Need help with your social media designs? Get KIMP!

KIMP’s Picks 20th December: Weekly Highlights In Design, Marketing, AI, & More

Keeping up with the social media buzz often feels like a full-time job. Don’t you agree? That’s why we have KIMP’s Picks. KIMP’s Picks is your weekly dose of shareworthy social media finds. 

Welcome to the KIMP’s Picks 20th December Edition! 

KIMP’s Picks is your curated selection of the most insightful, inspiring, and relevant posts from brands and creators across the social media landscape. We sift through the noise to bring you valuable insights on AI advancements, fresh marketing inspiration, and crucial social media algorithm updates. Think of it as your cheat sheet to staying ahead of the curve.

Ready for this week’s recap? Let’s get started. 

In the Marketing Realm 

Save big on Instagram ads 

Paid advertising is inevitable for standing out on social media. If you are looking to expand your social media paid advertising strategies, then you will find this post from Instagram insightful. It discusses some useful strategies for saving big when advertising on the platform. 

One of the recommended ideas is to bypass the additional 30% Apple service fee by managing your ad budgets through instagram.com instead of the iOS mobile app. Instagram also suggests storing a credit card and adding funds directly on the website. Additionally, the other idea is to use the desktop or mobile browser to boost ads without incurring the extra fees.

To prevent ad interruptions, Instagram also suggests setting up auto-reload for funds via their website, ensuring campaigns run smoothly through the holiday season.

Responding to user comments on social media 

Do you respond to user comments with emojis alone? Then this post is for you. Hootsuite’s latest research reveals that emoji-only comments are ineffective for driving engagement. 

This data is from their Social Media Trends 2025 report. There are two points they highlight in their report with respect to responding to user comments on social media. 

  • Engagement drops significantly for comments on posts older than 24 hours. 
  • Comments between 10–99 characters yield the best results, striking the right balance between being concise and meaningful.

So, start responding to user comments with personalized meaningful comments with emojis and not emoji-only comments. 

YouTube’s First Position Ads 

YouTube’s First Position Ads aim to allow marketers to reach their target audiences with high impact, regardless of the specific YouTube content they’re watching. 

In a recent post, they shared ArmaniBeauty’s success story with the execution of First Position Ads on YouTube. Reportedly, the brand was able to drive a 130% increase in searches for one of their fragrance lines. This also came along with a nearly 8.4% increase in ad recall. On the whole, this campaign demonstrated the effectiveness of this advertising feature on YouTube. 

NBA & X extend their partnership 

The NBA and X have renewed their multi-year partnership, promising innovative fan experiences in 2025 and beyond. This collaboration cements X as the go-to platform for real-time game updates, commentary, and fan interaction.

This partnership means that marketers can tap into X’s huge NBA fanbase to create campaigns that blend real-time interaction with cultural relevance. Additionally, this partnership offers opportunities to align with a deeply engaged audience and amplify brand visibility during the excitement of the NBA season.

Google is probably working on double-ad placements

Search Engine Land, a leading authority on search-related news shared a post highlighting a feature that Google is working on. 

Reportedly, Google is currently experimenting with displaying two ads from the same advertiser within a single search results page (SERP). According to Search Engine Land, Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin confirmed that this is a controlled experiment designed to test new ad configurations. She assured advertisers that no immediate action is required and that the experiment’s results will be evaluated based on both advertiser and user value.

So are there going to be major changes to ad placements in Google advertising? We’ll have to wait for any official announcement from the company. 

Use playable ads to drive higher conversions 

If you are a marketer always on the lookout for innovative ad formats, ones that effectively engage consumers, then this post from Digiday is for you. This one delves into the significance and growth in popularity of playable ads. 

Playable ads, interactive in-app advertisements that allow users to experience a game or app before downloading, are reportedly proving to be significantly more effective than traditional ad formats. 

These ads work well because they offer an interactive, hands-on experience that captures user attention more effectively than traditional ad formats. For instance, they let users test products or apps directly, like mini-games or app demos, before committing. Therefore, these ads reportedly drive about 20x more installs than banner ads according to Liftoff’s 2024 mobile report.

In the Content Marketing Realm 

GIPHY’s Trend Forecast for 2025 

Trend forecasts from leading authorities in various niches are valuable resources for content marketers. Knowing about the trends forecasted for the year ahead can be handy in strategizing your content. 

Accordingly, here is a search trend forecast for 2025 from GIPHY. The report highlights Gen Z’s increasing influence, with the generation driving new slang, aesthetics, and viral moments. 

Key predictions include: a rise in verbose language, increased use of group chat slang, a decline in millennial internet slang in favor of Gen Z terms, the continued rise of viral animal content, and a surge in nostalgia for the early 2000s (Y2K aesthetics). Moreover, GIPHY’s data shows significant increases in searches related to these trends, indicating a shift in online culture.

This means marketers should pay close attention to Gen Z’s evolving language and preferences to effectively connect with this key demographic. 

