Sunday Rundown #113 – AI influencers

by | July 7, 2024 | Sunday Rundown

Sunday Rundown #113

In the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, staying ahead of the curve is crucial. In Sunday Rundown #113, we will bring you the latest news and trends shaping the digital marketing landscape, ensuring you are equipped with the knowledge to stay competitive and make informed decisions.

Meta will enable influencers to create AI versions of themselves

It’s been in development for a while, and last week, Meta launched the first stage of its “AI Studio” platform, which will enable creators on Instagram to build AI versions of themselves that can interact with fans via DM.

The AI bot will have a stars icon on the message tab, signalling that this is a bot response stream, while there are also disclaimer notes in the chat, explaining that it’s an AI bot that you’re engaging with.

So it *should* be clear to all that you’re not talking to the actual person or account holder. But then again…

A year later, what Threads could learn from other social networks

Threads, Meta’s alternative to Twitter, just celebrated its first birthday. After launching on July 5 last year, the social network has reached 175 million monthly active users — that is a notable achievement. But, after a year, Threads is trying to find its own voice by not being as newsy as Twitter/X and not being as open as Mastodon or Bluesky — at least for now.

Here are some things Meta can learn from other social networks:

  • Following topics with custom feeds to help people discover different content.
  • Separating Threads and Instagram.
  • Remove news and politics from trending topics.
  • Making the “For You” algorithm more palatable when showing random posts.
  • Better local content.

Google’s AI analysis of successful video ads

Google’s data scientists enlisted AI to analyse 8,000 campaigns from top advertisers that ran on YouTube over the last six months. Gemini Generative AI distilled thousands of insights, uncovering trends, best practices, and the subtle nuances that set top-performing videos apart.

This year, many ads expanded representation in their creative to actively challenge stereotypes, featuring characters in norm-defying roles, and including a wide range of perspectives. In different and creative ways, brands highlighted accessibility and centred on people with disabilities.

Embracing and celebrating individuality, and people’s unique style is another way ads focused on the richness of human experience and interests.

We have also seen an interesting evolution in the last few years in how brands use storytelling to reinforce community and connection. While social distancing and virtual connections dominated early in the pandemic, ads evolved to embrace public events and social gatherings. Now we are seeing a longing for deep, intentional, and more affectionate human connection in ads.

Many ads incorporate elements of wonder and fantasy to spark viewers’ imaginations and transport them to a world of possibilities.

Successful ads continue to open with a strong hook, lean into pop culture references and trends, use popular or catchy music tracks, and engage audiences with humour. These best-in-class advertising practices will hardly fade away with the advent of new technologies. Rather, brands will continue to release their most creative ideas on YouTube, because only YouTube has the unique combination of attributes to allow them to unleash their creativity. 

Bonus links

Thank you for taking the time to read our Sunday Rundown #113. If you have a story that you want to see in this series, reply to us below or contact us.