Women get some much-deserved love in March, with Women’s History Month kicking off March 1, joined by International Women’s Day March 8.
Raise a pint glass to your Irish friends on St. Patrick’s Day March 17, including those who are Irish for the day, and say an earlier than usual hello to the Easter Bunny, as Easter falls on the last day of the month
Social Media Holidays to Mark on Your Calendar
- March 1: First day of Women’s History Month
- March 1: National Employee Appreciation Day
- March 3: World Wildlife Day
- March 8: International Women’s Day
- March 14: Pi Day
- March 17: St. Patrick’s Day
- March 19: First day of spring
- March 23: National Puppy Day
- March 31: Easter
- March 31: Transgender Day of Visibility
Social Media Platform Updates
TikTok
Selling Stars
TikTok is looking for a few good creators—good at selling products.
The platform is reportedly forming a Star Creator team with the aim of mentoring influencers who have displayed a knack for selling and pairing them with brands.
TikTok is looking to fuel activity on its TikTok Shop e-commerce destination, and the company is searching for people to fill several roles on the dedicated team, in the U.K. and the U.S.
The perks of being a Star Creator include a direct line of communication with TikTok’s in-house team, tips on how to craft videos that will earn them commission, and connections with brands for free samples and other promotional opportunities.
Stop the Music
Universal Music Group began removing its music from TikTok Jan. 31 following the failure of the two parties to renew their agreement.
The dispute had not been resolved as of late February, as songs that contain compositions controlled by Universal Music Publishing Group were added to the removal list.
UMG artists include Drake, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Olivia Rodrigo, and Taylor Swift.
The music giant said in a press release, “Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.”
TikTok countered in a statement, “It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put its own greed above the interests of its artists and songwriters. Despite Universal’s false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is that it has chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over 1 billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for its talent. TikTok has been able to reach ‘artist-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher. Clearly, Universal’s self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters, and fans.”
Sub Space
TikTok began testing Sub Space, an exclusive space where creators of live videos can interact with their subscribers.
Creators benefit from increased engagement, while subscribers get access not available to regular users.
Sub Space lets creators start dedicated conversation threads about topics of their choice and conduct polls.
Shop Until You Drop
TikTok began testing a feature that could potentially make all videos on its platform shoppable, using machine learning technology to automatically identify objects in videos, and then prompting users to “find similar items on TikTok Shop” and directing them to a product page.
The new feature is in early testing. Only approved brands and creators can currently tag products when posting content to the platform.
Other TikTok News
- TikTok’s artificial-intelligence-powered Creative Assistant is now available directly within content creation tool Adobe Express.
- The Apple Vision Pro virtual reality headset now has a native and reimagined TikTok application.
- The platform’s Add to Music App feature is now available in more than 160 countries, after debuting in the U.K. and U.S. last November.
- Entries are being accepted through March 15 for the #TikTokShortFilm competition. Users can submit videos that are at least one minute long in the platform’s standard vertical format with the hashtags #TikTokShortFilm and #TikTokShortFilmCompetition.
- According to a Pew Research Center survey of f 2,745 adults who use TikTok, 48% of respondents have never posted a video to the platform.
- TikTok will roll out an in-app, local-language Election Center in each of the 27 member states of the European Union to combat misinformation related to elections in the region.
YouTube
TV App Update
Creator channels on YouTube’s TV app underwent a design refresh, bringing over many of the updates that were introduced for artists’ pages on the platform last fall. Changes include:
- Easier access to action buttons, particularly “Subscribe.”
- A modernized look.
- Integrated voice search in the search bar.
- A menu redesign for easier navigation.
- A new vertical video information menu.
- Larger thumbnails.
Remix That
A new, TikTok-like Remix feature for YouTube Shorts lets creators incorporate music videos on the platform into their short-form content.
The feature offers four options:
- Sound: Creators can use the sound from a music video in their Shorts.
- Collab: A Short can be created alongside the music video.
- Green Screen: Music videos can be used as backgrounds for Shorts, letting creators share their reactions to viewing the video for the first time.
- Cut: Five-second clips from music videos can be added to Shorts.
Straight From the CEO
Creators were mentioned prominently in YouTube CEO Neil Mohan’s letter outlining the platform’s priorities for 2024.
