Social media updates and new features to know this week
Including TikTok, X, LinkedIn and more.
Hello social friends! This week is all about advertising. We have new customizable ad features across numerous social channels, including LinkedIn and Meta. These are options aided by AI that can streamline the process. Let’s take a look and see what tools can help improve your own social reach or campaign.
TikTok
TikTok is adding a new feature to its Marketing Partners Program focused on Shop Ads. The goal is to help sellers better connect with shoppers in real time by teaming up with tech partners who specialize in online advertising.
The first partners are Flywheel, Helium10, Pacvue, Quartile and Teikametrics. They’ll help brands manage things like product catalogs, ad performance, inventory forecasting and automated ad spending.
By working with the chosen marketing tech partners, TikTok hopes sellers can better target shoppers, manage their ad performance and automate parts of their campaigns.
TikTok has also introduced Travel Ads, a new ad format designed for travel brands to promote hotels, flights and destinations. The ads use TikTok’s intent-based models to reach people who are more likely to book trips.
The format includes travel cards that show key details such as prices, hotel names or flight routes a few seconds into the video. The cards can slide automatically and work in multiple formats, making it easier for users to move from discovering a destination to booking a trip.
Meta
Meta is rolling out Business AI, a new and free customizable AI “sales agent” tool that businesses can embed directly into their websites.
The AI learns from a brand’s existing content, such as its website, social media posts and ads, and then uses that to help answer customer questions, guide visitors and support sales.
The tool provides context and insights, allowing creators to see where users have the most questions or concerns on topics, according to Meta.
As they explain: “Your AI agent will be trained on your website and product catalog, guiding customers from discovery to purchase and helping your business to get more sales.”
Meta additionally announced that starting December 16, it will begin using interactions with its generative AI tools to personalize content and advertisements across its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
This means that conversations users have with Meta AI will influence the posts, Reels and ads they see in their feeds. Users will be notified about this change beginning October 7 and will not have the option to opt out.
However, Meta said that it will not use sensitive information, such as political views, health status, or religious beliefs, for ad targeting. The company also said that this new personalization feature will not apply to users in the U.K., European Union or South Korea due to local privacy regulations.
Facebook is making it easier for businesses to remove automated ads they no longer want to run. Companies can now go into Ads Manager, find the specific campaign and delete it to stop it from running and prevent further charges.
The process is part of Facebook’s effort to give businesses more control over their ad campaigns and simplify ad management on the platform. Clear instructions and support are available on the company’s Business Help Center, per Meta.
Snapchat
Snapchat has rolled out a new integration with e-commerce platform WooCommerce, allowing online store owners to create and manage ad campaigns directly from their WooCommerce dashboards. This integration eliminates the need for manual uploads or complex setups, per the e-commerce platform.
With this integration, businesses can launch campaigns quickly, set budgets and monitor performance metrics such as return on ad spend.
X
X has updated its video player interface to enhance user engagement with video content.
The new design emphasizes playback controls, which are now more prominently displayed at the bottom of the screen. Users can access additional video details by tapping on the post caption, and a new menu for playback options is available in full-screen mode, per social media analyst Radu Oncescu.
In addition to the UI changes, X is expanding its AI-generated video capabilities through the Grok “Imagine” tool.
This feature allows users to create short videos from text prompts, with recent enhancements improving its functionality.
LinkedIn has launched some new tools aimed at helping small businesses create advertising campaigns more efficiently, including Auto-Targeting and Draft with AI.
These updates are designed to streamline the campaign creation process, allowing businesses to get their ads live faster with less cost. The tools also provide enhanced optimization capabilities, enabling quicker adjustments to improve campaign performance and audience reach.
Courtney Blackann is a communications reporter. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at [email protected].
