards Zuck, you can’t deny the different vibe compared to a company like Apple.

First Meta, then LinkedIn, now video making tips from TikTok (Shop).

You Gotta Have a Hook

You have to pique curiosity within the first 3 seconds. The first line must grab attention.

Bennies, Baby

Once attention is grabbed, move into the benefits / variations of your product.

Heed the Call

End with a call to action and make it easy to take the relevant action (aka don’t just dump them on your homepage).

Everyone’s coming for Meta 😎

Solos challenges Meta’s Ray-Bans with $299 ChatGPT smart glasses

> That allows the AirGo Vision to do things like translate text into different languages, provide directions to nearby locations or landmarks, and give the wearer more information about what they’re looking at.

> A swappable frame system means that you can wear the glasses with or without the camera

To paraphrase Ian Fleming: Once is chance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is a trend.

A good economic rebuttal to some of the requested punishments in the Google anti-trust case.

Defaults matter, but switching also isn’t hard.

Also, it’s a bit late, isn’t it?

> the antitrust case is happening when Google is losing advertising share and is under pressure from a new search technology, Artificial Intelligence. AI search from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta Llama, and xAI is very well funded and making rapid progress.

The game of “take control, give control” continues, this time with Meta giving advertisers another lever to control their ad delivery

> Frequency controls help you control how often your ad is shown to a person. When creating your campaign, you’ll have two options to choose from for your frequency controls. These controls are target frequency and frequency cap.

Now you can better control frequency of awareness and engagement campaigns, at least for Reach and ThruPlay goals.

Meta is all about Reels, but video is the hardest asset type to produce (I’d accept the argument for audio, but it’s not relevant for Meta). So this note is welcome news for many:

> carousels with music are now also eligible to appear in the Reels tab

More from the head of IG:

Why [do] carousels often get more reach than photos? Two main reasons. One, multiple pieces of media are going to mean more interactions with your carousel posts, and more interactions is going to mean more reach on average. And two, if someone sees your carousel post but they don’t swipe, we’ll often give that carousel a second chance and automatically move to that second piece of media for the viewer.

Just remember the secret quality score, this won’t be a silver bullet.

Bloomberg: Baidu Readies AI Smart Glasses to Rival Meta’s Ray-Bans

Meta’s are becoming computers (thanks AI!). And the true vision is in prototype.

Apple is joining in.

The VR players are pivoting. AR glasses are the path. Ambient computing.

Think Snap wants some credit? And maybe some commission?

I’ve been harping about election campaign spending and its impact on marketing expectations this year for a bit now. So here’s an Election Day post running through it all again. Go vote!

2024 is projected to be a record-breaking year, surpassing $12 billion in political ad spend.

Seventy percent of that windfall will be spent after Labor Day

The Harris campaign has instead focused its digital spending on larger platforms like Google and Meta, where it has spent over $280mn this year. The vast amount of political spending on those platforms — already more than $1.5bn

For context, in the second half of October, political parties spent well over $2.5 million per day on YouTube. For Meta, it’s closer to $1 million per day.

Why won’t I shut up about this?

Some of your ads feel more expensive lately?

This might be why:

> The Harris campaign has instead focused its digital spending on larger platforms like Google and Meta, where it has spent over $280mn this year. The vast amount of political spending on those platforms — already more than $1.5bn

I’m not sure how they’re defining “this year” since the Harris campaign technically started in July when Biden suspended his campaign.

Meta is developing its AI search engine (and apparently has the “most-used AI assistant in the world”).

Now OpenAI is fully launching ChatGPT search

> ChatGPT can now search the web in a much better way than before. You can get fast, timely answers with links to relevant web sources, which you would have previously needed to go to a search engine for. This blends the benefits of a natural language interface with the value of up-to-date sports scores, news, stock quotes, and more.

Meta is developing an AI search engine, to be embedded in its Meta AI chatbot. The company has reportedly been indexing the web for at least eight months. 

