The social media company’s apps have 3.43 billion unique active users globally and its AI-driven tools help create personalised ad variations, image backgrounds and automated adjustments to video ads, making it lucrative for advertisers.

A brand could provide a product image and a budget, and Meta’s AI would generate the ad, including image, video and text, and then determine user targeting on Instagram and Facebook with budget suggestions, the report said.

Meta also plans to let advertisers personalise ads using AI, so that users see different versions of the same ad in real time, based on factors such as geolocation, according to the report.

The owner of Facebook and Instagram, whose majority of revenue comes from ad sales, referred to CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s public remarks about AI-driven ads, when contacted by Reuters.

Zuckerberg last week stressed that advertisers needed AI products that delivered “measurable results at scale” in the not-so-distant future. He added that the company aimed to build an AI one-stop shop where businesses can set goals, allocate budgets and let the platform handle the logistics.

Social media firms such as Snap, Pinterest and Reddit are increasingly investing in AI and machine learning tools to attract advertisers in an intensely competitive ad market.

Meta’s shares were up nearly 1 per cent in morning trading, while stocks of ad giant Interpublic Group and Omnicom Group fell 1.9 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively.

Shares of France’s Publicis Groupe SA slid 3.8 per cent. US-listed shares of WPP, the owner of agencies GroupM, Ogilvy and VM, were down 2.2 per cent.

Technology firms such as Google and OpenAI have also launched video and image-generation AI tools, but their widespread adoption in advertising remains in doubt as marketers weigh concerns over brand safety, creative control and quality.

• Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo, of Reuters.

The post Meta aims to fully automate advertising with AI by next year appeared first on Inside Small Business.

The government regulator flagged concerning practices of businesses such as claiming sitewide sales (when not everything on the site was on sale), fine print or disclaimers that limit headline claims – including member-only deals – and misleading before-and-after pricing.

The ACCC also called out the use of ‘recommended retail pricing’ (RRP), particularly if the business has not sold the product at the “RRP” price recently and for a reasonable period of time.

Moreover, the ACCC warned about retailers using ‘up to X per cent off’ where the ‘up to’ text is not prominently visible or where few or very few products are discounted by the mentioned percentage.

“We are further considering some of these examples for investigation and action, and the ACCC has already asked a number of retailers to justify their advertising claims,” said Catriona Lowe, ACCC deputy chair.

“In the meantime, we are warning retailers ahead of post-Christmas sales that they must comply with Australian Consumer Law in all the claims they make.”

The post ACCC pursues businesses for misleading ads during Black Friday sales appeared first on Inside Small Business.

Sponsored Article 

There are interesting arguments occurring online where people are claiming that print advertising is dead and that old school marketing methods don’t work. Despite the move to online, print advertising will always add value and be an effective way of doing marketing. If you are considering printing solutions to add to your marketing mix, then look for printing companies in Melbourne that can offer you proactive solutions that will help with your print marketing campaigns. Below are a few effective print marketing methods that have and will continue to stand the test of time.

Sales Letters.

The form of sales letter marketing has shifted focus more to the online marketplace, however it still yields a strong degree of success for those businesses that execute the campaign correctly. Businesses have gained strong revenue and new business results with as little as 1-2 mailings per year. And while purchasing the database and investing in a well written sales letter may seem expensive at first, the long-term result is that you will gain more business and more revenue off the back of your sales letter activities.

Leaflet drops.

Domino’s pizza is one of the most renowned companies when it comes to using print marketing for their campaigns. Domino’s will frequently send out pizza coupon offers as direct mail in their local area to drive customers to eat at their from their pizza outlets regularly. They will often drive the incentive through their print offers to coincide with an option for a ‘cooking free evening’. As a result, the franchises continue to drive more orders in their store, by phone and even through their website and applications. Business should seek to use leaflet drops as a part of their marketing strategy to increase awareness and to drive purchase intent towards their business’s products and services.

Print catalogues in direct mail.

