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It’s California State Parks Week, Reader... Seems a good time to revisit the work of Ansel Adams!

In today’s edition:

• Today's Tip of the Day is for Instagram

• Easier ideation for video assets

• Instagram tests unskippable ad breaks

• YouTube tests AI-powered Dream Screen

• Additional industry news from Instagram, YouTube, and more

Do you need to do more product promotion on Instagram? Are your Stories doing as much heavy lifting as they should?

A Script for Selling With Instagram Stories 

Instagram Stories is a great place to promote your products or services authentically. The key is to focus on storytelling rather than direct selling. Follow this framework to show your product in action and help people envision how it could help them.

1. Share a behind-the-scenes look at how you create your product

2. Highlight testimonials from happy customers

3. Explain what's included and how it solves a specific problem

4. Clarify who the product is and isn't right for

5. Direct people to the link in your bio to learn more or purchase

Today's tip is inspired by Chelsea Peitz, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

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How to Use AI to Generate Video Ideas, Titles, and Hooks

Creating engaging video content can be daunting, especially when trying to come up with fresh ideas consistently. It's easy to fall into a creative rut or spend hours brainstorming without making much progress.

Using AI to generate video ideas, hooks, and titles can save you significant time and energy. Instead of starting from a blank slate, you'll have a solid foundation of ideas to build upon. 

Craft a Brand Identity Document

The first step is using AI to craft a brand identity document. Your brand identity document should include the following:

• Who you are and what your business does

• Your unique selling proposition (USP)

• Your brand voice and tone

• Your ideal target audience

• Your audience's pain points, struggles, and desired solutions

When describing your target audience, be as specific as possible. 

"I usually work with first-time homeowners moving from Chicago to the St. Louis metropolitan area. They typically buy homes in the $80K– $250K range and have one or two cars. Most of my clients are young families."

Copy and paste your brand identity document into an AI tool like ChatGPT, and you're ready to put AI to work.

Find Video Ideas

Start by asking the AI for 5–7 video topic ideas based on the information you provided.

For example: "Based on the brand identity document I shared, please give me seven video topic ideas that would be relevant and engaging for my target audience."

If you want more specific ideas, provide the AI with additional context.

"We're launching a new email marketing workbook to help our audience improve their open rates. Can you give me five video topic ideas to promote this workbook without feeling too salesy?"

Find Hook Ideas

First, provide the AI with the title and purpose of your video. Then, share a successful hook from a previous video that resonated with your audience. Finally, ask the AI to generate seven more hooks using a similar framework.

"The title of our next video is '5 Tips for Negotiating a Higher Salary.' The purpose is to help our audience feel more confident when asking for a raise. In a previous video, we used the hook: 'Are you tired of being underpaid and undervalued at work? In this video, we'll show you how to negotiate a higher salary like a pro.' Please give me seven more hooks that follow a similar structure."

Find Title Ideas

Begin by specifying the character limit for your chosen platform (e.g., YouTube). Next, ask the AI to generate seven title ideas within that character limit. Then, indicate whether you want the titles more emotional or strategic.

"Please give me seven YouTube video title ideas, each under 60 characters, for our salary negotiation video. I want the titles to focus on the emotional benefits of negotiating a higher salary."

Evaluate and Refine Your Ideas

Finally, ask the AI to rate the quality of each idea on a scale of 1–10.

"Please rate the 7 video topic ideas you generated on a scale of 1–10, with 10 being the highest. Explain your rating and how well it aligns with our brand identity and target audience."

If the AI gives a low rating to an idea, ask it to suggest ways to improve the concept:

"You rated video topic idea #3 as a 5/10. What changes could we make to this idea to better resonate with our target audience and align with our brand?"

Pro Tip: Remember that AI is a tool to enhance your creativity, not replace it. Continually review and refine the AI-generated ideas to ensure they align with your brand voice, values, and goals.

Today's advice is provided with insights from Diana Gladney, a featured guest on the AI Explored podcast.

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Instagram’s New ‘IG Boost Signals’: Instagram is introducing the "IG Boost Signals" project, which allows partners and advertisers to determine whether their media is eligible to be boosted as an ad before doing so through an API. Additionally, Instagram is launching a feature (i.e., boost_ad_list) that will allow developers to retrieve the ad ID and status (i.e., active or inactive) for current and past advertisements. Source: Meta

Instagram’s New Carousel Photo Sizing: Instagram has introduced a new feature that allows users to share Carousel posts containing photos of various sizes without changing their original dimensions. When editing a carousel post, users can now click on a resize icon that presents three options: Original, Portrait (or Horizontal, depending on the aspect ratio of the first photo), and Square. Source: Lindsey Gamble

Instagram Tests ‘Ad Breaks’: Instagram is testing a new feature called "Ad Breaks," which displays unskippable ads to users while browsing content on the app. These ads include a countdown timer that prevents users from scrolling past the ad until they have viewed it. Source: Tech Crunch

Instagram Tests ‘Trial Reels’: Instagram is globally testing a new feature called "Trial Reels" that allows creators to experiment with posting Reels without having them displayed on their profiles or to their followers. After posting a "Trial Reel," Instagram will provide the creator with insights about the Reel's performance, such as plays, likes, comments, and shares. Based on these insights, the creator can share the Reel with their followers or archive it. Source: Tech Crunch

Threads Tests ‘Swipe this post’: Threads is testing a new feature called “Swipe this post” that allows users to provide feedback on posts in their feed by simply swiping. Users can swipe a post to indicate that they like it or tell Threads they are not interested in seeing similar content. Source: @zuck via Threads

YouTube Updates: Over the coming weeks, YouTube will be rolling out access to post broadly on the platform. Additionally, YouTube is updating its Studio Inspiration tab (formerly Research tab) with AI-powered “Ideas and Outlines.” This feature is available on Studio desktop within Analytics and can be accessed by most creators globally, except in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and India. YouTube is also introducing “Breakout Videos” to the INspiration tab for Studio mobile and desktop. “Breakout Videos” will highlight videos from similar channels that have performed well. Source: Youtube

YouTube Tests Dream Screen: YouTube is testing a new AI-powered feature called Dream Screen, which generates image backgrounds for Shorts videos based on user input. To access the feature, creators in the experiment group can follow a set of steps and then type their desired background idea into the tool. YouTube is rolling out this experiment to a small group of Shorts creators. Source: YouTube

Did You Know?

The Walking Palm tree, native to Central and South America, "walks" as its stilt-like roots allow it to move to reach sunlight.