Meta AI currently uses Google and Bing’s search engines when it fetches users answers about current events, financial markets, and sports.

This highlights a few things:

Meta’s plan for growth among younger demos:

• Discovery
• Utility

Surface content like an entertainment app (social media is basically TV now).

Do the classic “Meta experience upgrade” on things like marketplaces, forums (Groups), and events.

Network effect + massive infrastructure = advantage

Meta is working on “New Brand [Safety &] Suitability Controls”.

The big one I know some clients will love:

> We’re testing the ability for businesses to turn off comments on ads

There is research that suggests ads with comments perform better (social proof?), but some industries and brands attract a lot of negative comments and/or don’t have the bandwidth to actively moderate and engage. Control on this capability would be nice.

Meta reportedly rolled out an ad algorithm update in August. It caused a lot of volatility, but includes some nice sounding features.

• Conversion Value Rules

> You can assign certain audience profiles OR conversion types higher values

• Incremental Conversions Attribution

> measure which conversions would not have happened w/o the ad being shown (true impact) AND optimize for these types of conversions

• Third-party Analytics Integration
• Cross-Channel User Journeys

> more emphasis on cross-channel journeys to drive incremental conversions.

Posts with a lot of comments look to be more heavily weighted when it comes to what shows up in your Threads feed. That’s over re-shares and Likes, with the experiment seemingly suggesting that the Threads algorithm is geared towards incentivizing discussion over everything else.

This makes sense at first glance because commenting is the highest form of public engagement. And engagement is what Meta’s other apps struggle with.

Snapchat will soon start “experimenting” with placing sponsored messages next to chat threads from friends, according to CEO Evan Spiegel.

These “Sponsored Snaps” from brands will appear as unread messages in Snapchat’s main Chat tab, implying that they’ll sit above messages from a person’s contacts until they’re acted on. This is the first time Snap will show ads in the most used part of its app.

Read more →

said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on a call discussing the results with investors. “Over the long term, advertisers will basically just be able to tell us a business objective and a budget, and we’re going to go do the rest for them. We’re going to get there incrementally over time, but I think this is going to be a very big deal.” 

Digital marketers have been speculating this as a potential future, now Zuck has said it out loud. Based on Google’s PMax experience, advertisers won’t like it.

More Meta insights from my (really good) rep.

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns can handle up to 150 different ads, but what about “normal” campaigns?

It depends on budget (always), but my rep recommends 15 ads per ad set.

With 60-70% of those being video assets. Ideally with vertical versions.

From Apple:

> Apple Maps on the web is available in public beta, allowing users around the world to access Maps directly from their browser

I think the importance of maps as an os layer will only grow in importance. Primarily for AR and mobility, but also as an ad platform.

As TikTok and Instagram unseat Google in the realm of local search, I see a realm of possibilities for Meta Maps and SnapMap.

Research from Ariyh shows that native ads may have great click rates, but that traffic doesn’t stick around on your site.

(Like Google Ads max clicks and Meta link clicks optimizations.)

> You can improve native ad effectiveness by keeping the landing page the native ad links to in a similar style as the native ad: valuable, interesting, and a soft sell.

Your ad makes a promise. Your landing page delivers on it.

> Apple is targeting to begin mass production of new “AirPods with camera modules” by 2026
> …
> According to Kuo, these new AirPods will feature an infrared camera similar to what’s used as part of the Face ID module on iPhone and iPad

Wonder how these cameras will work for multi-modal AI.

Between this and revamped voice assistants and Meta’s Ray Bans, ambient computing is arriving.

Also interesting that despite the investment in the Vision Pro (or maybe because of the dedication to design decisions made therein), Apple seems content to let Meta own the optical market. (For now?)

Meta’s Instant Forms are a powerful lead gen tool, but quality can be low out of the box.

Here are some steps from Big Blue to improve performance:

• Add a question that can’t be autofilled by Meta
• Try to keep it to 3 questions max
• Use dynamic or custom questions

& don’t forget creative

What do you get when you mix Google’s Performance Max and Meta’s Advantage+?

