Loading summary
Transcript67 lines
- [00:01]
A
Hey, before we get started, I wanted to share some exciting news. Social media Marketing World 2026 just wrapped up, and marketers from all over the world walked away with strategies they're already putting to work. But here's the thing. You actually didn't miss it. Why? Because right now, you can get a virtual ticket, which is access to everything that happened at the conference. Every session, every keynote, every workshop. We're talking about dozens of sessions on AI, Instagram, Facebook, ads, content strategy, and a whole lot more, all from the world's top experts. Attendee Jules McGuire said, quote, Every single session I attended, I've been able to take away probably three things, minimum, that I'm going to be able to immediately implement, unquote. And with your virtual ticket, you get access to all of this for the next 18 months. You can watch on your schedule, you can pause, you can replay, you can take notes at your own pace. Right now, these Virtual tickets are $200 off, but only until May 15th. Don't wait for the next conference to level up your marketing. Head to Social media marketing world.info and grab your virtual ticket today.
- [01:11]
B
Welcome to the Social Media Marketing Podcast, helping you navigate the social media jungle. And now, here is your host, Michael Stelzner.
- [01:21]
C
Hello, hello, hello.
- [01:23]
A
Thank you so much for joining me for the Social Media Marketing podcast brought to you by Social Media Examiner. I'm your host, Michael Stelzner, and this is the podcast for marketers, entrepreneurs, and creators who want more exposure, more leads, and more sales. Today, Jerry Potter and I are exploring important updates from Facebook with our special guest, Tara Zuercher. Jerry, over to you.
- [01:45]
B
Thanks, Mike. It's great to be here. We've got some important Facebook changes to discuss. Including Facebook is changing the rules for who gets seen. And if your business relies on organic reach, some of these updates can have a big impact on the next six months. They're also using a new tool to decide what reels show up in the feed, even though this tool, as marketers we know has a known flaw. So we'll share that. And are we getting closer to all video content being AI generated? All right, we're very excited to be joined by Tara Zuercher. Tara is a Facebook ads expert, founder of the Successful Ads Club, a membership site designed to help marketers improve their Facebook and Instagram ads results. Today, Tara, Mike and I are going to explore what these latest updates from Facebook and Meta mean for small business marketers and owners like you. All right, Tara, welcome back to the show.
- [02:30]
C
Hi, guys. So good to be here. Thanks for having me.
- [02:33]
B
Yeah. So first we have to dive in. This number surprised me because we all know that short form video and reels consumption is up. But Meta reported that both views and time spent watching reels on Facebook approximately doubled in the second half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. So that's massive. They've also now come out and explicitly said we are only going to be promoting original content which they've designed as videos or posts filmed or produced directly by the creator or page owner. So they're cracking down on reposts and things like that. And then, you know, if you're for a brand that does remix content, they said that's still okay if it has meaningful additions. Reels with third party clips can still qualify as original if you add some substantial new value such as analysis, new information or creative storytelling. But the type of content that is just going to get demoted until it's gone is low value reposts like stitches, clips, reactions without any meaningful commentary or any just anyone that just does minor edits. And this applies, it's important to know to both feels, feels that's a, that's a fee. Feed and a reel together, in case you're wondering, applies to feed and reels recommendations. So this is a big, big crackdown. Knowing what you know about Facebook, Tara, how strict do you think they're going to be about this part about matching the content to the page owner? Like is it going to match the profile picture to the person in the videos? Or how do you see this working?
- [04:04]
C
Yeah, I was researching this and I think when this news came out, there was a lot of speculation and questions about how are they going to possibly do this. One way to think about this, and we know this from the ad side as well, is whenever you upload a video, it kind of meta will take some sort of imprint, almost like a fingerprint of that video. And so it's more likely that they're not necessarily from what we believe, they're not necessarily going to match it to an original face or anything like that. But it's probably going to be very pattern specific. So if your page or profile generally is uploading original content, then you're likely going to be in the safe zone. But if you do a lot of reposts and things like that, that automatically is going to mean that you're going to need to switch your strategy very quickly because they're going to, you know, they're going to know that that's a signal that you have done that. In the past, and that's your history, and you're likely to do it again. But essentially they are taking, you know, like I said, a little bit of a fingerprint of your content, and it's more matching the pattern of the video and the structure of the video. And so, you know, if they see that that video was first posted on your page, they're going to assume you're likely the original poster. And if they see that your video was reposted from other people's pages, obviously they're going to know you're not the original poster. So it's less of, like, facial recognition, which is good. So you can still have multiple folks on your page, you can still have multiple personalities and actors and things like that, but you do need to, as much as you can, produce and upload original content, which Meta is going to reward for the foreseeable future.
