Engagement Bait on Instagram, Google AIO + Marketing News

Have you been to Krispy Kreme today? ??

?Weird question, I know. Only asking because it's National Donut Day, and you can get a dozen for just $2 (if you don't need a dozen, you can also snag a free donut for yourself).

No, this newsletter is not sponsored by Krispy Kreme (call me!), but I wanted to spread the sugary goodness—along with the latest marketing news, of course.?

Let's jump in!

AI News

News broke that the FTC is proceeding with investigations into Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia, for their dominant roles in the AI industry.?

Many are grateful that Google’s AI Overviews (AIO) have been pared back. ICYMI, Google’s AIO were spouting untruths and making mistakes left and right. In a blog post, Google’s head of search, Liz Reid, wrote, “In the last week, people on social media have shared some odd and erroneous overviews…From looking at examples from the past couple of weeks, we were able to determine patterns where we didn’t get it right, and we made more than a dozen technical improvements to our systems.”? (PS: if you need a laugh between work meetings, check out this Reddit Thread?on AIO.)

Today, BrightEdge shared observations on AIO, including the following:?

• Healthcare search queries tended to generate AIO results 63% of the time.?
• B2B technology queries tended to generate AIO results 32% of the time.
• E-commerce search queries triggered AIO results 23% of the time.

AI is coming to Apple. In the next iteration of iOS (coming next year), Siri, will likely have the ability to control specific iPhone app features with your voice. Get the scoop from Bloomberg.

Social Media News

Instagram clarifies that it will not recommend Reels longer than 90 seconds. In a Reel (how ironic), they say, “For creators who want to be surfaced to people who don’t follow them in places like the Reels tab, we think it’s important that they understand that we won’t recommend Reels that are over 90 seconds long. However, we’ve talked to a lot of creators who enjoy sharing longer content even though it won’t be surfaced in recommendations.”

Instagram also urges against “engagement baiting” your audience. In the caption of this Reel, they explain, “What may impact your content’s ability to be recommended is if you post content that attempts to game the system by eliciting specific interactions from people to "hack" Instagram’s recommendations for more reach. Earnestly engaging with your audience in the comments and DMs to connect personally, generate leads, or drive conversions is not considered to be engagement bait.”

LinkedIn launched new AI capabilities into its "Accelerate" ad tool, which was launched in October of last year. The new functionality includes the ability to draft so-called engaging creatives with generative AI and refine your targeting by allowing you to exclude companies and third-party lists.?

Idea Alert ??

Justin Brown, who writes a weekly newsletter about InfraOps—a framework for revolutionizing corporate IT for multi-national corporations—gives away free copies of the books he reviews to random newsletter subscribers (more here). No matter your industry, this freebie campaign could be a great way for your business to incentivize your audience!

Speaking of books…we just picked up “Scaling Up” by Verne Harnish. Although we’re not giving it away, if you have a business and are looking to grow, we highly recommend giving it a read. What's the most interesting book you've picked up lately?