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

Happy Friday! It’s time for this week’s edition of KIMP’s Picks. Catch up on the latest social media highlights and stay in the know.

In the KIMP’s Picks 20th September Edition, we’re bringing you the most important AI updates, fresh marketing ideas, and news on social media algorithm changes—everything an entrepreneur or marketer needs to stay ahead. Ready for the weekly roundup? Let’s dive in!

In the Marketing Realm

Creating copy for Google Ads 

The ad copy can make or break the impact of your ads, particularly in a volatile digital space. Therefore, in competitive advertising channels like Google Ads, the copy can be a dealbreaker. Hence Search Engine Land, a renowned authority that brings search-related news shared the below post discussing copywriting for Google Ads. 

The post discusses some findings of research conducted on more than 22,000 accounts, with a monthly spend of at least $1,500. 

Some of the key findings were that Ad Strength is not the ultimate indicator. There were also some surprising nuances like the fact that ads with copies in a sentence case saw higher ROAS and lower CPAs. The other notable observation was that shorter headings but longer descriptions can also make an ad work better. 

So, if you are looking for ways to improve your Google Ads, then this post is for you. 

The need for omnichannel marketing during holiday season 

Google recently shared a glimpse into the second edition of The Insighter, their monthly roundup of insights for marketers. The core idea was to emphasize the need for omnichannel marketing, especially during the busy holiday season. 

The post delves into the need for planning beyond Cyber Week when the demand starts increasing. According to Google, last year, more than half of the US shoppers still had a lot of shopping to do after Cyber Week. Therefore, this is a crucial period for brands to plan ahead. Also, the post emphasizes the need for omnichannel marketing strategies considering that a good number of holiday shoppers perform a mix of online and offline purchases. 

IKEA’s innovative “Sleepfluencer” campaign 

Looking for some marketing inspiration? Then here’s a campaign from IKEA to spark your creativity. Ad Age spotlighted this campaign from IKEA Sweden. 

In this campaign, IKEA taps into untapped advertising spaces, Ikea Sweden is offering consumers (sleepfluencers) free roller blinds with a unique twist. These blinds come printed with Ikea ads on the exterior, turning home windows into a new form of ad real estate.

This campaign promotes Ikea’s sleep product line, including pillows, duvets, and mattresses. Dubbed “sleepfluencers,” participating customers are essentially becoming brand ambassadors as they display these ads on their windows.

This campaign shows how a little novelty takes advertising to the next level. 

Personalization doesn’t look the same anymore 

Personalization is important in marketing and nearly every marketer knows this. But what really is personalization? There was once a time when simply adding the customer’s first name in the email was seen as a good move in personalization but times are changing and brands are tapping into creative ways to go beyond these simple strategies.

Therefore the post here from Adweek discusses what personalization in brand messaging really means in current times. The post particularly discusses the need for person-first identity strategies that can enable seamless cross-channel communication by unifying customer profiles.

The post also discusses that it’s essential for brands to monitor the real-time behavior of consumers in order to tailor the messages across various touchpoints. 

In the Content Marketing Realm 

Improve website loading times 

Even when you have the best content on your website, slow loading times can hamper the experience. Wondering how to make your websites load faster? Google has some solutions for you. In a recent post, they shared their next insightful video in the SEO Made Easy video series. 

This one talks about 3 easy and effective strategies that can help websites load faster. Sometimes, given how large JavaScript resources can be, they can weigh down the site. Therefore Google recommends reducing the use of JavaScript as much as possible. Secondly, they recommend checking for and eliminating unwanted redirects which can further add to the burden and lead to slower-loading pages. 

Thirdly, they discuss the need for using optimized images on your website. From choosing the right format to compression strategies, every little detail can determine how quickly and easily your images load and this in turn affects how fast or slow your website loading times are. 

The need for BOFU content 

From nurturing leads to retaining existing customers, quality content can help businesses in many ways. One of them is to boost the number of sign-ups. And for this, the leading SEO software provider Moz recommends focusing on Bottom-of-the-Funnel content. 

From helping customers pick the right tools to providing them with fresh options and simplifying their decision-making process, the post presents some easy and useful tips. 