- [05:45]
A
I can't help but hypothesize what I'm about to say, that they are not being fully transparent about what they mean by original. Okay. I think what they mean by original isn't just what they're explicitly stating, which is reposting other people's things, but I also think, you know where I'm going, Tara. I don't think they want us reposting from YouTube, and I don't think they want us reposting from TikTok. And I think hidden in this language is original to Facebook. And I'm just curious what you think about this, the ad side. We might be able to get away with this because we're paying them for it, but I don't know. What do you think?
- [06:25]
C
Yeah, I totally agree. In fact, I wonder if, you know, if you're creating content on the platform using the platform's tools, if that's going to be rewarded as well. But 100%, we know that they've for a long time really disliked any TikTok watermarks or YouTube. You know, they. They definitely want us as much as possible creating for their platforms, and they want us to be Facebook and Instagram first. Right. So, Mike, I do agree. I think you're 100% correct on that.
- [06:55]
B
I will say, though, that all of the networks have always had these rules, right? And we want it first and we don't want the watermarks. And I feel like Instagram was the first one to just openly say, you know, Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, was like, oh, if you've got a watermark, you are not going to get in your reach here. And without calling TikTok out directly. But ultimately all of the platforms want good content above everything else. So if Social Media examiner, for example, posted a YouTube short and it did really well on YouTube, then they put it up as a Facebook reel. It was the first time it was on Facebook. I can't imagine Facebook's not going to want it if it's a good piece of content that it can match up with the viewers that would enjoy it.
- [07:35]
A
I don't disagree with you, and I think it's very unrealistic for Facebook to assume that creators will exclusively create content on their platform. But I also feel like I know Facebook and, and I feel like I don't trust them enough to know whether or not this is possible. Now, having said all this, I have friends who have really huge YouTube channels that are getting billions of views and they are posting content on Facebook and it is working and it is effectively the same content. Whether that's going to last, I don't know. Because as we've. I feel like we've discussed before, Jerry, they're actively looking for creators on the platform. So I don't know. I'm just saying, like, proceed with caution because there's usually more to these stories than meets the eye. That's just my professional opinion. Tara, do you agree?
- [08:28]
C
I agree, absolutely. I mean, I do think Jerry's right. And they are looking for higher quality content. We see that their stats over the last year were meaningful for them. You know, doubling those views in the last half of last year over the previous year was massive. We also know that YouTube is becoming, or, excuse me, meta. Facebook. Excuse me. Facebook is becoming a more and more important platform for them from a, you know, video perspective. So I think. Absolutely, I agree with both of you. I think they're going to want all that content, that quality, high quality content. And Mike, you're always so good at, you know, calling these trends that there's probably more to the story unspoken. What, you know, we have to read between the lines on some of this stuff from Meta.
- [09:17]
B
Well, and I'll say, Mike, you're absolutely right that I think the tech exists where they could have servers monitoring YouTube and literally know if something was on YouTube a week earlier before it showed up on Facebook. Now, one of the things this talked about was, you know, we all need to stop making what they're calling low value content. And I remember the first time seeing people go viral and have these huge channels or accounts build up where they were just literally laughing at somebody else's high quality video or some sort of reaction Video like that. And, and as a marketer who works hard on their content thinking, well, that is not fair. So that part of me kind of excites me. But do you, either of you see marketers and businesses really using that type of content anymore or do you think that's mostly just being done by people that are trying to game the system? Because I feel like I haven't seen any in two years.
- [10:05]
C
Yeah, I think that content is largely dying off a little bit. And like you said, Jerry, I mean Meta has been pretty explicit. They want to get that content pretty much off the platform. So they said you can still make that kind of content, but if it's just you watching another video that's going to be deprioritized in the algorithm, but if it's you providing like meaningful commentary or analysis or somehow enhancing that original content, then that's still probably going to get some decent reach. So I think we just kind of have to watch and see where these trends go. But they're definitely stating pretty explicitly that they don't want this type of content on platform anymore or to do well or they're not going to give it reach. Right. So that's going to demotivate us to create that kind of content.
- [10:52]
A
There are scenarios where I do think depending on kind of niche you're in, if you're in the news niche, you're going to have to show content, respond to content that's like what news people do. I don't think we're seeing as much of that on Meta anymore. I can also see situations where you are, let's say, a expert at graphic design and you do a reaction video to someone else's content on graphic design and show what's wrong with it. I would imagine that would go well, you know what I mean? So. So I think as long as it's not low quality. But you're right, I haven't seen any of that kind of stuff, Jerry, in a long time. I feel like it's been forever.