In the Design Realm 

Canva’s Disney collection 

Canva has introduced a new collection of design templates and artwork featuring iconic characters from Mickey & Friends, Frozen, and the Disney Princesses. Users can now access these resources to create visually appealing content, transforming everyday moments into more magical experiences.

This means marketers and brands can now leverage the power of Disney’s iconic characters within their Canva designs, creating more engaging and visually appealing content for their audiences. This partnership opens up new creative possibilities for campaigns and social media posts.

Adobe’s recommendations for number fonts

Numbers are crucial components in the copy displayed on any design. Therefore, when choosing fonts you cannot ignore how the numbers in that collection look. 

In the post here Adobe brings 10 fresh recommendations for number fonts. The post particularly ventures into the best styles for flyers and posters. From clean ones to statement designs, this list highlights some creative options for all kinds of designs. Therefore, if you are working on any numbers-focused designs, designs where numbers are meant to be attention grabbers, then the fonts on this list are great to start with. 

Creatives are actively embracing AI 

From fearing AI to optimistically embracing it, creatives have come a long way in leveraging AI in their workflows. 

A recent study commissioned by Monotype has found that 91% of designers, type designers, and brand leaders believe AI tools can be useful in the creative process, particularly in typography. And about 34% of creatives are quite optimistic about using AI in their workflows. 

The post also discusses some of the AI applications that creatives are most interested in including the discovery of new fonts, font pairings and typography inspiration of various kinds. 

So, if you are a designer wondering how to use AI to improve your productivity, this article can be a resourceful one. 

In the AI Realm 

Google unveils the next video breakthrough – Veo 2 

Google has launched Veo 2, an advanced video generation model capable of creating highly realistic and detailed videos across various genres and styles. 

Veo 2 excels in capturing human movement, expressions, and real-world physics. This allows for precise cinematographic effects like specific lenses or tracking shots. Compared to its predecessors, Veo 2 significantly reduces common issues like “hallucinations” in video and thus improving the accuracy of results.

The model also includes an invisible watermark, SynthID, to help identify AI-generated content. This is a built-in feature to ensure responsible use and reduce misinformation. Currently available via Google Labs’ VideoFX tool, Veo 2 will expand to YouTube Shorts and other platforms next year.

Whisk – a playful and creative canvas from Google 

Google has been experimenting with diverse applications of AI. And their latest innovation is quite an intriguing one. 

Google has introduced Whisk, a new generative AI tool in Google Labs. This tool allows users to create and remix images using other images as prompts. Instead of typing long text prompts, users can drag in images for the subject, scene, and style, and the tool will generate new visuals based on those inputs. 

Whisk uses Google’s Gemini model to describe the images, feeding those details into Imagen 3 to create new, unique renditions.

Currently available in the US, Whisk is aimed at artists and creatives looking for a fun, iterative process rather than precise editing.

Google’s new experimental AI tool for Gemini Advanced users 

Google has launched the Gemini-Exp-1206 model, available to Gemini Advanced. This experimental model is designed to tackle more complex tasks, including advanced coding challenges, math problem-solving, and complex reasoning and instruction following. 

Users can subscribe to preview Gemini-Exp-1206 for a month at no charge. However, Google warns that as this is an experimental model, it may not work as expected and will not have access to real-time information or be compatible with some Gemini features in its current state. The model is accessible on both desktop and mobile web.

GitHub Copilot Free comes to Visual Studio 

Coders on Visual Studio can now access GitHub Copilot Free. This offers developers a suite of AI-powered features to enhance their coding workflow. This includes smarter debugging, AI-generated commit messages, automatic breakpoint placement, and more. 

With Copilot Free, developers can reportedly experience up to a 25% boost in coding speed. According to Microsoft, Copilot Free is easy to use on Visual Studio and there are instant notifications provided when the user reaches the limit. 

Updates from 12 Days of OpenAI 

Last week we discussed the 12 Days of OpenAI event – a virtual event consisting of big announcements from the company. Moving into week 2 of this event, OpenAI announced a few more updates. 

Day 6: 

Day 6 was announced as a Christmas gift to creators with video, screen-sharing and other capabilities in Advanced Voice Mode. 

Day 7: 

OpenAI announced Projects to streamline conversations and was made available initially to the Plus, Pro, and Teams. Reportedly, free users will also gain access to this feature soon.  

Day 8: 

ChatGPT web search feature has quickly gained popularity. The feature was initially only introduced for the paid users and on Day 8 of the 12 Days of OpenAI event, it was announced that this feature will now also be available to free users. 

Day 9: 

The o1 model is now available within the API as well. If you have used this model you know that this was crafted to easily tackle even complicated tasks. 

Day 10: 

This is one of the most interesting updates announced so far. You can now converse with ChatGPT through their toll-free number which is free for US users and available via WhatsApp for others. 

Midjourney’s Moodboards – redefining personalization in AI art

MidJourney, has introduced exciting new features aimed at enhancing personalization and streamlining creative workflows. These updates include Pinterest-style moodboards, where users can upload curated image collections to inspire new art. 

