Google AI for product shots
Getting good product shots is a constant battle for online retailers. You either live with the best photos you can take yourself, use images from your suppliers that make every store look the same, or invest in photography.
But now you can use AI to create better product shots. This feature has been added to the Google Merchant Centre for advertisers in the US.
They’ll be able to change a product image with a text prompt. This can include changing the background, placing a product in an AI-generated location, and improving low-quality images. This totally levels the playing field for smaller businesses that don’t have the budget for photography.
Switch off your Instagram Read Receipts
I’m woeful at replying to people. I get a message whilst I’m out or in the middle of something, and intend to respond when I’m free.
This causes unnecessary anxiety to the person who sent the message (apparently).
I know I’m not alone with this. But at least on Instagram, the fix is coming. It’s currently testing a new feature that will let you switch off Read Receipts. No one will know you read the message so they can’t be anxious that you are ignoring it.
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/meta-launches-initial-test-read-receipts-opt-dms/699100/
Get a headstart on Google Analytics 4 & understand the lingo with the GA4 phrase book
A/B Test Organic Reels
Business marketers are always testing. It’s easy to do in some areas, like your paid content, and trickier to do in others, like organic content and websites (Google recently got rid of its free tool that does this).
Instagram is about to make testing organic content easier. Weirdly, not for business marketers, but for creators.
People with creator accounts will soon be able to split test up to 4 thumbnails or captions on their Reels. It will show these options to a portion of their audience, and the winner, the one with the most views, will go out in their feed.
I’m hoping they’ll roll this out to business accounts too.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/2/23943278/meta-facebook-reels-ab-testing-creator-insights
Will Meta Abandon the Name Threads?
What would you do if someone set up a business in a similar industry using the name you not only used but trademarked?
Sue them? Clearly, you should, and that’s exactly what software company Threads is doing to Meta.
Meta approached The software company more than once to buy the domain name threads.com in the run-up to the launch of the threads. They declined. But it didn’t stop Meta from stealing the name, Meta threads can be found at threads.net.
I’m guessing Meta assumes that they can out-lawyer the smaller company.
If they don’t, we could soon be calling Threads something else and I reckon the original threads will be getting a whole heap of internet traffic.
https://www.techspot.com/news/100666-meta-given-30-days-cease-using-name-threads.html
TikTok business page
TikTok is testing a new business page. Spotted by Threads user Ahmed Ghanem, it looks like an extended business profile with the addition of photos and products.
TikTok needs to court small businesses if they want more of us to advertise, this new page could be a step in the right direction.
https://www.threads.net/@theahmedghanem/post/CzS_4x8KUV9
Grok
If you get annoyed by the ‘wokeness’ of Chat GPT (I’m all for woke) Elon Musk has the solution. Now if you sign up for his X premium+ service, which gives you an ad free experience, you can get an insensitive git of an AI chatbot built in.
The tool is called ‘Grok’. Musk claims this will be better than other tools because there will be less censorshpip and it will be a source of truth for news because, I kid you not, it will be trained on the content on X…
I may be slightly biased in my lack of faith in this new tool. I won’t be paying to access it.
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/elon-musk-launches-new-grok-ai-chatbot-compete-chatgpt/698825/
Instagram notify sticker
How do you stay up to date with your clients on social? It’s important you do, but unless the algorithm shows you their stuff, you miss the opportunity.
That’s where the notification feature on social media sites comes in useful. You can get notifications for clients, for competitors, for the people you love.
Now Instagram is testing a sticker that will prompt followers to get a notification about your posts in the future. They’ll be able to choose which type of content they want notifications for.
Although this will be useful, I anticipate my stories filling up with clips begging for notifications soon.