- [11:29]
B
Yeah. And we all see different things in our feeds, of course. What do you think the impact will be on brands that use user generated content? Because that obviously is not going to be what's typical unless they do it all the time. Now I loved your fingerprint analogy, Tara, but do you think the algorithm will still be able to match that stuff up or is that something brands should steer away from?
- [11:48]
C
I think we're going to be okay with ugc. I cannot imagine UGC is so important to E commerce, which is of course Meta is kind of, you know, bread and butter. I cannot imagine them wanting to disrupt that anytime soon. So I do think from what I have researched again, that multiple personality or multiple actors on your feed is going to be okay. As long as you know it's largely original content, you're going to be fine.
- [12:15]
B
Okay. Now you work with a lot of different brands and businesses on the paid ad side. And one thing that I believe to be true on the the paid ad side recently is the AI has made it easier to run ads because you can test so much, but at the same time you have to create a lot more creative, as I understand it, which AI is also made easier. So what tips do you have for anybody who's now hearing this and maybe they're doing some UGC and maybe they're doing some reaction videos and they're going, okay, we've got to come up with more original content. What are a couple of tips you could give to a business that wants to make more original content without it becoming a full time job?
- [12:50]
C
Yeah, there's a lot of great apps and tools out there now and it really depends on your niche and what kind of content you're producing. If you think about some of the big platforms such as motion app, and there's one that a lot of advertisers use called Foreplay, there's UGC helpful tools like a tool called Clap K L A P. There's a lot of wonderful tools that are available to help you iterate and create content very quickly. Obviously, you know, there is, I don't know how I feel totally about this, but you can, you know, create your own AI actors, which I do feel if you're running ads should probably be disclosed and I'm sure at some point will be regulated particular for certain industries and whatnot. There's so many, I mean, it's almost overwhelming how many tools there are right now to create very quickly. Now I would say that one thing all advertisers want to keep in mind is that the more important concept here is that meta is rewarding diversity of content, not necessarily like iterations. Right. So what they have said to us with the latest algorithm update, Andromeda, and where the algorithm is headed with gem, this is on the advertising side, you guys. So not necessarily as much for original or organic content, but for the paid media side of things, what they want to see is diversity. So if you have the same actor who is, you know, but you have 10 different hooks, let's say meta is going to count that as really One kind of concept, even though it's several, you know, different iterations, they're really only counting it as one. And so because of where they want the algorithm to head, they want diversity of concepts. So, you know, I think it's more important that advertisers are thinking about not just iterations, but like depth. So you want static imagery, you want carousels, you want short form videos, long form videos, you want videos. If you're going to use actors or actresses, or, you know, if you have personality, anybody who's basically in your videos, you want to make sure there's diversity in what they're wearing and backgrounds and movement. And so Meta just wants a lot more angles to play with. Not necessarily like the Same actor with five different hooks or 10 different hooks, but just like diversity of creative types and formats. And so I think that if you start playing in that direction, you're going to see a lot more success.
- [15:17]
A
Well, and for folks that are regular listeners to the podcast, episode 713, literally, which drops the week before, this episode, is with Caleb Cruise. And it's about ads and AI and it's about how to actually create AI creative very quickly, both with images and with video, using AI actors, including like the stuff that's controversial right now. But this is definitely something that is a. Is kind of a new thing for a lot of advertisers. But I do think it's a really creative way to actually fulfill this thing that you're talking about, Tara, because with the right tools, you can feed some of your best ads and your best images and you can have these things pop out iterations of them, including videos, which is kind of mind boggling. Have you done it yet?
- [16:03]
C
Yeah, we have, definitely with some of our agency clients, our creative conversion teams have really been tackling it and with really good results. And I'll, I'll say, you guys, these tools are becoming so advanced, but even more interesting is even Meta's on platform tool kit is becoming quite advanced. So, you know, their ultimate goal, where they want to head for advertisers is you pop in a budget, you pop in an image, and they kind of take control of a lot of that creative process and targeting process. And so we see, you know, across certain accounts that we have access to certain beta testing as well as just the features they've been rolling out globally. Their advancements are quite impressive. So definitely changing the game.
- [16:45]
B
This is one of the things I'm most looking forward to at the next social media marketing world is like, how do we make content While keeping the brand, keeping the humanity and all of that. And I know there's a lot of smart people are going to be talking about that, especially at AI business world, within social media marketing worlds.
