Today's Guide to the Marketing Jungle from Social Media Examiner...
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The weekend is almost here, Alluser! Before you unplug, here's one last round of insights and updates. Whether you read them now or save them for later, you won't want to miss these.
In today's edition:
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16 ways to stop attracting dead-end leads
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The 3-step fix for a ghost-town Instagram account
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5 types of Instagram content that get shared
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Check out Expedia's AI tool on Instagram
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🗞️ Industry news from Anthropic, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, and more
16 Ways to Improve Lead Quality From Meta Ads
Are your Meta ads delivering leads that go nowhere? Maybe it's not a targeting problem.
In this post, Jon Loomer breaks down 16 very specific ways to fix the hidden problems that are tanking your lead quality. From counterintuitive tweaks to your forms to turning off autofill to using Messenger in ways most people miss… this one's packed.
Heads-up: these tactics aren't about driving volume. They're about attracting the right people, which means your cost per lead might increase. But so will your ROI. Read more here.
How to Reignite a Forgotten Instagram Account
Do you have a languishing Instagram account on your hands? Wondering how to re-engage your followers and signal to the algorithm that you're back?
Keenya Kelly's latest post can help you turn things around.
No dancing, trending audios, or dumping cash into ads. Just three surprisingly simple actions that can jump-start engagement and growth—without you burning out or reinventing your entire content strategy. Read more here.
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Creating Share-Worthy Instagram Content That Outperforms
Struggling to get your Instagram posts noticed, let alone shared? Wondering how top brands and creators consistently craft content that drives engagement and reach?
While social media algorithms play a significant role in content distribution, Johnson stresses that marketers must remember we're trying to reach real people. Real people find new content through shares.
Shares also significantly impact content performance more than other forms of engagement. Brock Johnson's team conducted a study comparing the impact of one additional like, comment, save, or share on Instagram. The results were eye-opening. One like, comment, or save generated an additional 50 views, but one share generated anywhere from 150 to up to 400 additional views.
Instagram Content Strategy
Most marketers and social media managers create content that falls into three main categories:
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Promotional Content: This is content designed to make sales, with the primary purpose of converting followers into customers. While necessary for business, these posts are rarely shareworthy.
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Educational/Valuable Content: These posts share quick tips, information, hacks, or strategies. While valuable to your audience, Johnson compares these posts to textbooks in libraries. It doesn't matter how fantastic your content is if no one is in the library to see it.
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Share-Worthy Content: This type of content is specifically designed to be shared and reach new audiences.
Once you've attracted this audience with shareworthy content, you can then nurture them with educational content and convert them with promotional content.
There's no one-size-fits-all approach to your content mix, which should vary depending on your current business cycle.
During active promotions, Johnson recommends scaling back shareworthy content to approximately 20-25% of your posts. Conversely, during periods when you're not actively promoting, you might increase shareworthy content to help boost engagement and attract new followers.
The Five Types of Share-Worthy Content for Instagram
Motivational/Inspirational Content
Motivation is always in demand because it naturally ebbs and flows. In today's often negative social media landscape, motivational content provides a refreshing pattern interrupt that people want to share.
The key is ensuring your inspirational content relates to your niche. Johnson offers an example that resonated with his audience of Instagram marketers and creators.
"Mr. Beast posted over a thousand videos to get his first one hundred subscribers. Mel Robbins posted over three hundred times on Instagram before she hit 10K followers. Me, Brock Johnson, I posted for nine years before I had my first viral post."
Community/Call-to-Arms Content
This content type gets your community involved in a cause or movement. While you won't post community content daily (as it would lose impact), occasional community-focused content can be extremely shareworthy.
Examples include:
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Charitable causes relevant to your industry
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Awareness campaigns
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Celebratory events like national awareness days
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Industry-specific challenges
For example, if you're a fitness coach during Mental Health Awareness Month, you might create content about mental health in relation to body image and positive self-talk in fitness settings.
Relatable Content
This content typically takes the form of memes, jokes, and humor that resonates with your audience's experiences.
The key to creating highly relatable content is specificity. The specificity makes these posts relatable to anyone who has experienced these frustrations, increasing the likelihood they'll share it with colleagues facing similar challenges.
Rather than simply posting an image with text saying "Me when I'm angry," which isn't very specific or shareworthy, he suggests something more targeted:
"When I just sent my post back for the seventeenth round of revisions to my boss, and he's continuing to add more changes, and now the trend is over."
Controversial Content
Controversial content doesn't mean being slanderous, offensive, or purposely provocative. Instead, it means sharing niche-related things you truly believe, common myths in your industry, outdated advice. You're talking about things that you believe in that other leaders in your industry disagree with," he explains.
An example might be taking a stand on the use of M-dashes in writing despite criticisms that they signal AI-generated content. This type of post often generates shares from people who agree with your stance but perhaps weren't bold enough to express it themselves.
Controversial content also tends to generate comments and discussion—both from those who agree and disagree—which boosts engagement and visibility in the algorithm.
Timely Content
Timely content requires the most adaptability and speed, which is why many larger brands struggle with it. This category includes trending topics, cultural moments, and time-sensitive events that can quickly lose relevance.
The key to successful, timely content is speed. If you wait too long, the cultural moment has passed, and your content will fall flat. Johnson describes this as "niche adjacent posts" (NAP), where you connect the trending topic back to your specific industry or niche.
