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It’s National Gazpacho Day, Reader! Ever had a white gazpacho?

In today’s edition:

• 🎯 Today's Tip of the Day is for LinkedIn

• 🏓 YouTube features to elevate your strategy

• Instagram broadcast channel features

• LinkedIn dynamic cover images

• 🗞️ Additional industry news from TikTok, YouTube, and more

Are you running lead gen ads on LinkedIn? Is your targeting drawing the right prospects?

How to Assess Your LinkedIn Ad Targeting

When you launch new targeting for a campaign, the first thing to check early on is the people who are opting in. Review their job titles and the companies they work for to be sure they fit your idea customer. 

Once your opt-ins match your customer avatar, talk to your sales team to learn whether the leads your ad are delivering are good.

In general, these first two steps can take approximately 3 months.

When you know you're getting good leads into the pipeline, look at your CRM to see whether those leads are converting in a time-frame that aligns with your established customer journey.

Today's tip was inspired by Anthony Blatner, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

Why Consider Attending, Reader?

Social Media Marketing World is the place that marketers go when they are looking to improve their results. But the conference is so much more than just 3 days of soaking up the latest marketing knowledge (and the beautiful San Diego sunshine).

“This was my first time at Social Media Marketing World, and it exceeded every expectation I had. The value of the sessions and networking experiences cannot be overstated,” said Maddie Young.

“OMG, what a conference that was! This was beyond anything I was expecting. I'm already having Social Media Marketing World withdrawals 😂,” said Rehema A.

“Such an amazing event. As always, five stars! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐,” said Cindy Kocsis.

"I wish more people understood how attending Social Media Marketing World could change their life. You have definitely changed mine!” said Roger Wakefield.

Get your All-Access ticket today.

3 Helpful YouTube Features to Add to Your Strategy 

Success on YouTube requires a strategic approach that balances trending formats with sustainable practices. The key to that strategy lies in understanding how different content types serve different purposes in your overall strategy. 

Short-form content serves as a discovery tool, introducing new audiences to your brand, while long-form content builds deeper relationships with viewers and subscribers.

The platform has a few new tools and updates to help you develop your short- and long-form content strategy and engage the people who watch your videos.

Use YouTube Studio's Inspiration Tool

You can put potential video topics into the inspiration tab and receive detailed feedback about audience interest levels. For example, search for a topic related to your candle-making business and you’ll get topic suggestions, related topics, specific insights about viewer interest, and AI-generated video outlines.

The system goes beyond simple suggestions, though, providing you with comprehensive data about what's working in your niche. It shows top-performing videos in similar categories, reveals popular search terms, and even helps structure content for maximum engagement.

To get the most out of both video formats you create, repurpose the best of your Shorts into long-form video for content marathons.

This approach to long-form content involves taking a series of related shorter videos and transforming them into a comprehensive, extended presentation. The process is more sophisticated than simple compilation and requires careful attention to detail. Here’s a quick overview:

1. Begin with a series of related 10-minute videos

2. Remove the individual call-to-actions that made each episode unique

3. Add smooth transitions between segments

4. Address questions that arose from the original videos

5. Create new connective content to enhance the flow

6. Produce a cohesive presentation of 40-minutes or more

The mathematics of watch time makes this strategy particularly effective. Even if the view percentage of your 40-minute video is only 25%, that's still an average of 10 minutes of watch time, which is better than uploading a 10-minute video and getting three minutes of watch time."

Next, you need to focus on engaging the audience you’ve attracted. These two features will help.

YouTube Communities Feature

This tool helps you identify and engage with the most active viewers, track returning audience members, and manage comments more effectively.

The feature provides detailed metrics about viewer engagement, showing how often individual users have commented and interacted with content. This allows you to identify and nurture relationships with your most engaged followers. For example, you can see when someone consistently comments on every video; then, you can acknowledge them and show your appreciation.

Looking ahead, YouTube plans to expand the Communities feature to become more like a social platform, allowing viewers to post directly on a creator's community tab, share fan art, and engage in meaningful two-way conversations.