- [17:00]
A
Let me just address that real quick, because with the right direction, you can do variations of yourself, you know what I mean? So, like, you could train it on Tara or Jerry or Mike, and you could go ahead and get all sorts of beautiful shots, still shots, and then you could make those into, you know, for lack of better words, little videos. So there is an art form to actually creating these things. So I feel like there's still going to be a lot of creative work for agencies and consultants. Because, Tara, don't you agree it's not super simple, right?
- [17:33]
C
No, definitely not. There's a lot of sophistication to it and I think especially with the latest algorithm update, especially on larger accounts, I mean, there's a lot of complexity to how deep and how far you can take that in terms of like the creative diversity that meta is demanding at this moment. And so, yeah, it's definitely opening up. I mean, our creative team is busier than ever, which is kind of funny because they are using these AI tools, but the platforms are demanding more out of us as advertisers as well, so it all kind of offsets each other.
- [18:07]
A
So, yes, everyone is listening. Obviously this show is in a couple days from when this is dropping, but get yourself there or get a virtual ticket.
- [18:15]
B
Love it. So we talked about how reels consumption and watch time has doubled gear over year. And one of the reasons this is happening might be because of a new way that Facebook is testing the recommendation system. So obviously AI does a lot of stuff on the back end, but now they have something that they're calling the User True Interest Survey, which is a mouthful in itself, but it's directly asking viewers basically, hey, did you like this? Or. Or does it match? And the specific wording, at least from the screenshot that we saw, because I haven't seen this in myself, was to what extent does this video match your interests? And it's a scale from 1 to 5, from not at all to a great deal. Now, when it comes to surveying people, we all know as marketers that what people say versus what they actually want, need or believe doesn't always match up. Like if we, I mean, if we use Facebook as an example, people have said for years, I want a feed of just my friends, but obviously user behavior has never backed that up, which is why Facebook has always been, you know, resistant to give this to us. So do you think that this user survey is actually going to make a difference in how well videos are recommended, Tara, or does this feel more like a play to make people feel like Meta's listening to what consumers want?
- [19:29]
C
Yeah, probably a little bit of both. Jerry, I think you brought up a great example, like, what if you have kind of a medical issue that you feel shy about? Are you really going to disclose to Facebook that you're very interested in that if you just saw a reel on that? So I think there's going to be a little bit of balance to this. But it does seem like Meta really wants to listen to their audience and see, basically what happens is you're going to see a reel and then there's like a little full screen kind of pop up that shows you the reel and then you have those survey questions. And so I think that, number one, they want folks to feel like they are being listened to, but number two, they're obviously collecting data and trying to make the algorithm more relevant to us. They do say that they're experiencing success and it feels like it is increasing the enjoyment of users and giving them a better experience. So I think it's a worthwhile project and hopefully it makes all of our algorithms better. But certainly there's going to be, you know, maybe you are interested in topics that you don't necessarily want to signal to Meta that you're interested in. And so there's probably a little bit of that going on as well.
- [20:34]
B
Yeah, I forgot I put that in the notes for the show today, but that was my thought is like, what if I'm facing some medical thing and a video comes up? Because somehow how they know? And I'm like, oh, let me watch this. But then at the same time, that's not the one that I'm like, show me more. You know, show me more.
- [20:47]
C
Exactly.
- [20:48]
B
So do you feel like, like, I guess, what's the strategy then for businesses and marketers? Because I'm thinking about brands who may have content that's entertaining enough to get views, but not relevant enough to get strong interest scores. Because if we, again, if we look at the way that they word this, to what extent does this video match your interests? You know, might be my overthinking brain, but my brain immediately goes, well, I don't know, what was this video about? And I guess, I don't know, like, did I like it because there was a puppy? Did I like it because it was funny? Did I like it because there was a soldier? Did I You know, there's so many different aspects. So I'm just wondering, like, should brands be trying to match interests more specifically in their content?
- [21:29]
C
Oh, goodness, what a good question. You know, and I think there's a lot of schools of thought on organic strategy and how to do it right. I mean, one that I've kind of always felt very drawn to is you want to have your niche content that's very specific to you, and then you will have some content that has broader appeal and could attract in a little bit of a wider audience. Now, I know that we have tons of workshops at Social Media Marketing World to address just that, you know, what is the right strategy on organic social these days. But I would say that, you know, if you're thinking of it from the perspective of Meta's trying to match everyone's algorithms to their interest level, then, yeah, you probably do want to think, you know, we want to make sure that we have enough content that really is niche enough that it dives into problem awareness and solution awareness for our ideal customers and clients. And then I think it's okay to have some broader content that would still attract that audience, but might just feel a little bit more entertaining or globally, you know, universally kind of appealing to people.