Mohan wrote that creators should be recognized as “next-generation studios,” adding, “Over the years, creators have built a name for themselves. They’re entertaining people around the world, making us laugh, and bringing us together. They’re also doing something even bigger. They’re redefining the future of the entertainment industry with top-notch storytelling that can’t be dismissed as simply ‘user-generated content.’”
He continued, “As we work across all of these priorities, our No. 1 commitment is to responsibly protect the YouTube community. Our business as a streaming service relies not just on engagement, but on giving viewers and advertisers confidence that they can count on us to deliver high-quality content. Protecting the creator economy is foundational to everything we do, and it’s good for business.”
Other YouTube News
The Google-owned video platform topped 100 million YouTube Music and YouTube Premium subscribers.
The YouTube Device Partner Summit returns to Seoul, South Korea, April 23 and 24.
The platform marked Safer Internet Day Feb. 6 by adding features to help its teen users with their mental health, including age-appropriate resources, “Take a Break” reminders, and expanding safeguards covering eating disorder-related content.
Creator Marketplace Updates
Instagram took steps to bring more brands and creators together on its platform, bringing its creator marketplace to eight new markets.
The platform also began testing machine learning-based recommendations that tap Instagram data to find the best fits between brands and creators.
Instagram’s creator marketplace debuted in the U.S. in 2022, and it is being expanded to Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, New Zealand, and the U.K., as well as enabling Chinese export brands to connect with creators outside of China.
Check the Map
Perhaps inspired by Snapchat’s Snap Map, Instagram is developing a Friend Map feature that will enable users to see their friends’ locations in real-time.
People on Instagram will have control over who sees their location, and that location data will be end-to-end encrypted.
A Ghost Mode setting lets users hide their last active location.
Users who opt in can leave Notes (short messages) for other users.
Keep Politics Out of It
Instagram said it will no longer proactively recommend content related to politics on its flagship app and Threads, but users can still opt to follow accounts that post such content and change a setting to see political posts.
The update applies to public accounts and to surfaces where Instagram recommends content, including Explore, in-feed recommendations, Reels, and Suggested Users.
Facebook will receive this update at a later date.
More Instagram News
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call that Threads was up to 130 million monthly active users, up 30 million compared with the previous quarter.
- “Finstas,” or separate private Instagram accounts, may evolve into an official feature, as the platform confirmed that it is testing Flipside, which would enable users to create that second presence.
- A small test of trending topics kicked off for some Threads users in the U.S., on the For You page and in the search feed.
- Threads users can now bookmark their favorite posts on the app.
- Threads users on the web can click on settings, and then your likes, to see all the posts they have liked on the platform.
- Finally, two more features are being tested on Threads: the ability to save one post that has not yet goine live as a draft, and a new shortcut to the camera in the platform’s composer.
Meta
Label It
Meta said it is working with industry partners to outline common technical standards for identifying and labeling content created via AI, including audio and video.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram intends to label images that it deems to be AI-generated on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads in the coming months.
Images created using the Meta AI tool are already labeled as “Imagined With AI.”
Engaged-View
Meta introduced a new attribution setting for video ads on Facebook and Instagram, Engaged-View, which lets advertisers measure for conversions that occur one day after the video ad is played.
Engaged-View will count in Meta’s measurement reporting when a user watches a video for at least 10 seconds (or 97% of the video length if it is shorter) and converts within a one-day window.
Meta said Engaged-View can help advertisers decide how to optimize for actions beyond a click, give them more insights on a customer’s journey to purchase, and help them better understand the value of their video ads on Facebook and Instagram.
How Do You Like Them Apples?
Meta is offering businesses a way to circumvent the 30% service charge that Apple imposes on all transactions conducted via its iOS operating system.
Boosted posts can now be enacted via facebook.com and instagram.com or desktop or mobile, with all the same functionality as boosting posts via iOS, but no service charge.
The company cited boosted posts as an entry-level form of advertising for small and midsized businesses.
More Meta News
- Zuckerberg discussed Reels on Facebook and Instagram during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings cal), saying that they are reshared 3.5 billion times per day, providing opportunities in the platforms’ recommendations systems. Vice President of Finance Chad Heaton added during the call that CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) for Reels are lower than those for feed or Stories.
