While the snow melts and the ground thaws out around us, it seems like the marketing and social media worlds are really starting to bloom. There haven’t been any bombshell news stories this month but there have been tons of announcements from most of the major social media sites.

One of the most notable news articles from the last month highlighted that natural languages will become an artificial intelligence (AI) priority in 2022. The Expert.ai report analyzed a large sample of articles to produce its predictions, which also includes the notion that companies will better understand and utilize a human in the loop approach to AI.

TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter have all released a bunch of new items in March. New monetization options, a continued interlinking of the social media and e-commerce realms, and new ad options are just some of the announcements that we’ve seen this month.

Amazon also gets a nod this month for trying to capitalize on the TikTok shopping trend with its TikTok Made Me Buy It online event that showcased deals on viral and best-selling products.

Here are the top marketing stories for March. Straight from our experts to CMOs that want to say in the know.

#1
Natural Languages Will Be AI Priority in 2022

Expert.ai has released a new Expert IQ Report that highlights the fact that natural languages will emerge as an AI priority in 2022. The report looks at the most discussed AI topics from 2021 while offering forecasts for 2022. Expert.ai analyzed a sample of more than 2,700 articles published between January 2021 and January 2022 and focused on news, opinions, and analysis.

Expert.ai predicts that in 2022 enterprises will become increasingly natural language-enabled and they will use AI to better understand the context, meaning, and relationships in language. Companies will understand that taking a human in the loop approach will help them to better organize processes so that people can add their unique value and most will adopt a hybrid AI approach.

#2
TikTok Adds Monetization Options and Tops Consumer App Spend List

TikTok has extended the maximum time limit for videos on its platform to 10 minutes. The change comes following several months of testing and the new limit is being rolled out to all creators now. This is just the latest of many extensions made to TikTok’s time limit since the app launched in 2017.

TikTok is launching a new way to help creators develop and increase their monetization options. The new program called ‘Agency Center’ will signal to talent agencies that the creator is open to additional guidance and support. TikTok says that LIVE Agencies will eventually be able to invite creators to join their network, where they will train, coach, and connect them with their community of experiences LIVE Creators. The tool is still under development.

U.S. State attorneys general have announced a nationwide investigation into TikTok and the possible harmful effects that it may have on the mental health of young users. The platform has an estimated 1 billion monthly users and is popular with teens and younger children. TikTok says that it looks forward to providing information on the many safety and privacy protections it offers.

Have you ever seen a recipe on TikTok and wished you could buy all the ingredients online? You might be able to soon. Instacart has introduced “Shoppable Recipes” that help you purchase ingredients you see on TikTok and supporting websites. Tap a button and Instacart will find the needed items and help you arrange delivery. Support for TikTok recipes is slowly rolling out to creators using the Jump feature and more tie-ins will be announced later in the year.

TikTok has launched beta testing for ads in search results that will provide another way to reach TikTok audiences via the search terms they use. TikTok advertisers will be able to target searchers looking for specific terms, a great way to compliment an overall TikTok marketing approach. TikTok will also provide advertisers with a listing of the search terms that drove clicks on their campaigns, adding another layer of potential targeting.

Consumer spending on apps has increased by more than 40% during the past two years with TikTok, YouTube, and Tinder leading the pack for the first quarter of 2022. Shopee was the biggest gainer among the top apps, but TikTok was proudly in the top three.

#3
Twitter Also Adds New Monetization Option

Twitter is working on a new ‘Awards’ option for tweets that will provide another way for creators to generate income from their on-platform activities. The new award option appears as a gift icon in the lower tweet function bar. Awards on Twitter would provide another engaging way to donate to creators, but rather than donating, you’d be able to allocate an award or gift based on each individual tweet. That’s great news if you’re good at getting tweets to go viral.

Twitter has finally launched a keyword search for DMs so that users can locate specific mentions within any DM text. The DM search options will now filter queries into four segments: all (which displays all the results), people (highlights relevant usernames based on the search query), groups (displays group chats using the search term), and messages (displays any keyword match in specific DMs). Twitter’s new DM search options are rolling out to all users.

Twitter is making it easier to create and share GIFs. It has updated its iOS app to include a built-in GIF capture feature and all you have to do is open the camera module and swipe over to the GIF mode to record your own clip. The feature is only available on iOS currently.

Twitter is rolling out a new feature that will put it in competition with social e-commerce giants like TikTok and Instagram. The experimental feature, called Twitter Shops, lets brands curate up to 50 items that Twitter users can then buy via an in-app browser from the merchant’s website. Five brands have enabled shops so far: @Verizon, @ArdenCove, @LatinxInPower, @GayPrideApp, and @AllIDoIsCoolUS. Only iPhone users can view and interact with the shops for now.

#4
Instagram Could Soon Be Minting NFTs

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) should be coming to Instagram in the next couple of months. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was speaking at the SXSW Conference on March 15th and said that he is not ready to release details but that the company is working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term. That would include importing outside NFTs and possibly allowing users to mint things within the Instagram environment.

Instagram is adding a live-stream moderator option that will enable users to assign a moderator within a stream. The moderator will have the capacity to report comments, remove viewers from a stream, and turn off comments for a specific viewer. The option provides another means of control for the flow of content within a stream and addresses the concerns that users have had concerning inappropriate behavior during IG Live sessions. TikTok added the same feature last year.

The platform is rolling out enhanced tags to make it easier for black creators to receive credit for their work. The enhanced tags will allow users to share and view a creator’s specific contribution to a photo or video post. The creator’s self-designated profile category specifying their role will be displayed within the tag. To use the new enhanced tags, you need to tap “Tag People” when creating a post, then click on “Add Tag” and search for your contributors.

You may soon see ads at the top of your Instagram feed. Instagram will begin testing ads at the top of the feed with a small number of people. It plans to gather feedback to determine how those ads impact user experience, with the goal being to provide more opportunities for connections between business and relevant audiences, and give more flexibility to deliver personalized ads.

#5
Amazon Jumps on Social Shopping Bandwagon

Amazon is trying to capitalize on the TikTok shopping popularity by launching a TikTok store with deals on viral and best-selling products. TikTok Made Me Buy It is an online beauty event on Amazon that ran until March 7 and featured products from Garnier, L’Oreal, and Maybelline, but also included many of the UK’s leading brands.

You have more important things to do than filter through thousands of news sources to find the information that really matters. Let our experts, Pietro, Silvia, and Adele, do the leg work for you!

Why should you trust them? Simple – their diverse backgrounds, interests, and international locations leave them perfectly placed to monitor the industry from all possible angles and pick out the nuggets that make a difference for YOU.

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