Today's Guide to the Marketing Jungle from Social Media Examiner...
presented by 
📣 Introducing NoteGo — our brand-new tool that turns messy feedback into clear, AI-powered videos. [See how it works →]
Here's a recap of the most important insights, trends, and updates you need to know about today, Alluser! Catch up in minutes and go into the rest of the week prepared.
In today's edition:
-
What to know about your falling Reels Views
-
Building your Marketing skills set
-
Updating your Facebook ad strategy
-
🗞️ Industry news from Threads, YouTube, and more
Adjusting for Instagram's Change to Reels
Are your Instagram views suddenly down?
A few months ago, Instagram changed how it counts Views on Reels and posts. Actions that used to register a view (a quick scroll-by on Explore or someone glancing at your profile) no longer do. Now, someone actually has to tap and intentionally watch for the view to count.
Seeing these lower numbers may trigger you to start tweaking everything from hooks and captions to posting times. But lower view counts don't automatically mean lower reach. And they definitely don't mean your content strategy suddenly stopped working.
For marketers who rely on Instagram as a key organic channel, especially if you're building brand visibility without a massive ad budget, this shift changes how you interpret performance, what metrics you prioritize, and how you set realistic expectations moving forward.
Before you overhaul your content plan, check this post from Lucas O'Keefe to understand what actually changed—and what didn't. Read more here.
Can't Attend Social Media Marketing World in Person?
If joining thousands of marketers April 28th - 30th in Anaheim isn't in the cards for you, don't worry. The conference comes to you with a Virtual ticket.
Your Virtual Ticket grants you access to ALL of the content from the conference—including the sessions, keynotes, AND the extra day of workshops—all from the comfort of your home or office. Plus, you can stream the keynotes and sessions in real time.
Ready to skip the crowds and have a full 18 months to review and implement the content from Social Media Marketing World?
Yes, I want to stream live and get the recordings.
Is Your Marketing Job at Risk? Here's What Two Experts Are Seeing
Christopher Penn and Rachel Woods share which skills are becoming more valuable now and in the future, tactical steps to stay competitive, and more.
Other topics discussed include:
-
The Job Displacement Data You Need to Know
-
The Skills That Are Becoming More Valuable Now
-
Tactical Steps If You're Worried About AI Taking Your Job
-
What Marketers Should Learn This Week
-
Warning Signs You're Falling Behind
-
The Tools Marketers Will Be Talking About in the Next Year
Today's advice is provided with insights from Chris Penn and Rachel Woods, featured guests on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.
Facebook Ad Algorithm Changes for 2026: What Marketers Need to Know
Meta Andromeda has changed how ads are served. It uses deep learning and sequence learning to match your creative to a user's intent and position in the buyer's journey.
These tips will help you adapt more quickly, so your campaigns don't lose momentum.
When to Use Broad Targeting vs. Manual Targeting in Meta Ads
Andromeda's machine learning is now so advanced that broad targeting often outperforms manual interest-based targeting.
To execute this correctly, you must be radically broad. Tara Zirker recommends targeting the entire country with no age, gender, or interest selection. This gives the AI the maximum amount of data to find your ideal customer.
However, there are exceptions. If your business is strictly tied to a geography, such as a local brick-and-mortar shop, you must still use manual targeting to restrict delivery to your specific area. Otherwise, a spa in Milwaukee might start receiving calls from potential clients in New York or Los Angeles. Similarly, highly specific niche products or regulated industries may still benefit from providing manual signals to guide the algorithm.
How to Simplify and Budget for Meta Ad Campaigns
The predictive power of Andromeda allows for a much simpler ad account structure. Tara notes that many advertisers have stopped running separate retargeting campaigns altogether.
Instead of creating complex funnels with separate campaigns for cold and warm audiences, you can often consolidate everything into a single main campaign. The algorithm is smart enough to know which users need to be retargeted and which are seeing you for the first time, and it serves the appropriate ad automatically.
You do not need to switch your entire ad account over to this new system overnight. Start by allocating 10% to 20% of your budget to these new Advantage+ or Andromeda-style campaigns.
If you are a smaller advertiser, you might see results in as little as $300 to $600 of spend.
However, larger accounts may need to spend significantly more, sometimes thousands of dollars, before the algorithm collects enough data to outperform your manual campaigns.
Pro Tip: Do not turn off a campaign prematurely; give it more time than you normally would to allow the machine learning to kick in.
How to Adjust Your Meta Ad Creative
If you feel like you're wasting money on ads right now, the problem is likely your creative, not your settings. In the Andromeda era, creative acts as the primary signal for targeting. You need a diverse library of assets that speak to different angles and stages of the customer journey.
In the past, a common strategy was to take a single winning image and test it with dozens of different headlines or hooks. Under the new algorithm, this tactic can actually hurt your performance.