- Meta continues to work with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to expand its Take It Down feature to more countries and languages, giving more teens ways to control intimate images of themselves, and the company is working with Thorn to update its Stop Sextortion hub, which provides resources and tips for parents, teachers, and teens to prevent and protect themselves from sextortion scams.
- Meta’s Oversight Board external content advisory group added Threads to its purview, which already included Facebook and Instagram.
- Finally, the company welcomed two new members to its board of directors: John Arnold, co-founder and co-chair of Arnold Ventures, which applies evidence-based solutions to improve outcomes in public systems such as health care, education, criminal justice, infrastructure, and public finance; and Broadcom President and CEO Hock E. Tan.
Meta abruptly cut off third-party access to its Facebook Groups API (application-programming interface) with its release of Facebook Graph API v19.0, creating a roadblock for developers that provide solutions enabling their clients to automate and schedule posts.
X
Creator Targeting
X introduced Creator Targeting, a new way for brands to run ads against a curated llist of premium content creators on the platform.
Creator Targeting works on top of the platform’s Adjacency Controls and Sensitivity Setting brand safety solutions, and the company called it an extension of its video offerings.
X added that advertisers will soon gain the ability to serve ads solely on an individual creator’s profile.
Vertical Horizon
Saying that X is becoming a video-first experience, the company expanded vertical video ads to all advertisers worldwide, opening up access to a full-screen, sound-on ad experience.
X said more than 100 million people consume vertical videos on its platform every day, and the medium often accounts for over 20% of total platform usage.
The company added that people are seven times more likely to click on URLs, follow, like, or repost vertical video ads compared with traditional timeline ads.
X also announced that the post-bid Brand Safety and Suitability Measurement product from Integral Ad Sciences was extended to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.K.
More X News
- Super Bowl LVIII lived up to its Big Game nickname on X, with impressions on the platform up 31% compared with last year’s game, while user posts rose 41% and video views leapt 75%. The company said 77% of brands that advertised during the broadcast also shared their campaigns on X.
- BetMGM will become X’s exclusive live odds betting partner, and it introduced access to its betting service on the platform as part of a strategic partnership between the two companies. The initiative will begin with users in the U.S. seeing betting odds for professional football.
- Posts that are pinned are now added to users’ highlights section, and X said it will adjust its algorithm to prioritize showing those pinned posts to followers.
- Community administrators on the platform can now increase their visibility in recommendations and search via search tags.
‘The P Is for Performance’
Pinterest kicked off its newest marketing campaign, “The P Is for Performance,” which uses action-packed mini-movies to drive home the message that ads on its platform do more than raise awareness—they drive results.
The digitally focused campaign launched on paid social, programmatic, and trade publication channels in Australia, the U.K., and the U.S., with plans to take it global later in the year.
Pinterest is promoting the fact that its advertisers are seeing increases of up to 28% in conversions and 96% in traffic, and it highlighted these ad products:
- Mobile deep links, which let merchants direct shoppers to a specific page on their app where they can purchase products or perform other actions.
- Direct links, which bring users to the advertiser’s product page in a single click.
- The Pinterest API for Conversions, which lets advertisers send conversions directly to the platform via a secure server-to-server connection.
- Shopping ads, enabling brands to engage with Pinners who are looking for inspiration on the platform.
Google It
Pinterest announced a partnership with Google, under which ads will be served on Pinterest via Google’s Ad Manager, with a focus on underserved international markets.
The platform reached a similar deal with Amazon last year.
CEO Bill Ready said during Pinterest’s fourth-quarter-2023 earnings call that while 80% of the platform’s users are outside of the U.S., they only account for 20% of the company’s revenue.
Other Pinterest News
- Pinterest teamed up with media company Tastemade on cooking and lifestyle series Deliciously Entertaining, its first ever streaming show, which debuted Feb. 23 on Tastemade’s channel. The 10-episode series is hosted by cookbook author and internet personality Danni Rose.
- The platform introduced an annual color palette inspired by its Pinterest Predicts forecast of trends for 2024. This year’s colors are Desert Orange, Gummy Pink, Aqua Blue, Moss Green, and Mocha Brown.