Print catalogues have always been a method that has done well in print marketing. Companies in the beauty industry such as Avon and others in the electrical and appliance industries such as The Good Guys and JB Hi-Fi frequently send out their store catalogues that offers homeowners and businesses to ‘browse their store catalogue from the comfort of their own room’. When delivering these types of promotional material, businesses can create the opportunity to engage and educate their prospect and drive motive for them to take action.

Reward Vouchers

People love being rewarded. It’s a great way to drive loyalty with your current customers and to incentivise them to make repeat purchases with your business. Simple ways businesses can achieve this is by:

• Providing customers with printed reward vouchers.
• Providing customers with printed loyalty cards.
• Providing customers with a printed award.
• Print Media advertising (Newspapers & Magazines)While the circulation of newspapers and magazines isn’t as high as it used to be, they still maintain an audience that may be relevant to what your business is selling. This type of marketing is very popular in women’s magazines where beauty is promoted, and also in men’s magazines such as magazines for gamers that contained codes to access shareware version of games.Newsletter marketing.Newsletter marketing is fantastic as it increases the perceived value and credibility of your business by informing and educating your customers. Financial institutions do this regularly, which is an inexpensive way to keep their brand presence in front of customers.Print advertising in marketing shouldn’t be dismissed when considering the activities of your marketing mix. While there has been a shift in marketing activities towards digital, there is still value to gain new and repeat business through print marketing mediums.

Brought to you by Digital Next

The post Contrary to popular belief, the print advertising industry is alive and well appeared first on Inside Small Business.

Running a small business can sometimes be like sailing a boat in a storm, without a lifejacket or a GPS, with sharks swarming everywhere!

It’s not easy and can at times be terrifying – we get that!

But did you know that 40% of all Victorian small businesses fail partly because they fail to manage their marketing?

Each Melbourne business could make an extra $151,000 over the next 10 years, just through improving their digital marketing.

Measuring marketing is pivotal to running a successful small business. Why?

1. Money – Measuring your marketing, although it will take you away from your business, means you can analyse how much you are spending on advertising and your return on your investment.
   For example, out of two Facebook ads that you may run, one might get 1000 clicks and 100 inquiries and the other 70 clicks and one inquiry. Cut the one that is giving you fewer clicks and few inquiries and focus on the one that is proving to be more successful.
2. Conversion – Drawing from the Facebook example, say you have 1000 people click through to your site but you never hear from them – no inquiry and no sale.
   You know you have a successful ad, but something is happening once your lead reaches your landing page.
   Don’t worry. This could be something as simple as the call to action is not visible enough or the format too difficult to navigate – both of which can be easily fixed.
3. Money – Yes, it’s worth mentioning twice, because new findings suggest that each Melbourne business could make an extra $151,000 over the next 10 years, just through improving their digital marketing.
   So now is the time to measure your traditional marketing, cut loose the ones providing no value and move them to the digital realm.
4. Time – Time is money, right? Therefore if you know what does and doesn’t work for your business, every time you want to launch a new campaign, you know how to reach the right people when, where, and with what message.

So, to become the shark and not the lost sailor, it is important to take control of your marketing and put your analyst cap on.

Obviously this is easier said than done, which is why Arrow Digital is hosting a seminar on exactly that!

The directors at Arrow Digital know just how hard it is to leave your stable job to pursue your passion, because that is exactly what they did a mere eight years ago.

Now they are at the forefront of Melbourne’s digital marketing industry and setting the pace in internet marketing through their cutting-edge design and integrated techniques that get results!

So join us at our biggest ever Measurable Marketing seminar and see what all the fuss is about.

When – 21 October 2015

Time – 9am–1pm

Where – TBA

Cost – $97

Bring – Notepad and pens

To book visit measurable-marketing.com.au or call 03 9916 1050.

Brought to you by Arrow Internet Marketing

The post Four reasons why you should be measuring your marketing – starting right now! appeared first on Inside Small Business.