Secondly, the ability to create multiple custom AI models tailored to individual styles. Additionally, the new system allows for faster customization, cutting down the time needed to personalize AI models significantly.

Grok is now free to use! 

X AI was relatively late to the party in the generative AI landscape. And when Grok AI was introduced, despite the good reviews received, the model was only available to Premium users. This is only a small portion of X users. 

The chatbot offers a range of functionalities including generating images, analyzing posts, and even providing sassy, “Unhinged Fun” responses. Finally, X is making this chatbot available to all free users as well. 

Perplexity acquires Carbon 

Perplexity has acquired Carbon, a retrieval engine designed to connect external data sources to large language models. This acquisition will enhance Perplexity’s ability to integrate data from apps like Notion and Google Docs. Consequently, it will be easier for users to access critical insights across multiple platforms. 

The move is aimed at streamlining workflows and advancing Perplexity’s vision of a more personalized AI experience that can seamlessly connect and analyze diverse data sources.

Slack improves AI-powered collaboration with Agentforce 2.0 

One of the most popular CRM platforms, Salesforce has announced the launch of Agentforce 2.0 in Slack. This upgrade redefines autonomous agent workflows with a host of pre-built skills and customizations. In addition to better Slack actions for collaborations, and enterprise search integration, this update also enhances real-time collaboration with the AI. 

In short, the current integration allows employees to collaborate with AI agents within their existing Slack workspace thus enhancing productivity and streamlining workflows.

Assembly AI’s new speech-to-text model 

Assembly AI announced the launch of Universal-2, the latest speech-to-text model. It takes audio processing to a new level with superior accuracy and context understanding. Building on its predecessor, Universal-1, it delivers exceptional precision in recognizing proper nouns, formatting text, and processing alphanumerics.

Universal-2 enables faster, more reliable transcription for customer-facing tools thus simplifying interactions and making them more efficient and accurate. 

Odyssey Systems introduces Explorer – a new generative world model 

We’ve seen a sudden surge in the number of generative world models including Genie 2 from Google and Patchwork from Midjourney. Odyssey Systems has now announced their venture into this realm with Explorer. 

With Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull joining its board, Odyssey Systems has unveiled this groundbreaking generative world model designed to transform image-based inputs into fully realized, detailed 3D worlds.  

By leveraging cutting-edge advancements like gaussian splats and generative motion, Explorer aims to revolutionize content creation for industries like film, gaming, and immersive entertainment.

Social Media Feature Updates and Algorithm Changes 

Snapchat announces a unified monetization program 

Snapchat has announced a new Monetization Program that integrates ads into creators’ Stories and longer Spotlight videos. Starting February 1, 2025, creators will be able to earn from Spotlight videos exceeding one minute, capitalizing on a 25% year-over-year growth in Spotlight viewership. 

Creators with more than 50,000 followers will be able to join this program. There are also a few more eligibility criteria with respect to the consistency of posting, and some engagement metrics. The post here from Social Media Today delves into this recent upgrade to monetization program on Snapchat. 

Threads simplifies resharing with “Use Media” option 

Threads has rolled out a new “Use Media” feature, allowing users to directly reshare photos or videos from others’ posts without needing to quote-post. This option enables users to add their own text while keeping the original creator credited for the shared media.

As announced by Instagram head Adam Mosseri, the feature is designed to encourage creative engagement with trending images and videos, streamlining how users can contribute their perspectives or humor to viral content.

View on Threads
YouTube India takes a stand against egregious clickbait 

TechCrunch shared a post exploring an announcement from YouTube India. Reportedly, YouTube India is taking a stand against egregious clickbait by targeting videos with misleading titles or thumbnails that fail to deliver on their promises, especially for breaking news or current events. The initiative will roll out gradually, focusing on educating creators before stricter penalties are applied.

For now, YouTube will focus on removing violating content without issuing strikes, prioritizing newer uploads as creators adapt to these changes.

Post scheduling coming soon to Threads 

Most content creators are used to creating content in advance and scheduling them ahead of time. This not only helps them stay consistent with their posting schedule but also ensures that their content goes live when their target audiences are active. 

Some social media platforms have built-in scheduling tools. And now Threads is joining the list. In a recent post on the Threads official page, the team announced that post scheduling feature is coming soon to the platform. 

View on Threads

That’s a Wrap…

As we wrap up the KIMP’s Picks 20th December Edition, we hope that these posts sparked some inspiration and ignited new ideas. How would you like to stay in the loop and receive more such updates? Sign up for The KIMP Scoop newsletter on LinkedIn and check this space for the next KIMP’s Picks edition. 

Share This Post
FacebookXWhatsAppPinterestLinkedInEmail
Posted On

20 Dec, 2024

Related Posts
KIMP’s Picks 28th March: Weekly Highlights In Design, Marketing, AI, & More
28 Mar, 2025
Read More
KIMP’s Picks 21st March: Weekly Highlights In Design, Marketing, AI, & More
21 Mar, 2025
Read More