Website Actions
LinkedIn introduced Website Actions, a new measurement tool that lets business-to-business marketers on the professional network better understand actions taken on their websites as a result of their campaigns and use that information to inform their measurement and retargeting efforts and optimize their budgets.
Examples of how the new tool can be used include:
- A brand launching a new product can monitor buyer engagement with its product pages.
- A business promoting a webinar can track registrations and retarget attendees.
- Website Actions offers a better understanding of conversion-triggering actions, letting businesses best tailor their campaigns for the most effective lead progression.
Media Planning API
The professional network released a Media Planning API to help marketers achieve maximum return on investment by determining the most effective media mix, timing and frequency of their campaigns.
The new API lets agencies see the forecasted reach and frequency of brand campaigns before pulling the trigger, enabling them to better plan and drive measurable results. Other benefits include:
- Targeted audience insights about the platform’s user base, including demographics, industries, job roles, and online behaviors.
- Identifying the most effective advertising strategies on LinkedIn for optimized budget allocation.
- Integration of LinkedIn data with brands’ own analytics and tools.
Keep It Professional
LinkedIn shared an update on steps it is taking to ensure that its platform remains professional and trustworthy, with the upcoming presidential election in the U.S. in mind.
Fake accounts and spam are removed via automated and manual defenses.
LinkedIn teamed up with companies including Adobe, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI, and TikTok on a set of commitments to deploy technology that counters harmful AI-generated content intended to misinform voters.
Users can tap “I don’t want to see this” to avoid content that doesn’t interest them.
Political ads have been prohibited on the platform since 2018.
Verification is available to members, free-of-charge.
Other LInkedIn News
- In order to comply with the Digital Markets Act in the European Union, LinkedIn members in the European Economic Area and Switzerland now have the option of choosing whether to connect their core LinkedIn experience across its jobs, learning courses, and marketing solutions.
- A new Catch Up tab in LinkedIn’s redesigned My Network Section highlights important developments from connections, such as if they are hiring, a new job, or a work anniversary, automatically generating direct message conversations users can start with their connections, such as, “Congratulations on your three-year work anniversary.”
- LinkedIn and Persona extended their free verification partnership to 16 more countries: Cambodia, Costa Rica, Fiji, Grenada, Honduras, Hong Kong, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Venezuela.
- Finally, the professional network shared its new B2B Sales Playbook report.
Snapchat
Antisocial
Snapchat continued its efforts to distance itself from other social networking platforms, kicking off a new campaign in the U.S. to explain why it is different.
The company explained in a blog post, “Somewhere along the way, the promise of social media changed. Everything it aimed to be, the gaps it was meant to bridge, the connection it was meant to foster, the joy it was supposed to bring started to feel different. But not on Snapchat. From the very beginning, Snapchat was built as an alternative to social media. Our founders designed Snapchat to be a fun way to send photo and video messages, in the moment, to their closest friends and family. Snapchat was never designed to amass huge ‘friend’ networks, compete for likes, or offer an endless scroll of perfectly produced and carefully curated content. It was designed to be a place where you could be real.”
A Tip of the Hat to Creators
Snapchat teamed up with Magna, IPG’s media investment and intelligence agency, to study consumer perceptions and preferences about creator content and to identify best practices for creator marketing.
The companies surveyed 5,000 weekly Snapchat users between the ages of 16 and 49 in five countries—Australia, France, Saudi Arabia, the U.K. and the U.S.—and their findings included:
- 42% of respondents are watching tutorials made by creators, while 41% are doing the same for product review content, and 87% indicated that they were open to seeing brand sponsored content from creators.
- 55% of users said they “somewhat” trust creators, with 60% saying they want creators to share their mistakes and lessons they learned, 58% wanting them to demonstrate evidence and facts, and 57% wanting to see them portray a realistic life.
- 89% of respondents indicated that it was important for creators to make it known when their content is sponsored by brands.
- 57% said they follow creators on Snapchat for looks at their daily lives.
Other Snapchat News
- Snapchat now has more than 800 million monthly active users.
- Parent company Snap is recalling all of its Pixy flying camera drones due to their batteries posing a fire hazard.
- Snap teamed up with Fospha to help marketers measure the impact and effectiveness of their campaigns on Snapchat, with an emphasis on cross-marketing return on ad spend.