- [22:33]
B
So if I'm understanding you correctly, you're saying as long as most of your content fits a general interest, you should be okay to occasionally post a photo of the office dog, for example.
- [22:45]
C
Absolutely. I mean, I would say you're safe on that. And also remember that meta is not serving everybody. It's a small subset. When I looked at the data, did it say, you know, and this is kind of a, a newer thing that they're doing, and they're still studying signals. And I think studying behavior is always going to be probably their, you know, most important activity. They want to see how we're interacting with that, if we're rewatching it, if we're saving it, sending it, you know, all those things. Right? So I think that's probably going to be the driving force. But it is important to get some of that specific user feedback as well.
- [23:20]
A
Last month, I was on the ground at Social Media Marketing World, and a lot of marketers were telling me that they're overwhelmed and there's a really good chance you're feeling the exact same way. My opening keynote was called the Future of Marketing how to Thrive when AI Changes Everything. I shared research, real AI applications and a framework for utilizing AI as your most powerful ally, which ultimately will make you irreplaceable. And here's the thing. You can still watch it, and it doesn't stop there. Not just my keynote, but all the keynotes and sessions and workshops are available for you right now. With your virtual ticket, we're talking dozens of quality sessions covering everything from AI to Instagram to Facebook ads, content, strategy, all of that available to you right now. Grab your tickets at $200 off, but only until May 15th. Head to socialmediamarketingworld.info that's socialmediamarketingworld dot in fo to get your tickets today. I think this is interesting. As we've been talking, my mind has gone back and forth on a couple variations of this. The first part was like, their AI is so good. They kind of know what we're interested in. And if we're swiping past something or if we stop watching reels because the last reel, for whatever reason, we didn't like it or whatever, they kind of have a lot of that user behavior data. But what they don't know, and I think the reason why they might be doing this, is whether or not this is creating a better overall user experience for the consumer on Facebook. Because it's one thing to get stuck in Doom scroll because you find something fascinating. Like. Like I've seen I don't know how many fishing videos, and thank goodness I don't see them anymore. But I see these crazy fish come up out of nowhere, you know, And I only find it interesting because, I don't know, I guess I'm bored or whatever. But if they were ever to ask me, I would say I have no interest in this. Like, I'm not a fish, fisher, fishing person, whatever you call a fisherman, right? So in reality, if they knew that just because I'm watching it doesn't mean I'm actually interested in it. Because there's so much stuff on Facebook and all the platforms that it's just got absolutely nothing to do with my personal interest. But I watch it anyways. So I do feel like this is kind of like gauging, how do you feel about this stuff? Which is another layer of information that they cannot discern by behavior alone. Does that make sense? Like, they can only know that you're sucked into it, but they can't know what you think and what your interests are fully? Because if I say, no, I'm really not interested in this, then they probably should be careful about showing that to me. You know, if they show me something I really am interested in and they get that double affirmation, yes, I'm very Interested in that. Well, then they know if they could show more of that, that's going to help all those creators who've created that content to be in front of the right person. So I kind of do feel like. I don't know, Terry, do they even do this on ads right now? They probably don't. Do they. Do they have this kind of like, little survey question on ads as well? Because I just feel like it adds a new layer of insights that they can't gather.
- [26:22]
C
Yeah, that's right.
- [26:23]
A
Human analysis alone.
- [26:25]
C
No, not on ads. But you never know what could pop up in the next few months. You know, it wouldn't surprise me if they did introduce some level of survey response there.
- [26:35]
A
Yeah, I don't know. Jerry, what's your reaction to that? Because I do feel like it could be a corrective action to try to get the user experience to be more in line with their actual interests.
- [26:45]
B
I relate in the sense that I think we've all started seeing something in our feedback and we're like, why am I being served this? Why am I watching this? Like, it's, you know.
- [26:54]
A
Yeah, if you don't know how to hide it, then you're just going to keep seeing it, right?
