• Melissa Harvey
• 15 April 2024
• 7 min

Social in Six 82

1. Instagram is reportedly developing a new tool that recommends Reels in your DMs   

The story: 

• According to app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi, Instagram is reportedly working on a new feature called Blend, which will recommend Reels within an Instagram DM chat. 
• Recommendations are based on Reels two users have shared with each other within a DM conversation, and their own interests. Users have to opt in to create a Blend and can leave at any time. 
• It works similarly to Collections, which enables users to customise and interact with posts shared to one or more users within a DM chat.  

So what? 

Blend is the latest in Instagram’s efforts to lean into the shift towards content sharing in private streams like DMs, effectively making content discovery a group activity. So despite not being the most measurable, try making it a metric or a success marker for your Reels. Is this something friends, colleagues or families could bond over, discuss together, use as a conversation starter, or laugh at together? If the answer to any of the above is yes, your Reels will probably perform all the better for it.

2. Facebook wants you to post more vertical videos     

The story:  

• Facebook is updating its video player to a consistent full screen vertical design for all video types (Reels, longer videos and Live videos); and improving its interest-based video recommendations, including upping the amount of Reels it recommends. 
• The upgraded player will reformat 16:9 videos to full screen when you rotate your device. Plus there’s a slider to scrub longer videos, and controls that let you pause, rewind or skip ahead 10 seconds. 
• It’s rolling out on iOS and Android first in the US and Canada, and globally in the coming months. 

So what? 

If you weren’t shooting and uploading Facebook videos in 9:16 before, you definitely should be now. Failing that, use 16:9. After this update is rolled out, those videos that are still posted in square or 4:5 will be smaller than others in the video feed and play with black bars either side – not to mention you’ll be missing out on making your content more immersive and ultimately more engaging on the platform.

3. YouTube wants to get more creators recommending your products 

The story:  

• The first update, Shopping Collections, lets YouTube creators who’ve connected their own stores to YouTube or enrolled in YouTube’s Affiliate Shopping programme group together a list of product listings and customise the Collection with a name, thumbnail and description.
• These Collections will appear in their product list, Store tab, and as a separate module underneath their video description.  
• YouTube’s also launching an Affiliate Hub in the app so Affiliate creators can find the latest list of brand partners, see competitive commission rates, promo codes, and request samples from brands. 

So what?

Collections essentially turns a creator’s channel into a store front, so if you regularly work with a creator, you can arrange to have your products listed on their channel permanently or for the duration of your campaign, giving audiences a streamlined path to purchase. The Affiliate Hub, on the other hand, is a useful one for YouTube Shopping partners, letting creators perform outreach for brand partnerships.

4. LinkedIn’s upgraded its offering for b2b marketers to bring your ads to the big screen 

The story: 

• LinkedIn has announced CTV (Connected TV) ads are now available to b2b marketers in Canada and the US. They’ll enable advertisers to scale campaigns to connected TVs and streaming devices across a network of publishers including Paramount, Roku and Samsung Ads. 
• In partnership with NBC Universal, LinkedIn Premiere ads will let brands target viewers of some of the network’s most popular shows across the network via its streaming offerings. 
• LinkedIn is also testing Live Event ads, which let brands promote their LinkedIn live events before, during or after the session via a promoted post in the feed.

So what? 

This could be an option worth testing for b2b marketers looking to get a TV-like reach for their LinkedIn campaigns. It’s still early days for this ad type with the limited rollout – so it might take some perseverance until you get the best results. And if you regularly use a third-party platform or YouTube to host webinars and live events, try hosting your next session on LinkedIn and promote it with Live Event ads – LinkedIn says the number of professionals viewing events in the app grew 34% over the last year.  

5. TikTok has made some improvements to its Video Shopping Ads

The story: 

• As TikTok makes its Video Shopping Ads globally available, it’s also made Video Shopping Ads campaigns discoverable from the search tab, instead of just the For You page. 
• It’s also expanded its Shopify partnership to make it easier for new merchants to integrate their catalogue and product data, plus advertisers can now automatically populate their catalogue into ad formats like Carousel and Product Tiles.  
• Finally, TikTok’s also launching a new Product Card format for its Shop Ads, which will enable merchants to promote their products directly within the Shop Tab using a preexisting image and details from their product catalogue. 

So what? 

Organic Photo Mode posts and carousels on TikTok are almost as frequent on the FYP as videos now, so being able to craft your ads in the same format just makes sense. Get them while they’re hot, and give yourself an attention-grabbing edge over the brands sticking to video ads. Meanwhile, Video Shopping Ads in Search means you can position your ads and products as the solution to people’s queries – a powerful corner of TikTok which brands should be tapping into.

6. Reddit’s latest ad updates include an AI tool that writes headlines for you

The story: 

• Reddit has rolled out improvements to its ad creation process, including AI-generated headlines and custom asset cropping, which customises images to fit Reddit’s ad format specifications. 
• Using the Smart Headlines tool, advertisers input a website URL to get AI-generated ad copy headline suggestions based on language data from Reddit’s audience. 
• Additional improvements include expanding lowest cost automated bidding to more campaign types; an improved daily budget allocation process; and updated bulk edit and duplication options. 

So what? 

Smart Headlines’ USP is that it pulls data from its users’ everyday posts instead of data from successful brand ads on the platform, as is the case with generative AI ad tools on other platforms. Reddit says this means your headlines will be more aligned with the language Redditors actually use, but a word of warning: don’t overuse this feature or you’ll just risk blending into the dreaded sea of same.