Meta's visual recognition models may view an image with slightly different text overlays as essentially the same image. If the system perceives a lack of diversity, it may punish your account with higher CPMs (costs per thousand impressions). To the algorithm and the human eye, seeing the same visual repeatedly feels "old," leading to fatigue.
To satisfy the algorithm, you must vary your formats, angles, and lengths.
Format Variety: Your library should include static images, short-form raw videos, founder selfies, polished production videos, GIFs, memes, and carousels. Note that static images still drive approximately 60% to 70% of conversions on Meta, so do not abandon them for video only.
As you build your library, consider that Carousels and static images that feature only text (no photos) are currently performing very well right now.
Copy Length: Test copy that is super short, medium, long, and even blog-post length.
Psychological Angles: Create ads that address different motivators such as pain points, pleasure, and curiosity, as well as including different elements like testimonials and direct questions.
Repurpose Email Content: High-performing emails are a goldmine for ad creative—especially emails containing images.
Use External AI Tools: To generate volume, use external tools like Google Gemini. For example, you can upload a static logo and ask the AI to animate it onto a coffee cup in a café scene. This allows you to create high-quality assets faster than your competitors, who are relying solely on basic design tools.
Other topics discussed include:
-
Understanding Meta's Andromeda Algorithm
-
How to Set Up Meta Ads Creative to Work With Andromeda: The Dynamic Creative Protocol
-
How to Select Meta Ad Placements
-
How to Analyze the New Meta Ads Metrics
Today's advice is provided with insights from Tara Zirker, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast and speaker at Social Media Marketing World.
Threads Tests DM Me Shortcut in Private Messaging: Threads is piloting a new feature that allows users to type "DM me" or "Message me" in posts or replies to automatically generate a direct messaging link. The shortcut reduces friction by letting others initiate a one-on-one chat without navigating to a profile page, while still routing messages through primary inboxes or request folders depending on mutual follow status. The feature is currently rolling out to select users in the U.S. and Canada. Threads
X Expands In-Stream Ad Formats With 4:5 and 2:3 Aspect Ratios: The expanded options make it easier to reuse high-performing creatives from other platforms without additional formatting work, streamlining cross-platform campaigns. X
YouTube Enhances Premium Lite with Background Play and Downloads: YouTube has upgraded its Premium Lite plan to include background playback and offline downloads, responding to user feedback from its expanded pilot program. Subscribers will now be able to watch most videos ad-free, offline, and in the background, with the rollout beginning immediately across supported markets. While Premium Lite gains more functionality, YouTube Premium continues to offer the most comprehensive experience, including ad-free music content and access to YouTube Music Premium. YouTube
YouTube Rolls Out Voice Replies to All Creators: YouTube has expanded its voice replies feature to all creators, enabling them to respond to comments with recorded audio messages directly from the main YouTube app or Studio Mobile on Android and iOS. The update is designed to foster more personal engagement and help creators connect with their audiences in a more authentic and expressive way. YouTube
YouTube Tests AI-Powered "Add Object" and "Reimagine" Remix Tools for Shorts: YouTube is piloting new generative Remix capabilities that allow select creators to insert AI-generated objects into Shorts or transform individual frames into entirely new videos. The "Add object" feature enables scene-level edits up to eight seconds, while "Reimagine" creates new video content from a single frame, with optional reference images. As with existing Remix tools, attribution remains intact through automatic links to the original Short, while creators retain opt-out control. The test signals YouTube's continued investment in AI-assisted short-form creativity. Google
New Topic Filters Roll Out to "For You" Timeline on iOS: The platform is testing a new topic-filtering feature that enables users in the U.S. and Canada to refine their timeline content directly from the For You tab on iOS. The experimental update allows users to focus on specific subjects in real time, offering more control over how they track unfolding events and conversations. X via @NikiTabier
Instagram Expands Profile Grid Customization With Editable Thumbnails: Instagram has introduced the next stage of its profile grid update, giving users the ability to edit and customize thumbnail images for posts displayed on their profiles. The feature allows greater control over how images and videos appear in the grid, helping creators and brands curate a more cohesive and intentional visual presence. The update reinforces Instagram's ongoing focus on profile personalization and aesthetic control. Instagram via Threads
Instagram Expands Scheduling and Insights to All Accounts: Instagram is introducing updates designed to better support early-stage creators by expanding access to key creator tools and consolidating eligibility criteria into one clear hub. The move gives creators greater visibility into which features they can use immediately and what requirements must be met to unlock additional capabilities, streamlining the onboarding experience and reinforcing Instagram's focus on creator growth. Instagram
What Did You Think of Today's Newsletter?
Michael Stelzner, Founder and CEO
P.S. Add
michael@socialmediaexaminer.com into your contacts list. Use Gmail?
Go here to add us as a contact.
We publish updates with links for our new posts and content from partners. Your information: Email:
tukangpostemel@gmail.com Opted in on: 2021-09-06 17:03:43 UTC.
.png){kind=logo}
.png){kind=logo}
