July brought the Olympics, a White House invitation for creator economy experts, one of the largest influencer marketing acquisitions in history, some very well executed brand influencer campaigns, and much more. So let’s break down the top stories in social media and influencer marketing from the month of July.
SOCIAL PLATFORM UPDATES
META
Instagram Will Let You Make Custom AI Chatbots
TLDR: Meta announced that it will offer people a tool called AI Studio to build virtual characters with custom personalities, traits, and interests—including ones based on their own personalities. If you’re a creator, you’ll also be able to have your digital doppelgänger interact with fans in the DMs. This will help creators actually be able to answer all of their fans questions, and will allow brands to create their own characters to personify their brand. Whether that’s a good idea or not really depends on the brand and the content strategy.
Instagram Chief Reiterates That Sends Are Now a Key Focus
TLDR: IG chief Adam Mosseri has once again reiterated that creators should be focusing on how to make their content more shareworthy in his latest advice clip. Instagram’s also looking to underline this with its new sends display counts in the app, which has been rolling out to more users recently.
Instagram Isn’t Focused On Long-Form Video
TLDR: Despite testing longer Reels, Instagram reaffirms that short-form video is a priority. Mosseri says that Instagram’s two main jobs are to help you connect with friends and to help you explore interests “usually through shortform video.” For creators used to short videos, this shift is great, saving you effort of creating longer videos. For those who do want to share long-form videos, TikTok is the place to be, as it incentivizes creators to share longer-form content.
Meta adds custom offers to Instagram ad CTAs
TLDR: Meta’s new feature allows advertisers to showcase offer details like discounts directly on Instagram ad call-to-action buttons. For lower funnel campaigns this is something every brand should be trying out, and including in their influencer content. Seeing discounts drives consumers to act vs. searching outside platform.
Meta’s Testing AI Comment Summaries on Facebook
TLDR: The feature provides an overview of what people are saying about that post, which will make it much easier to stay up to date on the general conversation happening, but might make creators and brands worse at replying to individual comments and staying engaged at the community level.
Facebook Now Allows Editing Reels After Posting
TLDR: Facebook has introduced a new feature that allows users to edit their Reels after publishing. This is a welcomed addition for all of us who need to make that slight tweak and don’t want to have to pull down the post. Not to mention those creator partnerships where you may need the creator to make an update.
Instagram now lets you add up to 20 songs to your Reels
TLDR: When you add different tracks to a reel, Instagram will label the audio mix as belonging to you, allowing other users to share and reuse it. Before this update, you could only add one track to your Reels. But now that you can include multiple tracks, you can sync different audio to the text, stickers, and clips that appear in your Reels, potentially making for an even more chaotic video.
TIKTOK
TikTok now lists videos by Latest or Popular when you visit a profile page on desktop
TLDR: This is an amazing way to do competitive research by seeing what your competitors’ most popular posts are. It’s also a very helpful idea generator by looking at creators’ top posts to identify any themes or styles that are resonating with consumers.
TikTok Adds Custom Thumbnail Option for Clips
TLDR: This is great news for brands and creators. You can now select a frame from the video or upload a custom thumbnail. While For You Feed viewers won’t see the custom thumbnail, those exploring your page will, giving you more control over peeking interest in clicking and watching.
YOUTUBE
YouTube’s testing custom thumbnails for shorts
TLDR: The platform is testing the capacity to edit Shorts “thumb frames” post upload, and is exploring the possibility of adding text and filters to the the frame. YouTube says that Shorts thumbnails are not as important as regular video thumbnails though, because most users come across Shorts clips within the Shorts feed.
YouTube is beta testing a new Community space
TLDR: YouTube is testing a dedicated space for creators and their communities to share posts, interact, and have conversations. This feature could help creators strengthen their Subscription offering if YouTube were to give them the ability to paywall it. It could also help creators understand their audience and refine their content strategy.
YouTube announced several new tools for creating Shorts
TLDR: Updates include 1) Text to Speech so that Creators can turn a transcript into an auto-generated voiceover, choosing from four different voices, 2) Auto-Generated Captions with the ability to change font style and colors, and 3) “Add Yours” Stickers so that viewers can click and link their own related content.
THE OTHERS
Chasing YouTube, Spotify adds comments to podcasts
TLDR: With Spotify’s recent launch of comments on podcasts, the streamer is taking yet another step toward building a social networking experience in an app primarily known for music. With comments, podcasters can now engage with their listeners directly within Spotify, as they can with other interactive features like Polls and Q&As.
noplace, a Mashup of Twitter and Myspace for Gen Z, Hits No. 1 on the App Store
TLDR: Here’s yet another new social media app that gaining some hype. It focuses on enabling users to customize their profiles and features a “top 10 friends” section (Myspace anyone). The comparison to X is due to the app’s focus on text-based updates – it doesn’t support the sharing of photos or videos (yet.) It also doesn’t deliver an algorithmically driven feed of content, instead focusing on serving content from the people you follow. Will the hype sustain? Probably not. But everyone loves talking about a new social platform.
The White House will host a conference for social media creators
TLDR: The White House is hosting a conference with influencers in August, with topics to include data privacy, creator compensation, AI, and mental health. It shows how important engaging creators is for all brands, including that of the President.
Publicis Bets $500 Million on Influencer Marketing With Acquisition of Influential
TLDR: This is a major milestone in the influencer marketing industry, showing how heavily agencies are valuing the importance of creator content in the broader creative and media ecosystem. It’s likely others will pursue similar acquisitions in the coming year as the space evolves.
BRAND INFLUENCER HIGHLIGHTS:
Philadelphia cream cheese spreads original song across streaming, TikTok
NBC Sports Taps ‘Call Her Daddy’ Host Alex Cooper for Paris Olympics Parties on Peacock
Away debuts influencer-heavy campaign film to promote soft-shell product line
NATO invited 26 Gen Z influencers from around the world to attend its summit in D.C.
TikTok and Estee Lauder launch Catalysts, will award $500K to beauty creator-entrepreneurs
CeraVe taps 40 creators to turn a telenovela parody into a lesson in proper facial cleansing
Nickelodeon set a record for the largest creator presence at an awards show
Southwest Airlines Unveils New 14-Week Program Featuring 10 TikTok Creators
Nara Smith Made a Marc Jacobs Tote Bag From Scratch
Knix teamed up with Olympic gold medalist Megan Rapinoe
Inside Persil’s 24 hour TikTok Livestream – and why its goal wasn’t to sell detergent
REPORTS WORTH CHECKING OUT:
Creator Startups Have Already Raised as Much Money This Year as in All of 2023
TLDR: According to The Information, Venture capital investment in U.S. creator economy startups has rebounded in the first half of 2024, matching the total funding for all of 2023. The second quarter alone saw $692.7 million raised, a 68% increase year-over-year. This surge is driven by investor confidence in AI-powered tools for creators.
A new survey found that more than 50% of Gen Z are using TikTok for health advice.
TLDR: In a new survey of 1,000 Gen Z users conducted by the personal trainer app Zing Coach, 56 percent said they go to TikTok for health and wellness advice, while 1 in 3 cited TikTok as their main source of health information
A new Walmart & Morning Consult survey shows social media is a key platform for product discovery
TLDR: More than half (55%) of Gen Z shoppers have bought items online while browsing social media in the last six months, and 38% of Gen Z shoppers begin their shopping journey via social media.