Pinterest Performance+

Similar to the others: streamlined creation flows, fewer levers to pull, (platform-touted) increased performance.

> Early testing saw over 10% improvement in cost per acquisition for conversion and catalog sales campaigns.
> Consideration campaigns saw a more than 10% improvement in cost per click.

via Adweek

> Instagram confirmed it’s testing unskippable ads after screenshots of the feature began circulating across social media. These new ad breaks will display a countdown timer that stops users from being able to browse through more content on the app until they view the ad, according to informational text displayed in the Instagram app.

Unsurprisingly, people hate it. But Meta is really good at figuring out what people will actually put up with vs what they just say.

Looking for a video formula?

This is The Playbook According to Meta:

• Logo visible within the first 3 seconds
• Action within the first 6 seconds
• Core value of the video/story within the first 16 seconds

16 seconds is the recommended length.

The 6 second mark is the inflection point. You’re trying to hook them so they stick around for the rest of the video. If they make it past that mark they are engaged and interested. Cliff notes for the first 6 seconds to create some brand awareness, full story after that.

If you use Meta’s Advantage+ Shopping campaigns you may be familiar with the new(ish) audience segments. You may also be confused by a (characteristic) lack of clarity on how they work.

Thankfully, Jon Loomer is here to clear things up.

Per Meta:

> If there is an overlap, such that a user will fit into both the ‘Engaged’ and ‘Existing’ category, we will prioritize the association that is lowest in the funnel (i.e ‘Existing’).

While Google is Meta-fying its ad platform as fast as it can, Zuck+Co might be returning the favor.

Site links in your social feed!

> The site links feature enables you to add multiple landing pages to your ads. Ads created without the site link feature can only include one primary landing page. The site links will appear as horizontally scrollable display labels under the main hero image or video. When someone clicks on one of the site links on your ad, they’ll be redirected to its designated landing page within the in-app browser to learn more about your business.

Meta

> Marketers get ready: ads are coming to Threads a lot sooner than expected. > > The tech platform recently told ad execs that they will be able to buy ads on its X-rival, text-based platform as early as the second half of this year

Increase revenue potential and decrease CPMs (maybe), sounds like exactly what Meta wants right now.

If experimenting on Threads was on your 2024 To Do list, now is the time.

Reddit has launched their Meta catalog and Google Shopping ads clone: Dynamic Product Ads.

Very tempted to try these since the forum has taken over Google Search results (part of the licensing deal courtship?).

& there’s this:

> Reddit is saying Dynamic Product Ads drove 1.9x greater Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) when compared to conversion objective campaigns, based on the results of testing in Q1.

Reddit is a destination for shopping / product research, why not try to close the loop and turn it into a purchase driver.

Temu is spending like crazy on advertising

> “As a result, this increases everyone’s CPA (cost per acquisition) on platforms like Meta and Google because large advertisers like Temu are monopolizing ad inventory and heightening the costs of the advertisers targeting the same audiences.” > > over 9,000 active Temu ads are running across platforms. > > Be prepared for shifts. These systems (Meta’s auction) are volatile, and businesses should always be prepared to pull back when need be, and have a toolkit of options for where to place their online ad dollars.

In response to the Search Engine Land piece about Google Ad Strength that I responded to, Google says Ad Strength is not used in the auction.

But!

> Ad Strength looks at 4 categories that have been identified to result in better performance through regression analyses. > > For example, a low Ad Strength could explain a lack of impressions, but low Ad Strength doesn’t prevent ads from entering into auctions. > > It’s a feedback mechanism for creative content and meant to be used as a helpful guide to improve the effectiveness of your ads. Again, it isn’t used directly in the auction.

Meta disclosed Instagram ad revenue as part of the antitrust process.

