The TikTok World Event 2024 took place this month, and there were some new things announced regarding the TikTok Ads system. 

 

First of all, they’re continuing to utilising AI to help creators with their advertising. This new suite is called ‘Symphony’, and is made for ad partners who will receive AI assistance with things such as writing scripts, producing videos, creating ideas, and more. TikTok began introducing all these features separately last year, but will be collecting them all into one place to make it easier for ad partners to access and use to their full potential. 

 

They’re also bringing in a platform for marketing named TikTok One, which will act as a replacement for the current Creative Centre. TikTok One will make it easier to access TikTok’s built in marketing tools and new creation elements. As explained by TikTok: “Brands will be able to tap into this one-stop-shop to access TikTok creators, production partners, and insights, including TikTok Creator Marketplace and TikTok Creative Challenge. With TikTok One, advertisers will be able to access nearly 2 million creators, discover top agency partners and leverage our creative tools to implement and scale successful TikTok campaigns, all with a single log-in.” It will launch later in 2024. 

 

They’re also improving AI and machine learning for Ad Targeting, and improving optimisation tools for those selling on TikTok Shop. 

 

They’re also launching something called ‘Unified Lift’, putting all existing campaign measurement options into a single performance measurement – with TikTok saying “[Unified Lift will] empower advertisers to confidently maximize the results of their investments on TikTok. Unified Lift combines the power of Brand Lift Studies and Conversion Lift Studies to give businesses a comprehensive view of their total TikTok campaigns’ impact.” 

 

Also announced were ad functions ‘Interactive Add-Ons for TopView’ and ‘Duet with Branded Mission’, both to help boost ad engagement and performance. 

Google will shut down the chat and call history features on Google Business Profiles in July. 

 

The tools were underutilised, but allowed users on Google Search, Maps and Shopping to get in touch with your business directly from listings by starting a chat from the display. The closure of this feature is being done as Google streamlines its business tools. Chat will be disabled in mid-July, with the feature shut down entirely at the end of July. 

For those who use YouTube often, the platform will now be able to identify specific sections of videos where demonetisation or restrictions have been triggered so you can remove content that flags up on the system. They’ll also let you know if the problem lies with your thumbnail or title, as per YouTube “The way this will work is that when a creator uploads a video using our Self-Certification process on web uploads, and that video receives a yellow icon, they’ll have the option to appeal, and have one of our experts review the video. When that review is complete, the issues our expert found that led to a yellow icon (for either Limited or No Ads) will appear for the creator in Studio, alongside timestamps of where in the video they appeared.” 

Finally, we end this month on another TikTok update – they’ve launched a Management dashboard for Creators to use for analysis. It includes all of their analytics in one place, and is called TikTok Studio – another section that has been taken from the original Creative Centre. They said of the launch: “Whether you’re a seasoned creator, a newbie debuting your first video, or a small business balancing content creation while managing a business, TikTok Studio provides free, easy-to-use creation tools and centralized operational capabilities designed to efficiently streamline content workflow. Using their TikTok account to log in or sign up, creators can upload, film, edit, and post to TikTok directly from TikTok Studio and use tools like auto caption, photo editor, and autocut to polish their content with professional finesse.” 

That’ all for May! Have a wonderful June and keep an eye out for more news in the digital marketing world next month. 

 

Your social media tip for this month is: "I dont get many likes" 😢 

 

"No one engages with my content"  

 

All excuses people use to not post on social. 

 

But you see likes, comments and shares can be vanity metrics. 

 

Yes the more engagement you get the more reach you get, but there is also "lurkers". People who watch your content, value your content and consume it but they never engage. 

 

To you it seems that no one is watching... but they are. 

 

So, stop getting caught in the trap of craving social media engagement and instead concentrate on offering value, showing your expertise and knowledge and showcasing your ability as the best in your industry.