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It’s 📚 Library Shelfie Day, Reader! Head to your local library and
📸 snap a pic in front of your favorite book section. You'll get extra points for sharing on social and tagging us!

In today’s edition:

• Today's 👉 Tip of the Day is for AI avatar creation

• The solution to ✨ sparking creative output

• No more 👬 👬 Lookalike Audiences on LinkedIn

• 📣 Additional industry news from Meta and TikTok

Are you tired of stock avatars? AI can do more than create text and graphics.

Create a 3D Character of Yourself

Drop this prompt into your favorite AI image creation tool, then customize the details to create your own avatar:

Create a 3D illustration of an animated character sitting casually on top of a social media logo "Instagram". The character is a black, Puerto Rican female. She is in her 30s, wearing streetwear, a hoodie, a bomber jacket, and sneakers.

Today's tip is inspired by Nicky Saunders, a featured speaker at Social Media Marketing World. Source: Instagram

How Are Your 2024 Marketing Goals Going?

If you want to exceed your goals this year, an All-Access ticket to Social Media Marketing World is your best investment.  

✅ Discover new strategies that improve your marketing results.

✅ Fortify your marketing plans for 2024 and beyond. 

✅ Become much more valuable to your company or clients. 

Get advanced training on marketing strategy, AI, and so much more—this February 18–20. 

Plus, if you secure your All-Access ticket by this Friday, you’ll save $300. 

I want to hit my goals in 2024!

A Strategy to Boost Creativity 

Does trying to juggle multiple projects while constantly learning new skills and platforms stress you out? Does feeling overwhelmed affect your creativity? 

The solution lies in embracing your constraints instead of seeing them as barriers.

Eliminate Unnecessary Tasking

When taking on any new initiative, first cut out at least two lower-priority tasks you are already doing. This clears your schedule and mind to focus. Acknowledge that certain inactive projects, like old social media ideas or paused podcast plans, aren't worth your time. Removing these distractions boosts your available creative energy.  

Define One Measurable Outcome

Next, define one clear, measurable goal for your new effort. Avoid vague objectives like “raise awareness” or “get more followers.” Instead, make it specific, like “gain 500 new email subscribers in 2 months via our new TikTok channel.” Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you on track.  

Give Yourself Tight Deadlines  

Then, set an unreasonable deadline that forces resourcefulness, like one week to launch a basic podcast or 12 hours to write a blog post. Short timeframes stop extensive planning and push you to begin. Test ideas quickly without overly researching or aiming for perfection. The pressure of tight deadlines also overcomes fears, making you more likely to ship creative projects.

Add a Big Limitation   

Finally, impose at least one additional major constraint on how you can complete the task like using only your smartphone to film videos or just pen and paper to draft posts while offline in nature. Removing the tools, technologies, and references you typically use spurs out-of-the-box thinking. Think about what resources you rely on as crutches and take them away.

Raise the Stakes

Attach significant incentives and consequences to achieving or missing your defined outcome by the deadline. Make it clear what’s at risk if you fail and what benefits come from succeeding. Know your personal motivations and tap into those of others on your team. High stakes drive people to accomplish seemingly impossible creative feats.

By eliminating competing priorities and setting a tight focus under unreasonable expectations and constraints for a short burst of intense effort, you can produce inventive results.

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

Wish You Had a Crystal Ball? 🔮  

Wouldn't it be great to know exactly what's working now, so you could rapidly improve your marketing results? In 25 days, thousands of marketers will arrive in San Diego for Social Media Marketing World. They’ll be there to learn the latest marketing strategies and techniques from leading experts. Will you be there, Reader?

"I learned so much, I was surrounded by experts, not only on stage but sitting next to me in the audience," said Sarah Combs.

Attend and watch what happens to your marketing.

🗞 LinkedIn Discontinuing Lookalike Audiences: On February 29, 2024, LinkedIn will discontinue its lookalike audiences feature. After that date, new lookalike audiences cannot be created, and existing ones cannot be edited. Any current lookalike audiences will become static, meaning their data will no longer refresh. Campaigns actively using lookalike audiences will continue delivering ads to those static audiences. LinkedIn recommends using predictive audiences based on contact lists, conversions, or Lead Gen forms instead of lookalike audiences. It also recommends using Audience Expansion for Matched Audiences and other LinkedIn targeting like skills and interests. These options can help advertisers reach similar audiences and identify likely buyers in place of the discontinued lookalike audiences feature. Source: LinkedIn

🗞 Disconnecting Facebook and Instagram Services: Over the next few weeks, users of Instagram and Facebook in the European Union, European Economic Area, and Switzerland will receive notifications informing them of their ability to choose whether or not they want information shared between Meta's services. Users connecting Facebook and Instagram accounts can continue linking or managing them separately. Facebook Messenger users can keep using it with their Facebook account or create a standalone Messenger account. Facebook Marketplace users can choose a Marketplace experience that uses their Facebook information or one that doesn't. Facebook Gaming users can choose a gaming experience that uses their Facebook information or an experience that doesn't use their Facebook information. Source: Meta

🗞 TikTok Accessibility Feature: TikTok rolls out dynamic text sizing. Source: TikTok via LinkedIn

Did You Know?

Only two mammals lay eggs: echidnas and platypuses.