> Instagram earned: > > - $11.3 billion in ad revenue in 2018 > - $17.9 billion in 2019 > - $22 billion in 2020 > - $32.4 billion in 2021 > > The filing also notes that IG earned $16.5 billion in ad revenue in the first half of 2022, putting it on track to earn more than $33 billion for that year (based on higher holiday spend). > > As reported by Bloomberg, the data suggests that Instagram generated around 30% of Meta’s total revenue in 2022. Which, if you were to extrapolate that into last year’s numbers, would suggest that IG brought in around $40 billion in ad revenue in 2023.

Good reminder: Ads Optimization is Literal

> When you select a performance goal in the ad set, the algorithm’s entire focus is getting you as many of that thing as possible. > > It’s not trying to get you a certain type of link click or landing page view or ThruPlay. The only goal is to get you that thing and make you happy. > > Because Meta is literal, and when you optimize for those things, the assumption is that you are satisfied with that surface-level action.

> For the second time in just over a month, Meta’s apps, including WhatsApp, and to some extent, Messenger and Instagram, faced outages and intermittent issues. > > Meta’s status page detailed disruptions to key business services, including its Ads Manager, Messenger Platform, WhatsApp Business API and others.

via TechCrunch

&

> There has been a lot of talk on Twitter/X about Meta Ads being “broken”. This has happened before, but it’s never lasted longer than a few weeks. This time, many brands have seen soft performance for all of Q1. > > there is no obvious cause/effect relationship between poor performance and a specific code push or platform outage on Meta’s side. > > only some brands are seeing poor performance.

Looking forward to playing with this new reporting feature from Meta (because I’m a data nerd).

> With the Engaged Customers Audience Segment, you can define your engaged customers using custom audiences, which provides reporting breakdowns specifically for this audience.
> > Meta now offers a new segment to analyze results in Ads Manager. Just go to the Breakdown menu and choose “Demographics by Audience Segments.” From there, you’ll see separate rows for New Customers, Existing Customers, and Engaged Customers

Why Marketers need to embrace the funny when it comes to podcasting

> While there’s no sure-fire formula to being funny, brands that lean into comedic ads find the effort has a good success rate.
> > A funny ad is a sticky ad

Marketing (and business) doesn’t have to be that serious, have some fun. It may even make your work better.

If only there were a “holiday” coming up that would let you safely try humor for your brand…

The CEOs of Kellogg and Wendy’s recently caused a bit of public outcry.

From the Kellogg end:

> We’ve got to reach the consumer where they are, so we’re advertising about cereal for dinner. If you think about the cost of cereal for a family versus what they might otherwise do, that’s going to be much more affordable.

Meanwhile, at Wendy’s:

> Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and daypart offerings

Cookie Deprecation is Coming - Should Advertisers be Worried?

> Apple blocked third party cookies for 100% of traffic back in 2020, and most brands see almost half of their traffic from Safari (!!!) So that impact has already been felt for a while now.
> …
> as long as you’re using ad platforms platforms (Google, Meta, TikTok, Email/SMS) and aren’t super reliant on display networks, there likely won’t be a major impact.
> …
> building out a CDP, beefing up first-party data capture, etc. Those are considered best practices anyway, and will become even more beneficial with all of the privacy changes on the horizon and beyond.

Today’s metric is one I just learned about: First Time Impression Ratio (FTIR)

According to Meta, FTIR is:

> The percentage of your daily impressions that comes from people seeing your ad set for the first time.

FTIR = Reach / Impressions

The lower your FTIR, the higher your frequency.

This matters because you can’t survive on “moment of conversion” traffic alone. Such a small sliver of any platform’s user base is in-market for your given offer at any one moment that you should run campaigns to gain brand awareness (this is why you need both brand and performance marketing (and yes, smaller budgets can put these considerations on hold)).