- [26:57]
B
Yeah. So it does give them an additional piece of information. And I guess I like the ability to potentially give them that feedback because sometimes I get stuck in these cycles. Like for six months I was seeing backyard swimming pool redesigns, and I'm like, I don't even know where this came from, but I. I keep watching them. And then it was just like, you know, I need to get back to what actually interests me, or at least it's going to enhance my life because I don't plan to put in a. An infinity pool anytime soon. So. Yeah, I think you're right. I think that is good additional information. So. Well, one thing with the increased consumption of reels, which doesn't seem to be slowing down, is another opportunity for marketers and brands to reach people by letting people become affiliates for their programs and for their offers. And one thing that Facebook is doing is they've brought in the affiliate tools so that you can basically submit your products, sell them through Facebook, and then someone who is creating content around that can self serve the products that they want. So they basically go through the professional dashboard, browse and select products from brands that align with their content, and they get to attach an affiliate link to their reels, which, as we've been discussing, are getting all kinds of reach. And yes, it's a clickable Link in the reel. And then the creators of course would earn commissions, but of course the brand themselves would be getting, you know, this additional reach and then of course, hopefully sales. And I love anything that reduces friction for markers to try something new. But Tara, you've obviously maybe done some of this on the ad side as well. But what should businesses consider before running an affiliate program through Meta? I mean, I don't even know how hard it is to sign up and sell through Meta and all of that.
- [28:34]
C
Yeah, I think this is a play for TikTok marketplace. Right. The NSP comes so popular and that in app shopping experience I'm really excited about. I think this is going to unlock a whole new layer of monetization for creators and brands. And so essentially what Meta has announced so far is that they're integrated with Shopee and Amazon in the US and so I think they're going to be adding more and more, probably Shopify integrations and things like that as time goes on. But what we know is coming is that brands will be able to add their product catalogs onto this marketplace. Essentially creators will be able to become affiliates and easily add those products into their feed. So I think this is a wonderful opportunity. I really hope that they move in the direction of in app shopping. I think whenever you can just reduce the friction, get it to, you know, as few clicks as possible. That's always best for everybody involved. And so it seems like they're doing a little bit of a catch up play here to compete with TikTok Marketplace.
- [29:38]
B
Am I safe to assume that you've watched things on TikTok and have you ever bought anything from TikTok?
- [29:43]
C
I have actually, yeah. It's so easy.
- [29:46]
B
That was the impression I got. I just wanted to double check before I insisted that was the case. But what types of brands do you think, you know, if they're considering this for getting into this on Facebook, what types of brands or businesses do you think this would work look best for or the fastest for?
- [30:01]
C
I mean, honestly, probably all physical products should definitely be watching this. And then within that, you know, you think of those categories that are just absolutely, you know, gigantic in the creator economy. So you think of health, wellness, beauty, apparel, a lot of retail. I mean, this is where these product categories really thrive. Baby, family, those are all going to be huge categories. But really, truly, I think if you've got a product with an online presence and you have, whether or not you have already kind of affiliate relationships with creators, I think if you had existing affiliate relationships, that would make it so much easier to translate this into a monetization strategy for yourself if you're the business owner. But you know, anything that, that you feel like you can have creators excited about and talking about one layer here, you know, these are not brand partnerships. So this isn't you working out or working through an agency to find creators that are going to talk about your brand with certain talking points and things like that. These are creators that are just going to say what they want to say about you and they're going to link your products. And so you do want to be mindful that you have the right online presence that's going to support, you know, just kind of this free for all. People can say whatever they want. And you probably want to make sure your marketing is pretty thought through so that those talking points are kind of what they might gravitate towards. But this is, I think this is going to be fabulous. I'm very, very excited about this.
- [31:34]
B
So can I clarify, you said earlier like Facebook Shop already integrates with Amazon and I think you said shopee. And so as more of these come in, you don't have to put your stuff anywhere new if you're already on one of these major platforms.
- [31:48]
C
Yeah, absolutely. If you've already. Yeah. So if you're on Amazon already, you can be working within the system. So it's, it's fantastic.
- [31:57]
B
I didn't realize that. Okay, so one more challenge that's popping up into my head as I'm putting myself into that role. Like, okay, we're gonna do this. We've got increased reels reach, we're gonna get some more sales on our product because we're in the family and baby, as you said. But as you said, these aren't official brand partnerships. And maybe in the beginning, but long term you're not going to just be able to make it available and expect to have a bunch of creators or influencers find you. So what are some thoughts or ideas on once you're in there? What kind of scalable outreach or is there scalable outreach or is it just literally looking for people and trying to develop relationships one on one?
- [32:34]
C
I think that should always be part of your affiliate play. I think as you gain popularity and creators see that, hey, other creators are talking about your products and they seem to be successful with it. And as they talk amongst themselves about which products are doing well, you're going to see some organic growth to your kind of affiliate community or creator community that way. But I do think that you can do a lot as a brand you know, kind of seeding those relationships, sending product making connections, reaching out, like that type of activity. I don't see that going away. No matter what how integrated these platforms become with these marketplaces, I still think you need to do the legwork to establish those relationships and build your affiliate network. You know, that should, for many companies, that should probably be, you know, an important focus for them. So these kind of marketplaces certainly can make it easier and you might, you know, attract folks coming in and finding you, maybe word of mouth from other creators. But you definitely see, you know, most brands will still need to put in the legwork, establish the reputation, send a product, get their creators excited, and I would say stay very consistent in that relationship so that you're top of mind, right? Creators have so many brands and products available to them, and so it can be easy to just, you know, slip out of their mind if you're not really putting in that effort to stay super connected to them.
