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It’s 😴 Festival of Sleep Day, Reader... 🛏️ You get a nap, and you get a nap, and you get a nap!

In today’s edition:

• Today's 👉 Tip of the Day is for YouTube

• 😵‍ Useful tips to help your team deal with overwhelm

• Facebook and Instagram 🗯️ ad strategy

• Meta's new 🔎 link history tracker

• 🔗 Link previews return to X/Twitter

Wish you could regain the momentum of your past YouTube videos? Wondering which videos to focus on?

Leverage YouTube Retention

First, check the retention graph to see how long people watch your video on average from start to finish. If retention is strong, you’ve got something to work with.

Your watch time statistics will tell you when your target audience drops out of videos and then you have choices.

You can edit out boring sections right inside of YouTube, add a clickable card that takes viewers to another video, or simply create an entirely new video that avoids the same drop-out point.

The key to YouTube growth is continuously improving based on your real viewer data. With some sleuthing, those insights hidden in your analytics can guide you to increased authority.

Today's tip is inspired by Justin Brown.

So Much Has Changed, Reader!

Last year brought enormous change for us marketers. For many of us, artificial intelligence has altered the way we do our jobs. Do you have a place where you can talk about these changes with fellow marketers?

The good news is we’ve built such a place—Social Media Marketing World—taking place February 18–20. 

"I went with an open mind not knowing what to expect other than other attendees saying it was the best experience ever. It was that and so much more," said Sunni O'Maley.

Help me through this season of change.

Feeling Overwhelmed These Days?

If you're like me, you have a lot to focus on this year.

As things are ramping up for 2024, here are a few expectations I regularly convey to my staff at Social Media Examiner.

They help us when things are very busy. Feel free to use them with your team: 

#1: Clearly communicate: If we take time to be clear the first time we communicate, the chances of it being received correctly increase greatly. And that results in smoother operations. 

#2: Follow through: If you are on the receiving end of a communication, it means making sure you follow up later. For me, this also means cross checking with others to make sure they understood what I asked them to do.

#3: Do what you say and be timely: This is so basic, it almost needs no explanation. I tell people, "Your word is your bond." Let people know early if you need more time to make a deadline.

#4: Practice the growth mindset: Stuff is gonna break. People are gonna get bruised (metaphorically) as they race to get stuff done. Remember that the growth mindset should trigger these questions: (a) What can I learn from what happened? and (b) What does this make possible?

#5: Track projects and document processes: We never want work procedures to be stuck inside someone's mind. Every process needs to be documented into a process anyone can follow. This allows others to step in when problems arise.

#6: Always ask for help when you're stuck: It's never a weakness to raise your hand and say, "I'm confused," or "I don't know what to do." Instead it's the wise thing to do.

#7: Remember we're a team and we need to support each other: It's really important to help people when they're going through a rough patch or aren't fully activated at work because of life struggles. 

These are the expectations that I go over every time I meet with our leadership team. I cannot repeat them too many times. The goal is for these expectations to become second nature to everyone.

So, if you are overwhelmed, feel free to borrow Social Media Examiner's staff expectations as outlined above. They might help you next time you're under pressure.

Today's advice is provided by Michael Stelzner.

Getting Ready for Changes in Meta Ads

Several major changes have impacted ad management and targeting on Meta platforms over the past few years:

First, iOS 14 update in 2021 limited advertisers' ability to track conversions and analyze performance. Meta also removed some interest-targeting options.

Next, Meta expanded their algorithm's use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to optimize ads but provided advertisers with less transparency and control in the process.

Finally, new campaign types like Advantage Plus Shopping gave advertisers almost no targeting control and relied entirely on Meta's AI to find audiences likely to convert.

These changes signal a trend toward Meta's systems fully managing audience targeting with limited advertiser inputs. Advertisers have to learn to trust the algorithm more to determine what works.

How to Adapt Your Marketing to Align With Meta’s Changes

Advertisers must embrace these changes rather than fight them. Continuing to resist them will only hurt campaign performance once Meta forces you to use the new systems. Here are three ways to begin working with the system so you can stay ahead of the competition:

Experiment extensively with expanded, broad, and Advantage Plus audience targeting so you can find ways to make them work for you.

Use "Advantage Plus Creative" ad enhancements judiciously. Review each one and disable any instances that may damage your brand consistency. 

Focus more on solid copywriting and creative that truly engages your target audience. Interest targeting matters far less now.

Focus on Attribution

Accurately tracking conversions and sales from your ads is becoming more vital for optimization, so it’s essential to use Meta's Conversions API to pass first-party data safely via direct integrations with any third-party platforms and tools you use in your marketing and sales.

The advertisers who adapt to ongoing Meta ads changes rather than avoiding them will stand out going forward.

Today's advice is provided with insights from Jon Loomer, a featured speaker at Social Media Marketing World.

Will You Be There?  

In just 6 weeks thousands of marketers will gather in San Diego for the biggest marketing event of the year—Social Media Marketing World. Will you be joining them? 

If you want to make 2024 your most successful year yet, consider attending. You'll learn from top experts and connect with marketers from all around the world. 

"Social Media Marketing World has been my favorite and most effective event for networking. It’s one of my favorite things to do as an adult," said Laura Pence Atencio.

I’m ready to discover what I’ve been missing.

🗞 Facebook Link History: Facebook has introduced a new setting called "Link History" that tracks all the links a user clicks on within the Facebook mobile app. This feature is turned on by default for users. Facebook states Link History allows users to have their browsing history saved in one place so they never lose a link. However, the article notes that Facebook also says it may use the data collected to improve targeted ads, revealing this as another way for Facebook to gather data on user behavior for advertising purposes. While Facebook claims Link History is useful for users, the article argues it essentially serves as another tracking tool that users did not previously have visibility or control over. Users can opt out of Link History, and Facebook claims it will delete any collected data within 90 days if disabled. But questions remain about the transparency around this new setting and how exactly the data could be used for ad targeting given Facebook's past data collection practices. Source: Gizmodo

🗞 Link Previews on X/Twitter: The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, recently removed headlines from URL cards that link to external websites. However, X is now adding back these headlines to make it clearer what link a user is clicking on. Some users are noticing that headlines and title pages from websites are now appearing over the images that act as links to those external pages. This makes it easier to discern where a link goes before clicking. While the return of headlines is seen as an improvement in link clarity, there are still some issues. For example, overly long headlines get cut off with an ellipsis. Additionally, the headline text appears quite small. Still, having the headlines, even with these drawbacks, is better than the previous format which only showed the domain of the linked website. So while not perfect, the reintroduction of headlines provides more context for links and is a step toward better link transparency on the platform. Source: The Verge

Did You Know?

The average person has approximately 4 dreams per night. That’s 1,460 dreams a year.