1. TikTok’s potential U.S. ban stirs marketers, spurs contingency planning

> Meta could capture between 22.5% and 27.5% of TikTok’s U.S. ad revenues in the event of a ban.
> > YouTube stands to gain an additional $1.24 billion to $1.53 billion, with $410 million to $500 million of TikTok’s ad revenues redirected to Google’s display and search businesses

One of the early thought exercises I was given at Blue Ion was: what happens if Meta was shut down tomorrow?

One of the most annoying things we have to deal with on a (fairly) regular basis with Blue Ion clients is getting access to various Meta properties and tools so we can manage their advertising.

This isn’t because of the clients, it’s because of Meta. It’s pretty much always a headache and 3x more clicks than you would think necessary.

Before I outline the process we’ve landed on lately (for now?), a few ground rules we play by:

From episode three of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs:

> Once you give a collection of things a name—the way people’s minds work—they start thinking because those things share a name, they’re the same kind of thing.

Names and genres and labels matter.

The human brain is designed to pattern match and categorize and bucket and metaphor to save on processing power.

(Neural networks are designed to do this for AI models via weights.)

Ambient computing is coming

> Apple has explored the idea of developing new wearable devices — including a fitness ring, smart glasses and even AirPods with cameras — to broaden one of its most important business areas.

This is a mix of Apple targeting products from other brands (Oura, Meta Ray-Bans, Snap Spectacles, etc) and building the product ladder that leads to the Vision Pro as the eventual replacement for the Mac line.

The paper Examining the Efficacy of Time Scarcity Marketing Promotions in Online Retail from the Journal of Marketing Research has some great research (as covered on the Nudge Podcast).

Even the abstract is informative, if a bit unwieldy in that classically academic way:

> Time scarcity promotions (e.g., “40% off for a limited time”) are mainstays of online retail marketing. Although positive effects of time scarcity promotions on consumer interest have been evidenced in the brick-and-mortar world, should retailers expect similarly robust effects online? The present research suggests the answer may be no. First, the authors report meta-analytic and experimental results suggesting that previously identified positive effects of time scarcity promotions observed offline may not emerge in online shopping contexts. Then, consistent with the prediction that online time scarcity promotions activate more persuasion knowledge than identical control promotions, the authors detail findings suggesting that providing retailer-exogeneous justifications for online time scarcity promotions’ time restriction (e.g., consumers’ birthdays, seasonal changes) can increase the potential of observing positive effects on consumer interest online. Further, results suggest that the positive effects of including exogenous time justification may be more likely when less time remains until the online promotion’s expiration. However, results stop short of suggesting that online time scarcity promotions will consistently yield superior outcomes compared with identical online control promotions. Therefore, the authors highlight the continued need for careful managerial use as well as further research examining the optimal translation of offline tactics to online retail.

Companies have moved focus from growth to revenue since Fed rates rose above 0. Especially those that care about their market cap & stock price.

An easy way to do this is to pass a previously internalized cost to customers. If you can pass the blame, even better.

Thus: Meta is passing on the Apple tax for boosted posts to advertisers

> The change stems from a 2022 App Store update where Apple extended its typical 30 percent cut of digital purchases to boosted posts.

Two Anthony De Mello quotes:

> A village blacksmith found an apprentice willing to work hard at low pay. The smith immediately began his instructions to the lad: “When I take the metal out of the fire, I’ll lay it on the anvil; and when I nod my head you hit it with the hammer.” The apprentice did precisely what he thought he was told. Next day he was the village blacksmith.

Sounds like the digital ad market is doing just fine

> Meta’s fourth-quarter ad sales jumped 24% from a year earlier to $38.7 billion, while Amazon’s booming ad unit rose 27% to $14.7 billion. Meanwhile Alphabet, still the market leader, saw its Google ad business rise 11% to $65.5 billion, boosted by 16% growth at YouTube.

via CNBC

New Meta attribution setting: Engaged-view

> when someone plays your video ads for a minimum of 10 seconds (or watches 97% of the video length if it’s less than 10 seconds) and converts within a 1 day window.