- Spotify and Snapchat teamed up on a Share Track Lens that lets Snapchatters share a track while capturing the world around them on camera. Information that will be overlaid includes artist name, cover art, a link to listen to the track on Spotify, and song title.
Spotify
Streaming platform Spotify introduced AUX, an in-house music advisory agency for brands.
AUX will counsel brands on how to best use music to enrich their campaigns and connect them with up-and-coming artists to help them reach new audiences.
Going Public
Reddit finally filed for its long-awaited initial public offering, with a unique twist: The company plans to set aside an undetermined number of shares for 75,000 of its most prolific users.
The company reported over $800 million in revenue, a net loss of $90.8 million, and negative adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, debt, and amortization) of $69.3 million in 2023, compared with $666.7 million, $158.6 million, and $108.4 million, respectively, in 2022.
Reddit has raised more than $1 billion to date.
Its stock will debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RDDT.
Google Partnership
Google and Reddit teamed up on a cloud partnership that will let Reddit integrate new AI capabilities via Google’ Vertex AI, including enhancements to search on the platform.
Google also gained access to Reddit’s Data API and its real-time, structured, unique content from the social platform. Google wrote in a blog post, “With the Reddit Data API, Google will now have efficient and structured access to fresher information, as well as enhanced signals that will help us better understand Reddit content and display, train on, and otherwise use it in the most accurate and relevant ways.”
The Meta-owned messaging app added some new formatting options across Android, iOS, Mac, and web.
Users can now add bulleted lists, numbered lists, block quotes, and inline code.
Clubhouse
Clubhouse began rolling out a custom voice feature, which lets users type their conversations, while recipients hear what was said in an AI-generated version of the user’s voice.
The platform explained in a blog post, “There are times when it might be easier to type, like if you’re in the middle of class, at work, or in a noisy cafe. For those times, you can now talk with your thumbs, with a fun new feature we call custom voice.”
Yelp
Business discovery platform Yelp detailed several updates to the feed on its iOS app, with Android to follow in the next few months. They include:
- A new search experience that displays popular searches, recently viewed businesses, and recent searches before the user even begins to type their query.
- An image-forward feed experience displaying relevant images with its listing.
- Carousels with discoverability options “people also search for” and “popular dishes nearby.”
- Badges and more interactive topic categories for reviews.
- Forms to more quickly connect users with service professionals, along with the ability to send those professionals photos and videos to illustrate the services that are needed.
Brands That Stay on Trend
Sure, that food may be yummy, and maybe it’s good for you, too, but how does it look on Instagram and TikTok? These brands have that part nailed.
Easy Home Meals
Jecca Chantilly crafted Korean classic chicken kimbap, and you’d never know she started with Tyson’s Any’tizers Chicken Fries, unless you watched the video.
View this post on Instagram
Hy-Vee
Megan Ruffles found everything she needed to whip up football pizza pockets for the Big Game at her local Hy-Vee.
@thechicishchick #ad @Hy-Vee has everything you need for hosting The Big Game! Their Hy-Vee branded ingredients are high quality and taste great. If you try these football pizza pockets, let me know how you like them! Pro tip: make sure to roll out the pizza crust before cutting out each football. Then simply add your favorite pizza toppings, another layer of crust and brush with egg wash. Bake according to package instructions until golden brown. Enjoy! #HyVee ♬ Vibes – ZHRMusic
Ghiradelli
Ghiradelli chocolate is the perfect way to top off a charcuterie board, as demonstrated by @cozyteatok.
@cozyteatok #GhirardelliPartner Spending a quiet afternoon enjoying this cute little charcuterie board that I made while I dive into a book and finish up some work. We love our seasonal @Ghirardelli Chocolate Company chocolates. The Easter bunnies are my favorites this year! 🐰🥕 I bought a few extra for the Easter baskets I’m making this year as well. Hehe! Get #Ghirardelli‘s new Easter Bunny while you can! #ABiteBetter ♬ original sound – cozy tea tok
Open Influence’s team stays on top of the latest trends and is here to help you maximize your creator campaigns. Open Influence is a leading global creator marketing agency dedicated to creating engaging campaigns.
