← Social Media Marketing Talk Show
Social Media Marketing Talk Show
TikTok Updates: Trends Insights, New Ads, Attribution Enhancements, and More
00:12:37
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A
I have some really exciting news. We just released our second annual AI Marketing Industry Report and it's free. You'll be surprised by how often marketers are using AI and the tools that they're using. This is a comprehensive study of more than 730 marketers, and it covers how marketers are applying AI to their work, the benefits of AI, the big concerns marketers have, and a whole lot more. Even though I'm the author of this research study, I can say with full confidence that this is the most comprehensive study of AI adoption among marketers that I have ever seen. Get your free copy now by visiting social mediaexaminer.com AI Report 25 this might be just what you need to get your boss or your clients moving along with those AI initiatives you want to start. Get it now@social mediaexaminer.com airport25 hey, it's Michael Stelzner here. After running Social Media marketing world for 12 years, I've noticed something fascinating about the marketers who attend. They usually fall into two camps. Camp number one is those who show up because they have to. Their results are declining. They're scrambling to catch up. And camp number two is those who show up because they want to. They're already achieving a level of success, but they know that change is coming and they want to go so much further. Both learn valuable insights, but their outcomes are completely different. As Emily Ray Shutti said, I came away with a million ideas and new creative ways to approach my work. My business has since doubled in size and revenue. The AI revolution is here. Instagram algorithms keep shifting, Facebook's ad costs keep rising, and the list goes on and on and on. What type of marketer will you be in 2026? Join thousands of marketers at Social Media Marketing World 2026 this April in Anaheim, California. Save big when you register today at social media marketing world.info.
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B
Welcome to the Social Media Marketing Talk show, your guide to the ever changing world of social media.
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C
All right, on today's show we're going to explore the most important TikTok updates that you've got to be on top of as a marketer, including if you're a marketer who needs to batch your content for time purposes. So it's really hard to jump on trends. TikTok sort of adding a shortcut to make it easier to jump on things as they are trending for busy marketers. Also on the ad side, there's a whole new industry that's going to have its own special kind of ads. We'll update you on that. And the new they have a new TikTok certification program. So if you are an expert or you're an agency that works with TikTok, with brands with, you know, with your clients, there's an opportunity to get certified for something new. We'll update you on all of that right now. My name is Jerry Potter, host of the Social media marketing talk show, a Social Media examiner production where we break down all the latest social media news and what it means for, for marketers like you. So first up, anytime that analytics become easier for us to understand, I feel like it's always a good thing. And that's one of the things that I think is very underrated in the way that AI has made our lives better as marketers is making it easier to interpret the analytics. So TikTok is now adding AI powered trend insights into the creator tools. So basically inside of creator analytics you'll be able to see trending topics that are related to, to previous things that you have posted about on TikTok. Now if you have no history, obviously there won't be anything there yet, but imagine if you've had success in the past or you've posted about things in the past, either about your industry or maybe things that your audience is interested in that aren't your industry, but you've posted about them to kind of, you know, make that connection. Now you'll be able to see that stuff in there. So search trends, keyword suggestions, related videos and demographic data and the other part they've done for this and this is why as somebody who has been a marketer and you know, a content marketer for many years, I've never been a big fan of trends because I never wanted to wake up in the morning and go, oh my gosh, I've got to get something up today about whatever's going on today. I did that in the broadcast industry for years. But the way that what they've done is they've actually thrown a create button right in the middle of this analytics page. So again, the way I would approach it is plan your regular content, whatever it might be. But occasionally, if something's interesting is happening or you've got a moment, whip open the app, look at the analytics for you or your client and if there's something there, you literally hit recreate and just put something out there. Because sometimes these last minute things that we create can turn into incredible pieces of content for our business simply because we've removed that barrier of perfectionism. Sometimes, you know, especially if you're if somebody else is paying you, like you're an agency or your marketer and you're doing it for somebody else. I know when I worked in an agency, sometimes the last minute stuff that I did would take off and it was like, oh, I don't have anything for today. And I throw something together and it works. So I just think it's a cool opportunity to shorten that lifecycle from trend to idea to publishing for all of us. And you know, we're obviously always experimenting, so you can definitely look for that. Speaking of AI, some AI data that you need to see. Most marketers were barely experimenting with AI two years ago. It's amazing how fast this is moving. And today 60% of marketers