New LinkedIn pixel feature: Website Actions

> empowers B2B marketers using LinkedIn’s Insight Tag to capture and measure website actions without the need for additional tracking codes on their website.

• something about retargeting

New YouTube analytics: Playlist Analytics

Meta has started rolling out its “first generative AI-powered features for ad creatives in Meta’s Ads Manager”

> - Background Generation: Creates multiple backgrounds to complement the advertiser’s product images
> - Image Expansion: Seamlessly adjusts creative assets to fit different aspect ratios across multiple surfaces, like Feed or Reels
> - Text Variations: Generates multiple versions of ad texts based on advertiser’s original copy

2 big questions for marketers:

Re: Apple paying for training data

Meta is in the best position here because of its social graph and user engagement history.

Apple’s privacy stance means no real user data but it has a massive bank account and history of working with rights holders (see: iTunes).

The hardware platform is its killer feature though. It doesn’t need to be the fastest scaling consumer app in history to become relevant, it just needs to ship via software update.

From Meta:

> We’re discontinuing some detailed targeting options because they are either not widely used, redundant with others, too granular, they relate to topics people may perceive as sensitive (e.g., targeting options referencing causes related to health, race or ethnicity), or because of legal or regulatory requirements.

Interest targeting is on its last legs. All hail the robots.

From Exploding Topics:

> Immersive dining is part of the Immersive Experiences meta trend.
> > Searches for “immersive experiences” have grown by 144% over the past 24 months.
> > Immersive experiences have become more accessible, thanks to technologies like AR, VR, and projection mapping.
> > Videos about immersive experiences have over 515 million views on TikTok.

The further we get from pandemic-era lockdowns, the more the consumer pendulum swings from goods to experiences.

Meta’s big new announcement is…browser history?

> Facebook recently rolled out a new “Link History” setting that creates a special repository of all the links you click on in the Facebook mobile app.

A few (non-exclusionary) guesses why:

• Trying to inch their way to regulatory approval
• Hoping transparency = user approval (Threads has embraced ActivityPub, maybe more openness is the future)
• Improving AI + increasing privacy makes the secret sauce less secret, so no need to act super sketchy (thought plenty see this as sketchy)
• Some forthcoming platform play

via Gizmodo

I knew Google paid Apple a lot for default search engine status, but seeing it put this way was still crazy:

> Google pays Apple Inc. 36% of the revenue it earns from search advertising made through the Safari browser

This is why everyone (Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI) wants a hardware platform. They want to own the access point, because value accrues there.

Defaults are powerful. And the device can set the defaults.

Instagram is a great illustration of the splintering of social media:

> users now “post a lot more to stories, and send a lot more DMs, than they post to Feed”.
> > main IG feed now becoming more of a discovery platform, in highlighting the best trending, primarily video content, while the social elements shift out of public sight.
> > original posting has continued to decline. And without that, Meta’s apps lose a significant aspect of their appeal, and their power as connective engagement surfaces.
> > Meta also gleans major value from interaction, and facilitating participation

Battery tech is one of the developmental fields I’m most interested in, and this news is why:

> Swedish battery-maker Northvolt announced proudly on Tuesday that it had developed a new kind of sodium-ion battery that’s just as efficient as batteries that use precious earth metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, but is totally free of them.

The electrification of everything means the batterification of many things. In order for that to be sustainable, we need more than one battery formula. Especially when the current formula is just replacing oil with rare earth metals.

Speaking of consumers wanting experiences and brand created content, Louis Vuitton (& Co) is delivering.

> LVMH is building a luxury destination right in the heart of Paris, giving aspiring artisans and curious visitors a place to interact with the 280 skilled trades that power the fashion conglomerate’s 75 brands.

> hope is access to artisans and the inner workings of how luxury goods are made will increase appreciation of the goods and inspire some to join the ranks.

Here’s more on pricing (this is turning into an informal Pricing Week).

> Always place your price below the product, not above it.

This approach made the same price feel 9% lower on dental floss and increased sales 35% in a liquor store, in the experimental study.