- [34:00]
B
So we've talked today about how Facebook really wants original content, and they've said, hey, we're going to give you reach on original content, both in reels and feed posts. And of course, part of us are thinking, how can AI help? And, you know, there's been a lot of talk about AI generated video. And there was a huge news story this week as we're having this conversation where OpenAI, who owns ChatGPT, shut down their Sora app, which was their dedicated AI video app. Meanwhile, Meta has announced they're testing a standalone version of their AI generated video platform called Vibes, which used to be within the Meta AI app. So it's basically an app where you can create and just browse all AI generated video and go from there. So, I mean, quick consumer question to start. Do either of you see or know people who are just interested in a feed of AI generated videos? Because I feel like, you know, that initially you're like, wow, I've never seen that with my eyes before. Tom Cruise just, you know, punched my friend in the face. And then eventually it's, you know, that novelty goes away. If you look at OpenAI's news, you think, okay, well, this is dying. But now, meanwhile, Meta's, you know, doubling down. So, Mike, you want to go first? I know you're probably chopping about Sora.
- [35:09]
A
Only because I can speak to Sora. Yeah, Sora was really good. And people were making ads out of their Sora stuff, and they were actually turning them into ads. The reason why OpenAI shut it down is not because it wasn't successful it was because they needed to reallocate capital. It was a money problem, okay? They don't have enough money to do all the things that they plan to do. So they had to shut down one of the more CPU intensive parts of the business. And it's a great opportunity for Seed Dance, which is by ByteDance, you know, the company behind TikTok, which came out with their stuff and Google and all the others. But it is a massive processing problem to create these AI videos. Now, Tara, I would love to know what your thoughts are because I missed this announcement. I've been so busy, I didn't even know about this. So like what the heck is thing Vibes. Do you know what this is?
- [36:00]
C
Vibes? Yeah. Well, so it's an AI video feed essentially. And guys, you know, I, I am not the target market for Vibes. I'm going to say that right up front.
- [36:10]
A
You're not feeling the vibes.
- [36:12]
C
I'm not feeling the vibes on this one. I feel like I just am not interested in an algorithm feed of pure AI video. But I do understand it does have its place. I mean, when Sora came out, they had a hundred thousand downloads on day one. Whether it's novel, you know, novelty that people are after and that wears off after time. I know Sora had said they, you know, they had kind of declining engagement over time that might be expected on a new app that's just kind of getting their bearings and figuring out what's sticky and what makes people excited. I do think that there's probably a use case for it. Case in point. My husband was traveling recently and he said for the first time ever he was in Uber and his driver was watching. Now this was on Instagram, but he's just watching AI aid the entire time. It was just AI video content and a little bit educational and just kind of like funny, you know, stories from the around the world. I mean, technically he wasn't really watching it, he was listening to it. But my husband said entire 40 minute drive was just this AI content was very obvious AI content and the gentleman was just listening to it. So clearly there's a market for it and it'll be interesting to see how this evolves. I personally don't think I will likely be super engaged in this trend, but people are.
- [37:34]
A
Let me tell you why this might matter for marketers if it is competitive to Sora. What Sora did really well is first of all, it would train your on your likeness and, and even your voice. It wasn't great on the voice, but it could get your likeness down and you could just give it a prompt and you would get a video out of it and you could download those videos and you could use those videos in other places so you could get really, really, really creative. And I've had people on my AI Explored podcast talk about how they actually created a lot of ads that they put money behind using Sora, because Sora is really good. If you give it like a base set of directions on creating product demos that are, that would look like you would have hired a production crew to do. And what Sora was really good at is it understood story arcs. So it understood how to create an entire arc of a story without any direction at all. And that was this magic sauce. It knew how to create a short form video that had a story arc in it that was designed to draw people in. Some people did fantastical things, did it with it, and some did practical things with it. Now, Tara, you know, content creation is one of the biggest problems on ads. If meta can get this figured out where you could hypothetically give it a base shot of your product and come up with some really killer way to show that product in a really engaging way, it could make for an incredible ad. What's your reaction to that?