are using it every day. Every single day. So what changed? Well, we just finished our 2025 AI Marketing Industry Report has answers from 735 marketers across 16+ industries. So inside this free report, you're going to find out the platform that's challenging chat GPT's lead. Also, why 84% of marketers increased their AI usage this year and what's holding back one in four marketers. All right, so don't guess you can use real data to guide your AI strategy. It's a free report. Just go get it right now. Social media examine.com aireport again social mediaexaminer.com AI report All right, TikTok is unveiling Smart plus ads for automating and optimizing performance campaigns. So if you're already using ads, this is going to make optimizing them even better. If you've been thinking about TikTok ads. Well, again, a lot of these AI tools just make it easier to get started and run campaigns well. So essentially the Smart plus automation solution is a fully automated campaign framework. It's got flexible controls. You can look at your targeting, your bidding placements, your creatives and reporting. And it's all designed to maximize your ROI or your or your roas, your return on ad spend. Right. And minimize effort as they claim. Now, if you're a details person, sometimes it's hard to just sit back and let it do its thing. But sometimes the AI knows better than we do. Right? You can support multiple objectives in it. It works with Smart plus catalog ads as well. And there's also real time app reporting. So like app campaigns now feature advanced bidding strategies like target return on ad spend, cost cap, real time iOS conversion reporting. So you can adjust as you go in that industry. And then also there are some generative AI tools that are also part of this. So essentially, if the campaign is not performing well, it can not only make recommendations on how to change it, but actually generate some of the creatives, some of the creative right there make some automatic enhancements. So the whole idea is to speed it up and we could all use that and also, of course, make the ad campaign work even better. They've also launched ads for a whole new category. So Smart plus travel ads are now rolling out. So if you work in the hospitality industry or travel travel ads, it's the first ad format built specifically for travel brands. And it works with hotels, flights, destinations, and it uses catalog data that you connect to dynamically generate personalized ad creatives. We always have to take their numbers with a grain of salt, right? They're like, when people that use this got these great results and we're like, well, what kind of numbers are we taking out here? But TikTok is saying that users are 2.6 times more likely to book after searching on the platform, which is not surprise, right? When you start searching for things, you're getting closer to booking. And 66% cited TikTok as a top source for travel inspiration. In my own anecdotal world, I have multiple friends who are on TikTok a lot and they're always thinking about where they want to go next on their trip. So that's definitely a nice tie in if you are a marketer for the travel industry. All right. TikTok also announced ad automation and attribution tools enhancements. So this is an opportunity to again track what's happening a lot more. So part of it. The GMV Max platform now includes a creative hub, so you can actually go in and see which creatives and creators are driving performance so you can optimize your campaigns for sales. And TikTok is now supporting third party optimization, including with Google Analytics. So this is massive for tracking because if you're already using Google Analytics on your shopping pages, on your website, different things like that. Now that is fully integrated in here. And so early testing of Google Analytics integration showed a 54% increase in conversions and a 27% decrease in cost per action for advertisers using TikTok's automated solutions. So when they say, you know, we talked a minute ago about the potential bias and oh, hi, Kenya. Hey.
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D
So sorry.
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C
That's okay. Welcome, welcome. That's all right. We were just talking about the, the TikTok stuff. Let me finish this and I want to get your thoughts on a couple.
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D
Of these Things, Yeah, sure.
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C
They basically, you know, when they say 54% increase in conversions, that's where, you know, even if they're exaggerating, that's potentially a really, really great tool to be able to tracking your ads a lot better with that Google Analytics integration. So, Kenya, I want to ask you about this story that we talked about first, which was all about the AI powered trend insights inside of creator tools. So essentially you can now go in and get almost notified if something you've posted about it in the past has a related trend or keyword or anything happening right now. So what are your thoughts around that?
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D
Yeah, you know, I started receiving like notifications at first I was kind of confused, like, what is TikTok doing with my account? But I started to see where if I was creating something in some type of niche or some type of topic, it's alerting me of what's trending right now or what other people are creating. And, and I think it's their way of one bringing my attention to it. But also as a creator, I feel like they're wanting me to create content about that, but I also love how it's bringing attention to whomever is creating that content. So it's kind of like people who are creating content online right now have this opportunity with the platform where they're going to showcase what they're doing, but also where you can jump in on that because TikTok is alerting you.
