June Marketing Recap

From navigating a cookieless world to Instagram and TikTok battling it out again, June was an interesting month for marketers worldwide. So here are all the most noteworthy updates that came out of June. 

1. Meta attempts to gain back Gen Z users through AI

Meta is trying to recapture the attention of Gen Z with new AI features. According to a recent announcement, Facebook has four objectives to win over this audience. 

Although they kept it fairly vague, the first change seems to be to their feed. Facebook wants to refocus its core product to concentrate on the discovery of relevant content for young adults in the form of Marketplace, Reels and Groups. This leads to their next offering: expanding AI capabilities. 

These shiny new AI tools include better targeting in your feed and Reels, and Generative AI to enhance social discovery. Meta’s goal is to have “the world’s best recommendation technology” by the end of 2026, which is a pretty big target, and one to keep an eye on. 

Keeping on theme, they’re focusing on video improvements, from the in-app experience to easier private sharing. This could very well be seen as a stab at luring in avid TikTok users, particularly in the USA, where TikTok’s fate is still undecided. 

The final objective is to improve creator opportunities on Facebook, in an attempt to not only have young adults as active consumers on the platform but creators as well. 

2. Instagram’s New Features: Pals, Reels and Unskippable Ads

During June, Instagram began to test some new features – some good, some not so good. 

The first exciting new addition being introduced is Instagram Pals, which are digital pets available within the story stickers feature. The aim is to keep Instagram exciting and fresh, with interactive pets that change and grow as people interact with your story. 

The feature comes with the resurgence of other digital pals, such as Tamagotchi and Pokemon Go, which plays on 90’s kids nostalgia, as well as catering to a younger audience. Instagram hasn’t officially announced this feature yet, however, so who knows when or if we may see it. 

Another feature in testing is ‘trial reels’, a way for creators to experiment with their short-form videos, without committing to them being shown on their profile. After posting a reel using this feature, Instagram will show the creator key metrics, after which the creator can choose whether to share the post with their followers or archive it. 

A less welcomed feature recently tested is unskippable ads. This new addition is named ‘Ad Breaks’, and they interrupt the user’s browsing for at least 3-5 seconds before they can continue scrolling. Unsurprisingly, it’s already received some pretty negative feedback, and it’s not even out of testing yet…

3. Amazon’s cookieless ad targeting solution

Amazon has offered a solution to advertising in a cookieless world: Ad Relevance. This new approach uses AI to analyse billions of browsing, buying and streaming data points, alongside real-time information on the content being viewed to understand where the customer is in their journey and serve them relevant ads, without needing third-party cookies. 

Amazon has reported the product to have already delivered a positive impact for brands, including extended addressability on up to 65% of previously anonymous impressions and lowering CPMs by up to 34%. 

For marketers, this is a significant development. It provides powerful targeting techniques but also creates an isolated ad ecosystem. Will other platforms follow suit, or will more solutions be provided with time?

4. YouTube’s new creator tools

YouTube is also on the list of platforms with updates in June, aimed at helping creators optimise content. 

The first is a feature that has been begged for for years: testing multiple thumbnails. Yes, finally creators will be able to A/B test multiple thumbnails on their YouTube videos. This feature was announced last June but was only available to a few hundred users. 

Now, everyone can test up to three thumbnails on a video to see which is the best option. This is a big advancement for the platform, and will allow creators to optimise more effectively. 

The second feature, which is still in testing, was of less demand and allows users to add context notes to a video. This feature allows invited contributors to write short excerpts in hopes of adding additional context to clarify if something is a parody, up to date or accurate. 

While this sounds all good and dandy, it’s bound to attract some issues that YouTube will need to iron out before releasing this feature worldwide. 

5. TikTok is on the rise

The team at TikTok has been busy in June, releasing a new feature in-app, as well as a new app entirely. 

The in-app development comes in the form of an image search tool for TikTok shop, allowing users to upload or take a photo of an item and use this to search for similar products. 

This isn’t a new piece of tech for the e-commerce world, with Google, Bing, Yahoo and Pinterest already having a similar feature. But this addition to TikTok helps them compete as a search engine, which they’ve been doing since 2021 when they became the most visited domain in the world. 

As well as this, the company released a familiar-looking photo-sharing app called Whee. The app works very similarly to Instagram, with the sole purpose of capturing images to share with your closest friends. This isn’t the first time TikTok has released an Instagram rival app, with TikTok Notes being released in April. 

6. Facebook tests new automatic A/B testing feature for reels

Facebook has begun experimenting with some A/B testing for reels. The tool allows creators to automatically test different variations of their Reels to identify which version performs best. Once enabled, the feature is expected to help creators optimise their content and improve overall engagement. 

This is one of those tactics Meta is using to target Gen Z users, as well as attract more creators to the platform. 

7.  Klaviyo integrates with Meta

Email marketing service, Klaviyo, has announced a new integration with Meta. This partnership aims to streamline marketing efforts by enabling businesses to leverage Klaviyo’s data analytics along with Meta’s extensive advertising capabilities. 

The main features offered are syncing lists and segments to Facebook as custom audiences and syncing subscribers who sign up via Facebook lead ad forms to Klaviyo. 

We predict this trend of popular marketing platforms partnering up to continue throughout the year, giving new opportunities to marketers to optimise their ads further. 

8. GA4’s cookieless measurements and alignment with Google Ads

Google Analytics has had too many updates in June to count, but the two most important would be its adaptation to a cookieless world, and its alignment with Google Ads targeting. 

Google announced that later this year, GA4 will start supporting some Chrome Privacy Sandbox APIs “to ensure you can continue to reach your audiences and measure effectively even without third-party cookies”. 

They also brought an update to align with Google Ads targeting to clarify and align user counts eligible for remarketing and ad personalisation. This improves the synchronisation between the platforms in terms of numbers and expands visibility within the GA4 interface.

This update answers a key issue marketers have had in the past while using both GA4 and Google Ads, as full alignment between the platforms is key to utilising them to their full potential. 

–

 There you have it, all the ups and downs in the marketing world for June. So many updates in just one month can feel overwhelming, so if you need any guidance on anything we discussed in this article, contact us here and one of our experts will get back to you.