- [38:59]
C
Absolutely. If we're thinking of it less of a newsfeed and more of like a content creation tool, you know, that's probably where my interest starts to peak. Watching or consuming a NewsFeed full of AI videos probably not going to ever be my thing, as I mentioned. But yes, Mike, you are right. And wouldn't it not surprise you if they take that kind of the more advanced parts of that and they just absolutely pull that straight into Ads Manager. And I mean, wouldn't that only make sense for them to do that? So perhaps this is just a data play for them where they are figuring
- [39:34]
A
out it's a training ground because they're going to get all these users to create all this content and it's going to learn how to make human looking content because people are going to do it. And it's a training ground, like you said, for the ultimate money grab, which is on the ad side of things. Right?
- [39:50]
C
Well, and think it's more than just humans, it's consumers making their own content. So I imagine that the signals they can pull from that and the data that they could potentially pull into Ads Manager would be significant when they can match like the type of video content that let's say whatever age demographic has created for themselves and then they can Say, and this is who you're trying to target. I mean, they can compare those together potentially. So there could be some deeper level plays here, for sure.
- [40:20]
B
Well, and this plays exactly into what you were saying earlier. Eventually the ads platform you'll go, here's my budget, here's a photo. Do your thing. And so I love that Sora had the deal with Disney where you could use Disney characters. And when they made that announcement, like I went to my kids, we all love Marvel movies, and I was like, all right, time to make our Marvel movie. You know, here we go. But I do think it's interesting because we're still in this phase where some people are uncomfortable with AI generated content, especially if they don't know, you know, Tara, you said I would never watch an all AI generated feed. But if somebody's going there to create the content and first I would say, of course you just upload it there. You might as well, even if you were going to use it in an ad or somewhere else. But what types of AI generated videos do you think would be okay to use without violating trust versus some that could immediately ruin their any relationship a brand is built.
- [41:12]
C
Yeah, I would say the, probably the gray area right now for most brands is, you know, kind of UGC style ads with AI actors. To me, that is probably your greatest area. Hey, don't get me wrong, there's plenty of brands doing it. Some of them disclose it, some of them make it a little bit, you know, more obvious that it's an AI actor. But I would say that's probably the area that brands kind of need to evaluate within their own ethos, like if that feels okay to them. Right. Because if you're saying, I tried this product and it's AI actor kind of talking through their experience with the product, that's probably a little on the edge, I would say, for most brands. But also there are brands that feel comfortable with it. And I'm not here to judge. I think everyone has to kind of make their call. But I will tell you that especially in the mid to larger brand side, they are definitely having these conversations. They're creating their guidelines. You know, they're trying to establish what their rules and boundaries will be for this. Now when it comes to things like Mike was describing, things more fantastical or fun fantasy, I mean, I say go for it. I think that's great. And what we've seen in the ad space is like any other creative type. Some of it works and some of it doesn't. And so, you know, I don't know that there's, I mean, each brand is going to see what's kind of consistent for them. I don't know that there's any thing global that is groundbreaking here. Obviously, you need to always follow kind of the same advertising type formats that we know work. You want hooks, you want to create that problem awareness and you want to guide people into the solution. Call to action, all of those things are still really, really important. But I think play with it, have fun with it. There's lots of things we were never able to do at the budget levels we're able to do it at now that are available to everybody. So it's kind of leveled the playing field in so many ways. And I think the brands that are leaning into it and having fun with it, they are seeing success for sure.
- [43:10]
B
I love that. Yeah. Well, Tara, this has been a really fascinating conversation. Thank you for joining us today. If people want to explore working with you, where do you want to send them? Where's the best place to connect with you?
- [43:21]
C
Yeah, you can add to successful adsclub.com and you can see everything that we do there. We help business owners who want to learn how to do their own ads and marketers who want to get better with their advertising. So you can check us out there.
- [43:35]
A
Tara and Jerry, thank you so much for being on the show today. And hey, if you missed anything, we took all the notes for you over@social mediaexaminer.com 714. If you're new to the show, be sure to follow us on your listening app. And if you've been a listener for a while, we would love a review. And also do check out my other show, the AI Explored Podcast. This brings us to the end of the Social Media Marketing Podcast. I'm your host, Michael Stelzner. I was joined today by my co host, Jerry Potter. I'll be back with you next week. I hope you make the best out of your day and may your marketing keep evolving. Catch you next next time.
- [44:08]
B
The Social Media Marketing Podcast is a production of Social Media Examiner.
- [44:16]
A
Don't forget, you can save $200 off on your virtual ticket to Social Media Marketing World, but only for a few more days. Go to social media marketing world.info and secure your tickets today.