YouTube Collaborative Playlists

The introduction of collaborative playlists represents another step toward more interactive content consumption. This feature allows multiple users–even your subscribers, if you so choose, to contribute to a single playlist, creating shared viewing experiences for your audience.

This collaborative approach extends beyond just playlists. 

YouTube is actively developing features that encourage community participation and shared experiences. The platform is testing features that allow viewers to contribute more directly to channels they follow, including posting content directly to a creator's community tab.

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

AI Can Help You Become a Better Marketer! 

If you’re a marketer, creator, or business owner, you don’t want to miss AI Explored. Each week, host Michael Stelzer brings you experts to help you learn how to apply AI in your work. 

Here’s what a few listeners said about the show:

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To listen, simply follow the show on your favorite podcast app.

Or visit our AI Explored show page today.

Updated Facebook and Instagram Policy Violation Removal: Users can now remove their first policy violation strike by completing an educational program. The program applies to most first-time violations of the platforms' Community Standards. However, it excludes serious violations such as content involving sexual exploitation, the sale of high-risk drugs, or the glorification of dangerous organizations. This option is available once per 12-month period for first-time strikes on Facebook profiles, Pages, and Instagram profiles. Source: Meta

Instagram Broadcast Channel Features: Updated features include replies, prompts, and insights to help creators better understand and collaborate with their audience. Replies enable genuine back-and-forth conversations within channels, allowing fans to respond to messages and interact with each other while maintaining focus on the creator's content. All replies are organized in nested format within messages, making it easier for fans to follow conversations and find relevant content. Creators can manage replies by enabling them through channel controls, accessed by tapping the channel name and selecting "Channel controls." Prompts have been introduced as a tool to initiate conversations, offering creators suggested topics or the ability to create custom prompts that align with their channel's theme. Fans can respond to prompts with text or photos for 24 hours and like other members' responses. To create a prompt, creators can access their channel, tap the plus symbol, and select "Prompt." New metrics features help creators track their channel performance, including measurements of total interactions, story shares, and poll votes. Creators can access these insights by tapping their channel name, selecting "Channel performance," and choosing "See all" for detailed metrics. Source: Instagram

LinkedIn Dynamic Cover Images: Premium Business subscribers can create a slideshow of up to five rotating photos in their Profile banner space. This feature, rolling out globally over several weeks, enables professionals like freelancers, real estate agents, and designers to showcase their work and services more effectively through their Profile's visual presentation. Source: LinkedIn

Pinterest Trends Report: The platform released its annual trend report to give consumers and advertisers a first look at 2025 trends, from fashion to food and everything in between. Marketers can use these trends to stay ahead of the curve, whether trendsetting or trend-shopping. Source: Pinterest

TikTok's 2024 Year-In-Review: The report highlights significant growth in user engagement and business success. Over 170 million Americans participated in the platform's billion-strong global community. The platform saw significant growth in e-commerce, with TikTok Shop LIVE sessions nearly tripling monthly in the US. Source: TikTok

TikTok and Nielsen ONE Measurement Partnership: The companies have established a new partnership enabling advertisers to compare TikTok ad performance across digital, CTV, and linear screens. Nielsen ONE will provide the cross-media measurement capabilities, offering insights into audience engagement across various platforms as users move between different devices. This partnership follows Nielsen's previous collaboration with YouTube. Source: TechCrunch

Threads Post Analytics: Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, confirmed today that Meta is introducing a test of analytics for individual posts on Threads. The testing phase focuses specifically on post-level metrics, indicating this may be the first step in a broader rollout of analytics features. Source: @Mosseri via Threads

YouTube 2024 Global Culture & Trends Report: The report emphasizes the rise of "digital franchises," where content originates from creators and is adopted by online communities, and highlights the power of fan-generated content in sports. Fans are actively creating and sharing content, enriching the sports experience and offering unique perspectives. Marketers can utilize this by encouraging fan participation and leveraging their content to enhance engagement. Source: YouTube

Did You Know?

The oldest known socks are from Egypt and are 1,600 years old. They were designed with split toes to be worn with sandals. Yes. Socks for sandals.