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It’s National Ventriloquism Week, Reader! Who said that??

In today’s edition:

• 🖲️ Today's Tip of the Day is for content creation

• 🤡 How and when to use humor in your marketing

• New ad overlays for Instagram Reels

• TikTok partners with Eventbrite

• YouTube launches Text to Speech for Shorts

• 🗞️ Additional industry news from Instagram, Threads, and more

If the tone of the AI-written content you're getting is missing the mark, you can ask your writing assistant for help.

Use the Lever Technique

First, get an initial output from the AI. Then, ask the AI to rate a specific aspect of the output on a scale (e.g., formality from 1–10). Finally, ask the AI to adjust that aspect to a different point on the scale

For example, if you get an email that's too formal, you might say:

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being very casual and 10 being very formal, how would you rate the tone of this email?

If the AI responds with "7," you might then say:

Please rewrite the email, adjusting the tone to a 3 on the same scale. Maintain the same information and overall structure, but make the language more conversational and friendly.

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

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Discover what works from leading marketers.

Using Humor in Your Marketing Copy

As marketers, we often focus on conveying information and driving conversions. But what if adding a touch of humor could make your copy more engaging and effective? 

Research shows that humor activates the same brain centers as enjoyable experiences, making your content more memorable and engaging. In fact, one study found that 85% of readers preferred emails with humor over straightforward, fact-only messages.

Finding Your Brand's Humor Style

Before adding jokes to your copy, it's important to understand your own sense of humor. Patch outlines five broad categories of humor:

• Wholesome and Goofy: Think cat memes or funny animal videos.

• Lowbrow and Crass: Think bathroom humor.

• Highbrow and Intellectual: Jokes that require prior knowledge, like language puns or math jokes.

• Dark and Morbid: Think Wednesday Addams-style humor.

• Absurd and Surreal: Unexpected or nonsensical humor.

Pro Tip: Ask your audience what kind of content they want to see from you. Use their feedback to guide your humor style.

Where to Use Humor in Your Marketing

While humor can be effective, it's important to use it strategically. 

You should avoid using humor in areas where clarity is crucial, like homepage headlines, the hero sections of your website, or key product descriptions.

Instead, look for places where you have a more personal connection with readers, such as:

• Emails, especially in subject lines or opening lines

• Social media posts

• Photo captions

• Text under buttons or calls to action

• Abandoned cart emails

• Customer service responses

For example, a sprinkler company created a series of abandoned cart emails featuring a fictional employee named Kyle, who got progressively more upset about the abandoned cart. This humorous approach got positive responses and replies from customers even years later.

How to Add Humor to Your Copy

Start by writing "straight" copy and then finding places to inject humor rather than trying to write an entirely humorous piece from scratch.

Then read it out loud, pretending you're talking to a friend looking for places to add jokes or asides, especially where you might naturally make a quip in conversation.

Don't overdo it, though. You should aim for no more than one joke per paragraph to maintain balance.

Pro Tip: Always prioritize conversion over humor—if a joke interferes with your message, cut it.

2 Safe Types of Humor to Experiment With

In many industries, the bar for humor is quite low. Taking even a small step toward more engaging, funny content can significantly differentiate your brand and improve your marketing effectiveness.

Pro Tip: Always remember the importance of punching up rather than punching down. You can make jokes about larger entities or shared frustrations, but avoid targeting individuals or marginalized groups. 

Will humor work for your brand? Try these types of humor to find out:

Observational Humor

This style points out something unusual or weird about a common situation. Look for things in your industry that frustrate people or seem absurd. For example, you could joke about the challenges of dealing with social media algorithms. "Are you tired of making sacrifices to the almighty algorithm gods just to get your content seen?"

Similarly, a software company might poke fun at outdated methods. "Still using spreadsheets? Let's throw them a retirement party and upgrade to something that won't make you want to throw your computer out the window."

Self-Deprecating Humor

This involves making fun of yourself or your brand in a lighthearted way. Focus on temporary traits or habits rather than permanent physical characteristics. 

For instance, you could joke about overusing certain punctuation if you're a writer. "Don't take away my emotional support em dash!"

Or, when asking for a sale or signup, acknowledge the awkwardness: "I know asking for your email feels like a second-date proposal, but I promise our newsletter is more fun than small talk over coffee."

Today's advice is provided with insights from Lianna Patch, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

The 'Go-To' Podcast for Marketers 

If you’re looking for fresh marketing ideas—or ways to improve what you’re already doing—check out the Social Media Marketing Podcast. 

The show has been helping marketers like you navigate the constantly changing marketing jungle for over a decade. With over 600 episodes, you’re sure to find tips, tricks, and strategies to improve your marketing.

Check out the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

Instagram’s Super Like for Stories: Instagram is developing a Super Like for Stories. Instagram plans to limit users to sending only one Super Like every 24 hours. Source: Alessandro Paluzzi via Threads

New Overlay Ads for Instagram Reels: Meta has introduced overlay ads for Instagram Reels. This feature offers single-image and Carousel banner ads that appear at the bottom of the screen during Reels playback. Advertisers can access these new placements through Meta Ads Manager, choosing from various options. Source: Search Engine Land

Instagram Expands Tracks for Reels: Instagram users can now add up to 20 tracks to a single Reel and visually align audio with elements like text, stickers, and clips while editing the app. Source: Instagram 

Meta Withholds AI Models From the EU: Due to regulatory uncertainty, Meta has decided to withhold its upcoming and future multimodal AI models from the European Union. Meta will still release a text-only version of Llama 3 in the EU, but the multimodal models will be unavailable. Source: Axios

Web Intents for Threads API: Threads has launched Web Intents, allowing users to interact with the platform directly from external websites. The feature focuses on creating posts and following profiles. Clicking a Web Intent URL opens Threads in a new window or the app on mobile devices. Post Intents enable easy content sharing from websites to Threads, while Follow Intents simplify following accounts. Source: Meta 

TikTok Loses Challenge to EU’s DMA: TikTok has lost its initial legal challenge against the EU’'s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The EU General Court ruled that TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, meets the criteria to be regulated under this law, which aims to curb anti-competitive practices by large tech firms. Source: Bloomberg

TikTok Partners With Eventbrite: TikTok has partnered with Eventbrite to streamline event promotion and ticket sales on its platform. Users can now add Eventbrite links to TikTok videos, allowing viewers to purchase tickets in-app. Available where both services operate, eligible events must be in-person, public, ticketed, and occurring within 90 days (180 for music events). Source: TikTok

X’s New ‘Auto-Advance’ Setting: X will soon let users stop autoplay of next videos with an “auto-advance” setting. Source: @xDaily via X

YouTube Shorts Updates: In the coming months, YouTube will be testing and launching the ability to edit creators’ Shorts thumbnail frame, post upload, and an option to add text and filters to thumbnails. Additionally, YouTube is launching a new feature for Shorts called “Text to Speech.” With this feature, creators can add text, have it narrated or spoken aloud in their Short, and choose the start and end point for the visual text. This feature is rolling out over the next few weeks on Android devices. Source: YouTube

Did You Know?

China's Grand Canal is the world's longest man-made waterway. Parts of it were constructed in the 5th century BC, and today, it is 1,800 km long, stretching from Beijing to Hangzhou via the Yangtze and Yellow rivers.