1. Instagram Adds Engagement Insights for Reels and Instagram Live Broadcasts - Based on feedback from creators and businesses, Instagram has launched insights for Reels and Live on May 24, 2021. For Reels, they will be showing new metrics including Plays, Accounts Reached, Likes, Comments, Saves, and Shares. For Live, they will be showing Accounts Reached, Peak Concurrent Viewers, Comments, and Shares. They will also be including these metrics in Account Insights to provide a broader picture into how Reels and Live shape an account’s performance.

Additionally, they are launching new detailed information about Reach in Account Insights. They have built new breakdowns that provide transparency into which types of accounts we are reaching and which content formats are the most effective at driving Reach.

2. To Boost eCommerce Activity, Instagram Adds 'Drops' Product Showcase - Instagram has launched a new product showcase option called 'Drops', which will highlight the latest product launches from brands you've engaged with, or may be interested in, at the top of the Shop tab in the app. The new Drops display will showcase the latest new releases and limited offerings, related to your interests. The option essentially builds on Instagram's product reminders option, which it first launched in 2019.


3. Everyone On Instagram And Facebook Can Now Hide Their Public Like Counts - As of May 26, everyone on Instagram and Facebook now has the option to hide their public like counts, so they can decide what works for them. Previously, they tested hiding like counts to see if it might depressurize people’s experience on Instagram. And I have even covered it in one of our previous episodes. What they heard from people and experts was that not seeing like counts was beneficial for some and annoying to others, particularly because people use like counts to get a sense of what’s trending or popular, so they are giving us the choice. You can find the announcement here: https://about.fb.com/news/2021/05/giving-people-more-control/


4. Facebook Will Reduce Your Reach If You Keep On Spreading Fake News And Misinformation - Facebook announced a number of measures, including penalization, aimed at individuals who spread false information. This is an escalation  on the part of Facebook in its effort to reduce the amount of toxic content shared on the platform. The effort to limit misleading content is structured into three actions

a. Inform Users Before Interacting with Misleading Pages
b. Penalize Users Who Share False Information - The penalty consists of limiting the reach of these members Facebook posts so that less people see them.
c. Educate Users Who Have Shared Toxic Content - At present, when the content is rated a notice is sent to the user alerting them of the status of the content they shared. Facebook has improved this notice by redesigning it to make it clearer so that the user has a better understanding of why the content is rated false and to warn them of future action against them in the form of penalties should they share more false information. For more information, visit https://about.fb.com/news/2021/05/taking-action-against-people-who-repeatedly-share-misinformation/ 

5. Google Ads Product Updates From Google Marketing Livestream 2021 - This week, Google announced a slew of new features and tools at its Google Marketing Livestream 2021 event. This includes new features for hotel ads, local campaigns, local inventory ads, customer match, insight page upgrades, performance max, product feeds, tROARS and more.

6. Increasing In-Store Sales With Online Ads - Google announced a number of new local ad-based features at its Google Marketing Livestream event. They are:

7. Google Expands Its Shopping Integrations - Last week we covered that Google has announced that it’s expanding its partnership with Shopify, which will provide new, simplified processes to enable Shopify’s 1.7 million merchants to get their products featured across Google “in just a few clicks”. This week Google has launched partnerships with WooCommerce, GoDaddy and Square to enable retailers on those platforms to list their products for free on Google.

 
8. YouTube Says Videos Won’t Get Removed For Too Many Flags And “Right to Monetize” - YouTube says videos will not automatically get removed for being flagged too many times. All content goes through the same review process.

They also announced the addition of YouTube’s “Right to Monetize,” to their terms of service - This means that if you’re not part of the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), YouTube still reserves the right to run ads on your videos. The program is scheduled to roll out globally beginning in June. 

9. Now You Can Boost Your Post And Event on LinkedIn - Just like Facebook, LinkedIn now enables users to boost their post on the platform through just a single click followed by an uncomplicated payment process. The prime benefits of this service include expanding your reach, helping you grow, and amplifying the impact of your work. 

And to help you amplify your event promotion they have rolled out Event Ads. By appearing right in the LinkedIn feed, the Event Ad feature helps you promote your event by highlighting key event details, like date, time, and how to join your event, to an entirely new audience, while also allowing members to learn if a mutual connection has expressed interest in attending. 

They’ve also enhanced their Events analytics to help us better understand the impact of our efforts. According to LinkedIn, the new Event Analytics tool provides marketers and event organizers with aggregated insights into the reach, engagement, and firmographic makeup of event attendees, so we can more easily and effectively plan for future events.

10. Pinterest Accepting Applications for the Next Phase of Creator Fund - Back in April, Pinterest announced its new 'Creator Fund' initiative, through which it would provide $500k in funding to facilitate support for creators from underrepresented communities. Creators who were selected for the fund received hands-on training to help them succeed on Pinterest. Topics include making Idea Pins, taking advantage of Pinterest trends and measuring campaign success. Participants also got personalized consulting to boost their Pinterest creative strategies. And to top it off, every creator received a financial grant of $25k in cash and ad credits. On average, Fund creators saw 2.9x more Idea Pin impressions and 72% more monthly viewers compared to their previous performance. Now you can apply through June 30 for the next round of the Creator Fund which will run from August to September. 

For more information, visit: https://business.pinterest.com/en/blog/apply-pinterest-creator-fund/

11. “Unified Smart” By Microsoft Advertising: A Single Management Solution for Multi-Channel Paid Advertising And Social Media - In an effort to make paid search and social media advertising accessible to businesses of all sizes, Microsoft Advertising announced the pilot program for a single streamlined place to manage all of a business’s advertising campaigns. Highlights of the solution include

Interested parties can complete the online questionnaire to get early access.