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C
Yeah. One of the things that I talked about was how I love that they're integrating the create button right there too, so that you can see this let go of perfectionism and just, you know, jump right into it.
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D
Yeah.
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C
And I know that you are strategic, but I imagine sometimes you just run with it. Right. So what's your workflow in terms of, you know, like, what's the shortest you've ever gone from an idea to putting something up of something that's worked?
- [10:37]
D
Yeah. You know, so typically my, my typical workflow is we, we focus on as a business, like what are we focused on as a company, what are we selling? And we create content around that. But if something is new, there's a news story, my job is to jump on it like right now to. So like when President Trump came out with his video and said, hey, I saved TikTok, my job as a TikTok strategist is to jump on and talk about it. You know, like TikTok recently launched digital courses. And so my job is to announce it to people and tell them how to do it. So I have my main content, but if it's breaking news, I act like a journalist and I'm, like, delivering the.
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C
Breaking news as fast as you can at that point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to put you on the spot. Anything else that you feel like is really working well on TikTok in the last 30 to 60 days.
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D
Yeah. So the craziest thing that I have been seeing, I talked about this for a long time about TikTok live stream. They are really, really, really pushing on TikTok live stream in so many different ways. Like, they just launched a program where you can create a Digital course on TikTok on the platform and you can sell it directly on live stream. And at first they were testing it beta to a few of us, but they just announced it to everybody. Now, the awesome thing about that is that those of us that are course creators, we know how to create courses, we know how to lead them to our funnels and stuff like that. The downside is that the maximum you can charge for this course is $100. Google is going to take 30%, and then TikTok takes 50% of that. So I'm in this conversation with them being like, y' all gonna have to raise those prices because we're not going to sell our courses and only make chump change, you know?
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C
Yeah. They're almost going after, like, the skillshare world, where stuff is 20 bucks or 30 bucks a month or something like that, as opposed to people selling, you know, 200, $500 products and wait. And so as far as what the cut they take, you said 30% goes to Google, and TikTok is taking half of that 30%. So the person, the business does keep 70% at least.
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D
No. So if my product is $100, Google takes 30. Now we have 70 left. TikTok is going to take half of the 70.
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C
Oh, my gosh.
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D
Yeah. I'm like, Google, really?
- [12:39]
C
Yeah. That is. Well, Apple's been taking 30% about anything through an iOS app for years. But that is a. That's a significant markdown. But I guess, I mean, it's a way to get started. You know, there are people who, you know, like you or I, or Social Media examiner, where we've got these bigger platforms and we have these programs and we know how to do all of that, but it is a lower way to get started there.
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D
So I think that TikTok is testing it now. I think they're going to lower their percentage because the TikTok shop, the percentage is low. I think the course creation is going to be lower at some point.
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C
How does that compare to TikTok shop?
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D
TikTok shop is more so is product based businesses. You put your inventory in TikTok shop and sell it. But with courses, you have to be a coach or consultant using their Service plus tool. You film the courses, it's there on TikTok and they can purchase it like they do on Kajabi and teachable and all that.
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C
Yeah, okay. Because obviously they're not taking 50% of a physical product because yeah, they would have nobody at that point.
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D
Exactly.
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C
So yeah. Okay. Speaking of shopping too, one more update. TikTok is now expanding its marketing partners program with a new shop ads focus area with a marketing technology badge. So if you are a TikTok partner or you know, where you help other people with TikTok, you can get certified or if you're already certified, they have a new shop ads focus area that you can get inside of there. So quick reminder, download our AI marketing industry report. Go to social mediaexaminer.com AI report again, social mediaexaminer.com AI Report. And King. Yeah, where's the best place to discover more about you?
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D
Yeah, guys, y' all can find me on my podcast. It's called the if youf Created Podcast. I'm also on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, everywhere as Kenya Kelly and I will be at Social media Marketing World 2026.
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There you go. I love it. All right. And if you want another podcast to your listening lineup, we have one for you to check out. Check out the Social Media Marketing Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Until next time, may you be wise with your marketing decisions. Thanks, everyone.
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D
Bye.
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The Social Media Marketing Talk show is a Social Media examiner production. For more social media insight, visit social mediaexaminer.com.
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This is the year to finally come to Social Media Marketing World 2026. Grab your tickets right now by visiting social mediamarketingworld.in fox.