Examples include:
Today's advice is provided with insights from Brock Johnson, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.
Watch the full interview on YouTube
Expedia's AI Tool Turns Social Scrolling Into Consumer Plans
Are you looking for inspiration to use AI more overtly in your marketing? Here's one!
Expedia has quietly launched an AI feature that lets consumers send a travel-related reel to @Expedia on Instagram and get a custom itinerary based on that exact reel.
The tool circumvents the click-the-link-in-bio situation and is a full-on shift in how social content turns into action.
Want to see how it works, who it's for, and why it might change how consumers shop for goods, services, and experiences? Read more here.
Anthropic Updates Enhance AI Agent Development: The new features include a code execution tool, MCP connector, Files API, and extended prompt caching, all working in conjunction with Claude Opus 4 and Sonnet 4 to eliminate much of the custom infrastructure previously required to develop AI agents. For marketing teams evaluating AI agent implementations, these enhancements significantly reduce both technical barriers and operational costs while expanding the scope of possible applications. Anthropic
Gemini Updates: Gemini now includes Gemini Live with free camera and screen sharing on Android and iOS, enabling real-time visual assistance and integration with Google tools like Calendar and Maps. Marketers and content creators will benefit from Imagen 4 for visuals and Veo 3 for video generation with built-in sound and dialog. The Canvas feature enables the creation of infographics, quizzes, and even podcast-style content. Deep Research allows users to upload their own files—like PDFs or images—to generate insights by cross-referencing with public data. Gemini is integrating into Chrome, offering contextual help and summarization while browsing, with future capabilities planned to automate tasks across tabs. Google
Google AI Ultra: The $249.99/month subscription offers high usage limits and early access to emerging technologies like video generation via Veo 3, enhanced reasoning in Gemini 2.5 Pro, and the cinematic AI tool Flow with 1080p output and advanced controls. It also unlocks maximum capabilities in tools like Whisk, NotebookLM, and Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Vids, and Chrome, plus includes Project Mariner, a new research agent that can manage up to 10 tasks at once. Subscribers also receive YouTube Premium and 30 TB of storage. Google
Grok Chart Generation: Grok can now generate charts directly in the browser, making it easier for marketers to enhance storytelling and data communication using AI-generated visuals. @Yaroslav via X
OpenAI Responses API Updates: Developers can now integrate tools like image generation, the Code Interpreter, and enhanced file search directly into their agentic applications using GPT‑4o, GPT‑4.1, and OpenAI's o-series models. Of particular interest to marketers, the new support for remote Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers means agents can now connect easily to tools from platforms like Shopify, Stripe, Twilio, and others—enabling seamless e-commerce actions, payments, and messaging workflows within AI responses. For example, marketers can automate tasks like generating checkout links, summarizing market data, or sending SMS updates with just a single API call. New capabilities like background mode support long-running tasks without timeouts, and reasoning summaries help developers ensure AI agents deliver clearer, more human-like outputs. OpenAI
Instagram Brings 3D Images to Quest: Meta's Reality Labs has announced a partnership with Instagram to introduce 3D photos on Meta Quest headsets, using AI view synthesis algorithms to automatically convert traditional 2D Instagram content into immersive 3D experiences without requiring specialized cameras. This feature transforms flat social media content into depth-rich visuals, allowing users to experience moments like family interactions or sports highlights with enhanced dimensionality and presence when viewed through Quest devices. Meta
LinkedIn Company Attribution: This new Revenue Attribution Report capability allows marketers to measure campaign effectiveness at the company level rather than individual touchpoints, providing crucial insights into how LinkedIn advertising influences pipeline development and closed deals through integration with CRM data. Marketers can identify highly engaged companies for retargeting, analyze which industries and company sizes convert most effectively, and use these insights to refine targeting strategies and accelerate sales cycles. LinkedIn
Full Rollout of Reddit Dynamic Product Ads: The feature in Reddit Ads Manager uses both on-platform and off-platform shopping signals to display relevant products from advertiser catalogs to high-intent shoppers based on their position in the shopping journey. The platform has also streamlined campaign creation and management, supporting larger product catalogs with millions of items while introducing enhanced diagnostics to help marketers optimize setup and resolve technical issues before launch. Reddit
TikTok Shop AI Seller Assistant: The core functionality of Seller Assistant centers around three key capabilities that directly impact how marketers and sellers can operate on the platform. First, it delivers immediate answers to tactical questions about platform mechanics and strategic inquiries about business growth. Second, the tool provides real-time performance analytics through natural language queries, allowing sellers to ask questions like "How did my shop perform last week?" and receive comprehensive snapshots of sales data, traffic metrics, and order breakdowns. Finally, it offers personalized, context-aware recommendations based on individual shop activity and performance patterns. The system can identify trending opportunities and explain their relevance to specific sellers' businesses, essentially providing strategic marketing guidance at scale. TikTok
YouTube Creator Updates: The visual guide for Shorts editors is now available to all creators after a successful testing period. The platform launched quiz stickers for Shorts on both Android and iOS platforms. A weekly top podcast chart tracks popularity in the US market, with plans to expand to additional countries. The chart focuses exclusively on full podcast shows, with clips and Shorts content not included in the rankings. YouTube
YouTube Voice Replies Come to Android: The platform expanded its voice replies to comments experiment to Android users. The test was previously open only to iOS users. YouTube
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