The content marketing funnel is a crucial topic for marketers. Check out our blog on strategies for the content marketing funnel and content ideas. 

Time to work on your NFL-focused content and campaigns 

The best way to come up with ideas for your content and campaigns is to look for what’s trending on social media – the topics that all your target customers seem to be discussing. 

Sports events like the NFL are among such topics that create a buzz. According to X, NFL-related content garnered about 1.3B video views. There has also been a 30% YOY increase in the popularity of the topic on the platform. Therefore, if you are looking for trending topics to jump on the discussion and boost your brand’s social media engagement, now is a good time to focus on NFL fans. 

In the Design Realm 

Canva announces free Affinity Access to Nonprofits and Schools 

Back in March Canva announced the acquisition of Affinity, a a pro-level design software suite. Now they have made access to Affinity free to eligible schools and nonprofits. 

With this offer, verified Canva for Education and Canva for Nonprofits users can access Affinity’s powerful tools for photo editing, graphic design, and digital illustration on Mac, Windows, and iPad.

Once verified, users can download Affinity and sign in using their Canva account. This unlocks features across Affinity Designer, Photo, and Publisher, offering seamless integration with Canva’s platform. 

The Adobe x Slack collaboration for collaborative creativity 

Adobe has announced the launch of Adobe Express for Slack. This powerful new integration is designed to enhance collaboration and creativity for businesses of all sizes. 

Now available in the Slack marketplace, this tool allows teams to create and share visual content directly within their Slack environment. In short, this collaboration brings Adobe’s design capabilities to the forefront of workplace communication.

Thanks to the integration of Adobe Express within the platform, Slack users can generate images, design social media content, presentations, and more using Adobe Express. Additionally, this also includes Adobe Firefly’s generative AI features. 

Adobe’s AI Assistant Content Accelerator – a game-changer in content creation 

Adobe has launched the AI Assistant Content Accelerator. This is a new tool within Adobe Journey Optimizer and it’s designed to streamline content creation for marketing teams. 

With this AI-powered solution marketers can easily automate repetitive tasks and therefore also generate HTML emails, create personalized content variants, and maintain brand consistency. Moreover, all this can be achieved without coding expertise.

In addition to this, users will also soon be able to generate multiple variations of content for different audience segments. 

Design inspiration for brand identity 

The Brand Identity is a great place to find inspiration for branding designs. In a recent post, they discussed the brand identity design created for Vessel Floats, a pioneering float therapy spa in New York. 

The creative agency focused on blending historical significance with modern design. Accordingly, they drew inspiration from the buoyant experience of floating, which informed a minimalist aesthetic characterized by clean linework and uppercase typography.

Additionally, they also considered the interior design of Vessel Float’s spaces characterized by a vertical aesthetic. Consequently, the design for brand identity was created incorporating a lot of vertical lines and a clean and modern style. 

In the AI Realm 

Meta x Together AI – LlamaCoder

Meta recently announced how Together AI has created a web app for developers powered by  Llama 3.1 405B. This app development tool called LlamaCoder is built so as to allow developers to create whole applications with simple text prompts. 

Together AI has also developed other example apps using Llama 3.1, such as LlamaTutor and TurboSeek. All of these show the power of Llama 3.1 405B in coding applications. 

As Llama models push the boundaries of performance and safety, they continue to unlock new opportunities for developers across various sectors.

Runway & Lionsgate team up to bring AI into film production 

In a groundbreaking partnership, Lionsgate and Runway are joining forces to harness the power of AI in film production. The model is designed to generate cinematic videos which can further be enhanced with the host of tools available with Runway. 

This has the potential to transform the processes involved in pre-production and post-production. The Lionsgate x Runway partnership marks a significant step forward in the integration of AI into the entertainment industry.  

More versatile voices in Gemini Live 

Google has continuously been enhancing Gemini for users both in their mobile app version and web version. Gemini Live, their real-time conversational model is the latest buzz in the tech world. And to upgrade the experience, they have now introduced more new voices in Gemini Live. at the moment, they have announced 10 different voices and users can switch between them as and when required. 

