Today's Guide to the Marketing Jungle from Social Media Examiner...
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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:
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6 ways to create Reels without talking
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How to get fresh and innovative marketing ideas from your team
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Industry news from Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and more
6 Reels Formats for Marketers
Want to grow your Instagram without being on camera?
These Reels ideas from Shannon McKinstrie make it easy—even if you're short on time or just not in the mood to talk. No voiceovers. No complicated editing. Just simple, creative ways to show up and connect with your audience.
Each one is quick to make and includes a sample hook so you're not stuck staring at a blank screen. Watch more here.
How to Cultivate Content Creativity: A Framework for Marketers
No one wakes up and says, "I'm excited to create mediocre content today!" So, why are so many of us trapped in a cycle of doing what we've always done?
The way creativity operates is almost the exact opposite of how most businesses are forced to operate. Most businesses focus on maximum output at maximum speed with maximum efficiency and very little risk tolerance. They need to get it right, hit their goals, and deliver results consistently.
Creativity, by contrast, requires taking risks. Good ideas need time to develop. People must feel comfortable and safe to take those kinds of risks without fear of getting fired or missing their goals. It's really difficult to prioritize creativity in those situations because the environment simply doesn't allow for it.
Humans naturally fall into habits and routines, doing the same stuff over and over because it's convenient and they've done it before. Marketing studies show year after year that most teams wish they had more resources, more time, and more people than they currently have. These constraints compound the challenge.
Creating a process for ideating and refining creative content will help you break out of the mediocre content cycle.
How to Encourage Creative Content Ideation: Use Divergent and Convergent Thinking
Creative thinking isn't one thing—it's actually two things working together: divergent thinking and convergent thinking.
Understanding the distinct roles of divergent and convergent thinking is crucial for generating innovative content ideas while still producing work you can actually execute.
Divergent thinking is the big idea thinking–what you might think of as brainstorming. You're expanding possibilities and generating options without constraint.
You're exploring what conditions you could create to capture cool content and allow ideas to surface, no matter how unrealistic they might initially seem.
In the divergent phase, you're responding to ideas with "tell me more," "what else could we do like that," and "give me more." You're leading with curiosity without applying constraints.
Convergent thinking is when you bring reality back into the room. You're converging—coming back together. You're bringing budget, timeline, legal approval, and all those practical considerations back in to see what kind of pruning you need to do on your pile of ideas to end up with something you can truly use.
This is when people come in and ask, "Now, how do we make that reasonable? How do we make that achievable? How do we build on that into something that might be more reasonable?"
In the convergent phase, you're evaluating what you have, plucking out the gems, and trying to make the best doable version of those ideas. Maybe a full-length feature documentary for Q2 becomes a two-minute mini-documentary that's within budget and fits your production team's shoot schedule.
You're finding the realistic version of whatever the big idea was that's doable within your budget, timeline, and resources.
The sequence of these two types of thinking matters, and divergent thinking has to come first.
If you bring budget and reality into the room too early, you're starting to shut people off and make them less likely to share.
You'll end up staying exactly where you are, doing more of what you've always done.
Other topics discussed include:
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Case Study: Divergent and Convergent Thinking in Action
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How to Create a Culture that Supports Creative Content Ideation
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Making the Shift to a Creative Culture
Today's advice is provided with insights from Melanie Deziel, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast and speaker at Social Media Marketing World.
Edits Adds Copy & Paste, Timeline Controls, and Android Video Effects: Edits has rolled out a suite of new features to enhance video editing workflows. iOS users can now copy and paste fonts and clips across projects, while a new timeline settings menu allows quick toggles for guides, snapping, and more. Editors can also control whether changes to the main track apply to linked audio or visuals. On Android, Edits introduces video effects targeting specific people or objects—such as Blur and Scribble—plus reverse playback and fresh text animations. These updates aim to streamline editing and boost creative flexibility. Instagram via Threads
LinkedIn's Evolving Approach to SEO as AI Reshapes Brand Discovery: LinkedIn's latest update signals a fundamental shift for marketers: visibility in AI-generated answers now outweighs traditional web traffic as the key to discovery. The company's AI Search Taskforce aligned teams across marketing disciplines to boost brand presence in generative systems, using new visibility-focused metrics and AI-optimized content strategies. For marketers, this means prioritizing structure, credibility, and distribution on platforms AI favors—like LinkedIn—and adapting to a new funnel centered on brand mentions, not just clicks. LinkedIn
LinkedIn Q2 Earnings Report: LinkedIn revenue rose 11% year-over-year in Microsoft's Q2 FY26 earnings, highlighting the platform's ongoing strength in professional engagement and B2B marketing performance. With adjacent growth in Microsoft 365 and Dynamics, marketers using LinkedIn benefit from a broader ecosystem of connected tools. As Microsoft deepens AI investment across its portfolio, LinkedIn advertisers can anticipate more intelligent capabilities for targeting and optimization ahead. Microsoft
Meta Tests Premium Subscriptions for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp: Meta has confirmed it is testing premium subscription tiers for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, aimed at offering advanced features and greater sharing control beyond current free offerings. Unlike the existing Meta Verified service for creators, the new subscriptions may include access to AI tools such as image generators and assistants. Details remain limited, but Meta says offerings could shift based on user input. CNET
Meta 2025 Earnings Report: Meta's 2025 earnings reveal a healthy advertising business, with ad impressions and prices rising year-over-year and daily active users reaching 3.58 billion. For marketers, this means more competition for attention—and higher CPMs—across Meta platforms. As the company ramps up AI and infrastructure investments, marketers can expect deeper automation and smarter ad tools ahead. But evolving privacy rules and regulatory changes, especially in the U.S. and EU, may limit personalization and require new measurement strategies. Meta
YouTube Becomes Top Social Citation Source in AI Responses: YouTube has overtaken Reddit as the leading social platform cited by large language models, appearing in 16% of responses versus Reddit's 10%, according to new research. The shift reflects LLMs' growing ability to extract data from video transcripts, descriptions, and associated content. As AI increasingly shapes how users discover information, brands must prioritize optimizing YouTube content for machine readability and AI indexing. Adweek
Pinterest Top of Search Ads Put Brands at Peak Discovery Moments: Pinterest has introduced Top of Search ads, a new format that places brands in the highest-ranking search and Related Pin positions, capturing attention during key decision-making moments. Designed to maximize visibility and engagement, these ads auto-group relevant catalogue products into a dynamic gallery . Pinterest
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