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It’s National Horseradish Month, Reader! It's definitely a top-tier condiment.

In today’s edition:

• 💬 Today's Tip of the Day is for Instagram strategy

• ✅ ✅ ✅ Setting up custom GPTs to do repetitive tasks

• Meta launches Llama 3.1

• Meta adds offers to ad sources

• 🗞️ Additional industry news from Meta, YouTube, X, and more

If your Instagram strategy prioritizes organic content, you can't always control where someone is in the customer journey when they see your content.

What if your captions could both nurture or convert at the same time?  

Dual Purpose Calls to Action on Instagram

Ideally, your call to action (CTA) tells consumers what action you want them to take next, and it should be singularly specific. Unfortunately, your conversion posts might be viewed by someone who is not ready to buy from you. They need more nurturing.

Rather than banking on a single CTA that either nurtures or converts, use two related CTAs to meet consumers where they are:

• One that directly invites people to take the next step with your offer

• One that encourages general engagement so you continue to show up in their feed

For example, "Want to learn the exact strategy I used to book out my coaching program? DM me the word 'STRATEGY' to get all the details! Not ready to buy? If you found this post helpful, leave a '🙌' in the comments below!"

Today's tip is provided with insights from Kar Brulhart, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

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Custom GPTs: Create Your Own Personalized AI Assistants

Have you ever wished for a personal assistant that knows exactly how you like things done? Custom GPTs might be the answer. 

AI can do more for you than you think. If you look past all the technical jargon, these powerful tools can help with all sorts of tasks in both work and personal life.

Inspiration for Custom GPTs in Daily Life and Work

Custom GPTs are simply personalized versions of AI chatbots like ChatGPT that you can train to help you with specific tasks or processes. Instead of typing long instructions every time, you create a custom GPT that remembers how you like things done.

The goal is to let AI handle repetitive tasks so you can focus on what you do best. With custom GPTs, you're limited only by your imagination in creating helpful AI assistants tailored to your specific needs.

For example:

Interactive Customer Personas: For work, Brian Piper, Director of Content Strategy at the University of Rochester, creates GPTs that act like potential students to help improve his marketing materials. These GPTs can review website content, suggest improvements, and even do competitive analysis by looking at other universities' sites.

Meal Planning: Brian's "Culinary Creator" GPT plans meals for the week, creates recipes, makes shopping lists, and even suggests prep work. It knows his family's food preferences, dietary restrictions, and even his local grocery store layout. This GPT can plan a whole week of meals in about five minutes, saving Brian hours of work.

Fitness Routines: Another GPT helps plan workouts based on Brian's preferences and any injuries. It can adjust routines based on his energy levels, available equipment, and even the weather.

Selling Items Online: A custom GPT helps Brian list items on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. He just takes a picture of the item, and the GPT writes the title and description, researches a fair price, and can even create an Excel file ready to upload for bulk listings.

5 Steps to Create a Custom GPT

To make your own custom GPT, follow these steps:

1. Get a paid ChatGPT account (Custom GPTs are only available with paid versions).

2. Go to "Explore GPTs" in the upper left menu and click "Create GPT."

3. Answer some basic questions about what you want the GPT to do.

4. Use the "Configure" settings to provide detailed instructions. During this step, use Chris Penn's "RACE" model (Role, Action, Context, and Example) to give the AI what it needs to deliver your desired output.

5. Provide any necessary information or data for your GPT to use.

Remember, creating a good custom GPT is an iterative process. Start with a basic version and improve it. As you discover what works best, you can expand its use to more complex tasks. You'll also want to experiment with multiple AI tools (like Claude, Gemini, and HyperWrite) to gain diverse perspectives and find the tools that work best for you.

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

Instagram Prioritizes Messaging: Instagram is testing a new layout that prioritizes messaging by moving the DM icon to the center of the bottom navigation bar. Source: Social Media Today

Meta Launches Llama 3.1: Meta has launched Llama 3.1, featuring a 405B parameter open-source AI model and improved 70B and 8B versions. CEO Mark Zuckerberg argues that this release marks a shift toward open-source AI dominating the industry. He cites benefits, including customization, data privacy, and cost efficiency. Source: Meta

Meta AI’s New Features: Meta AI has expanded to 22 countries with 7 new languages. New features include personalized image generation with "Imagine me," improved image editing tools, and in-app image creation across Meta's platforms. Users can now access the advanced Llama 405B model for complex math and coding tasks. Meta AI is also being integrated into Meta Quest devices. Source: Meta

Meta Adds Offers to Ad Sources: Meta has introduced a new feature to enhance Facebook ad campaigns by automatically incorporating offers from advertisers' websites. This updated URL ingestion process detects existing offers and discounts listed on a site during the ad setup. The system can display these offers to viewers who are more likely to respond based on their previous ad interactions. Advertisers can also edit these offers within the campaign setup for greater control. Source: Social Media Today

Metas’s European Ad Subscription Service: Meta's European "pay or consent" ad model faces new regulatory scrutiny. The Consumer Protection Cooperation Network claims Meta's marketing is misleading and pressures users to decide quickly without clear information. This follows a European Union Commission ruling that the plan violates the Digital Markets Act. Source: European Commission

X to Disable Links in Replies: X is developing a new feature that would allow users to disable links in replies to their posts. Source: Engadget

X Tests ‘Request a Community Note’: X is testing a "Request a Community Note" feature, allowing users with verified phone numbers to request notes on posts needing clarification. The initial limit is 5 daily requests per user. Top Writer contributors will see requests on posts less than 24 hours old with at least 5 requests, helping focus efforts on potentially problematic content. Source: X Community Notes

YouTube Shopping Updates: YouTube has launched a new Chrome extension on desktop. With a new browser extension, creators can save products they want to tag in their content and see commission rates. Additionally, if users have a merch store connected to their channel YouTube is automatically adding a merch shelf to their channel’s homepage. The shelf will feature products from their store, and a “View store” button will allow viewers to view the whole store. Source: YouTube

Did You Know?

Capybaras can hold their breath for five minutes.