Microsoft unveils next wave of Copilot innovations 

Microsoft has launched a new phase of its Microsoft 365 Copilot, integrating web, work, and Pages into a unified design system for knowledge work. 

The first major announcement is Copilot Pages which is Microsoft’s answer to multiplayer AI collaboration. And the second announcement is the seamless integration of Copilot within Microsoft’s apps like PowerPoint, Excel, and more. Finally, to aid convenient automation Microsoft is bringing Copilot Agents. 

OpenAI revolutionizes AI reasoning models 

OpenAI recently introduced the o1 series of models in their AI ecosystem. This model is designed to tackle more complex problems like coding, and even solve math problems more effectively. To achieve this the model will spend more time thinking before responding. 

According to OpenAI, these models were found to outperform PhD students in challenging benchmark tasks and achieved high scores in math and coding competitions.

As of now, OpenAI has introduced a preview of this model in ChatGPT. But yes, the o1-preview models currently lack some of the features found in GPT-4o, such as web browsing and file uploading.

Amazon Rufus – now on desktop for the U.S. users 

A few weeks ago Amazon made their generative AI assistant Rufus available to U.S. users. Slowly the tool was also rolled out to users in various other countries. All these were for the mobile app version. In a recent post, they announced that this shopping assistant will now be available even on desktops for users in the U.S. 

Rufus is designed to streamline the shopping experience for users by providing instant answers to a wide range of product-related questions. Therefore, the tool is meant to help customers save time and make informed purchasing decisions.

Social Media Feature Updates and Algorithm Changes

Veo is coming to Shorts 

YouTube is making the platform more convenient and productive for creators through AI-powered innovations like Veo and Imagen 3, through Dream Screen. 

Dream Screen reportedly allows creators to generate unique backgrounds by starting with a text prompt. This then produces four image options. From these, users can select their preferred style, and their video model Veo will create a high-quality 6-second background video. 

Additionally, in 2025, creators will be able to generate standalone 6-second video clips, enhancing their storytelling capabilities. 

Instagram announces Teen Accounts 

Given the steady increase in the number of young social media users, Instagram has announced Teen Accounts. The core idea is to enhance the protection for young users and also provide parents with better parental controls. Parents can supervise their teen’s account and approve or deny changes to settings. 

In short, Teen Accounts are about creating a safer space for teens and peace of mind for parents. These accounts automatically implement built-in protections. These include restrictions on who can contact teens. There are also limitations on the content teens can access. Notably, teens under 16 will require parental permission to adjust these settings.

Big announcements from Made on YouTube 2024 

Made on YouTube 2024 has kept creators at the edge of their seats. Finally, the big announcements were made and a lot of them aim to make the experience better for creators and their viewers. 

One of the biggest updates is the introduction of Communities, a dedicated space for creators to engage with their subscribers, and the Community Hub within the YouTube Studio app. 

Auto-dubbing, enhanced YouTube Shopping, Jewels to let viewers send gifts to creators and other updates were also announced. 

Another exciting feature is the Hype option which lets viewers increase the hype for videos posted by small-to-medium-size creators. This helps these videos reach more viewers and get better recognition. 

Snapchat Tests New, Simplified Design

On one side social media platforms are expanding their offerings, integrating AI-powered options, and aiming to create feature-rich platforms. On the other hand, Snap Inc. is reportedly testing a redesigned Snapchat experience. This simplified version is meant to refine how users interact with the app, focusing on three core elements: communicating with friends, using the camera, and viewing content from the broader Snapchat community. 

Moreover, the update unifies Stories and Spotlight into a more personal, tailored viewing experience. This is for those times when social media with its many features can feel overwhelming. In a way, this can also enhance user experience, support creators, and boost long-term advertising potential.

To Sum it Up 

And that’s a wrap for the KIMP’s Picks 20th September Edition! We hope these highlights have given you some valuable insights and inspiration. Remember, staying up-to-date with the latest updates from social media is essential for success in today’s fast-paced digital world. Join us again next week for another dose of AI news and more.

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Posted On

20 Sep, 2024

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