One of the crucial metaphors ingrained in us as we grow up is:

> Down is less and up is more

Metaphors are powerful because they’re essentially the cognitive interface between the brain and the world. Vehicles for experience.

While TikTok tries to make its content and discovery engine an ecommerce platform, Amazon is plugging its ecommerce engine into all the other content and discovery (formerly social media) platforms.

First, Pinterest. Now…

> Meta lets Amazon shoppers buy products on Facebook and Instagram without leaving the apps

Google mulled offering paid-for no-logging private Search subscription

I think there are 2 reasons companies like Google and Meta won’t roll out paid ad-free versions:

1. Once you’re a large, publically-traded, profit-generating machine, the genie ain’t going back in the bottle. I doubt the unit economics work out for a monthly subscription amount users are cool with replacing the potential ad revenue. Think about how much more money these companies make compared to Spotify or Netflix (the money only matters because stock markets).

   Read more →

More ads in the same places

Meta is turning its monetization focus to WhatsApp, including lead gen ads that launch a WhatsApp chat.

Maybe the Reels revenue machine can be refined, but Instagram and Big Blue have few growth avenues. Their ad revenue will grow as long as budgets do. Zuck+co’s messaging apps and Threads are where growth acceleration will happen.

Elsewhere, Fire TVs are about to become ad machines. And you know it will mint the Bezos Boys a fortune. If they don’t ruin the user experience. I’m less confident in that last part these days when it comes to The Everything Company.

What if I told you that

Meta's new "feature" which tells you how much you can raise the budget before entering the learning phase (usually by up to 70%) is just a mind game to get you to spend more because the "learning phase" doesn't exist and never has.

Would you believe me?

— Jess @ FireTeam 🔥 An agency on fire... (@HireFireTeam) November 2, 2023

Tell me more…

The argument, at least from my point of view is that there is no on/off state where an ad is in the learning phase. Meta has conditioned media buyers to accept a certain level of instability for new ads and for budget changes by calling this period "learning phase". But that…

Read more →

I’ve said about Meta:

> There really isn’t a company better at monetizing via ads.

Some might be yelling “but what about Google?!”

Big G is good at protecting their position to lock in default behavior and monetizing that way.

> testimony in the trial revealed that Google spent a total of $26.3 billion in 2021 to be the default search engine in multiple browsers, phones, and platforms.

The end of Meta is regularly proclaimed, but Google is in a more precarious position.

I’ve collected too many tabs of Meta related stuff, so here it all is.

Chat with AI in Messenger
This isn’t surprising, especially given Snap’s success with AI chatbots. The real question is: does Meta know their market? One persona appears based on Blender from Futurama, which feels like a miss for the youth.

Plus, AI Studio to let developers build custom chatbots. AI might make Meta’s messenger dreams for brands a reality…finally. It used to be like setting up a choose-your-own adventure chat.

In R.I.P. Social Media Managers I wrote:

> Organic social media for brands is dead. And it has been for a while.

I’m not the only one saying this. A Digiday survey found:

> This shift in investment in Facebook and Instagram, along with the decrease in usage and posting frequency on the platforms, is a strong indicator that, overall, agencies are seeing a lack of return on investment when it comes to Meta.

Meta is bringing generative AI to ads with:

• Backgrounds for product images
• Magic crops to stretch one asset across Meta’s many aspect ratios
• Text variations

The first one is welcome news for any company with white background product shots, those don’t work well on social.

The last one is the AI-indication of an existing feature.

The second one is what I’m most excited about. Anything to streamline asset creation and optimization across placements is very welcome.

Snapchat+ brings in almost $20M a month for the AR/camera/messaging platform.

Meta may offer an ad-free subscription for EU-users to satisfy regulators. Same with TikTok (not sure which markets though).

The internet continues to splinter across geopolitical divides and advertising is one of the fulcrum points.

3 developmental fields at the top of my interest list:

• Chips (especially for AI)
• Batteries
• Nuclear

On #1, OpenAI is thinking about entering the chip game.

It would make sense, and make them comparable to the other mega-platform players with custom chip ops (Apple, Amazon, Google, (Meta?), etc).

I wonder if Cerebras was the acquisition target.

> [Meta wants] to try to continue to shift advertisers from these lever pulling to creative iteration and creative innovation, and that’s where they want to put people.
> > -Andrew Foxwell

There is no such thing as in-platform secret sauce anymore in digital advertising. Your secret sauce is now your creative and content teams.

This is the future.

via Today in Digital premium podcast

> After 81% of agency pros told Digiday last year that they purchased advertising on Facebook on behalf of clients in the plast month, just half (50%) said the same this year. And Instagram saw a similar drop, from 81% who said last year they’d bought ads on the platform for clients in the last month to 48% who said so this year.

This should mean less competition in the auction and cheaper results for those that remain.

> Facebook can be sued over allegations that its advertising algorithm is discriminatory

This has already happened in verticals like housing and credit. The number of “special categories” might grow after this. How will this impact the Advantage push?

> “Facebook does not merely proliferate and disseminate content as a publisher … it creates, shapes, or develops content” with the tools.

Big Tech is already on trial (Amazon, Google). AI is putting algorithms front-and-center. Section 230 has been targeted before.

Just got the new Meta ads manager audience setup flow. It’s 2 sections:

Audience Controls
> Set criteria for where ads for this campaign can be delivered.

• Locations
• Minimum Age
• Custom Audience exclusion
• Languages

Advantage+ audience (optional) > Our ad technology automatically finds your audience. If you share an audience suggestion, we’ll prioritize audiences matching this profile before searching more widely.

• Custom Audiences
• Age
• Gender
• Detailed targeting (demographics, interests, behaviors, etc)

Interested to see which feed users end up preferring. And how turning off the algorithm impacts ad performance.

> Meta has confirmed that non-personalized content feeds are incoming on Facebook and Instagram in the European Union
> > content could be ordered and displayed chronological (such as based on the time a post was made) or ranked by local popularity (such as for ordering search results).

Survey says…

Google and Meta are still the go-to duo for marketing spend.

Surprises to me in this chart: LinkedIn, Netflix, and Hulu.

The first is higher than I expected, #3 is a prime spot in this lineup. The other 2 show the growth of streaming ad platforms.

Prepare for increased auction pressure as needed.

> A group formed by Meta, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and TomTom is releasing data that could enable companies to build maps that rival products from Google and Apple.

Of note because I think maps will become an increasingly important OS later moving forward. With AR, AI on the edge and ambient computing devices, and self-driving cars (maybe). All benefit from geospatial awareness.

Also, I think TomTom used to help Apple with its maps. And Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon could be an interesting team up elsewhere.

🚨 New variants found of malware that targets Facebook business accounts 🚨

> To gain access to target systems, hackers used phishing links, tricking victims into downloading files that contained the malicious infostealer, Unit 42 said.
> > Once the malware is executed, it checks for any logged-in Facebook business accounts in the default browser and proceeds to hack them. It steals various information about the target, such as their follower count, user verification status, account credit balance and ad information.

What signals are left if these are removed? Is advertising worth it at that point?

> Meta Platforms has proposed asking all users in Europe to decide whether they would like to see ads targeted based on how they interact with the company’s apps, such as what videos they watch or posts they share.

And isn’t that first-party data? The kind of thing that’s supposed to fill the cookie-shaped gap all platforms are prepping for?

Meta is ‘is seeking to patent a system for “user identification with voiceprints” for social media networks.’

It’s mostly for 2FA, but ‘these voiceprints could allow the company to provide “customized content to the identified users.”’

Allowing the algo to deliver ‘content to “match the interests of the identified users, and may include advertisements, news feeds, push notifications, place tips, coupons, or suggestions.”’

PATENT DROP: Meta will hear you out