Social media updates PR and communications teams should know this week
We're heading into the busiest stretch of the year. Platforms are shipping new AI-driven features to help you generate leads, personalize shopping, and keep your monitoring tight while budgets fluctuate.
Here's what matters, what changes, and how to use it right away.
Meta
Meta is rolling out upgrades to lead-generation ads to help you capture better contacts through the late-December to January lull. Expect broader access and tighter verification to cut junk submissions.
- Advantage+ Leads goes global, using AI to optimize audience, placement, and budget for higher-quality leads. Learn more: Meta Advantage+ Leads.
- New verification options: SMS phone checks, work-email validation, and address confirmation to reduce spam.
- Automated lead follow-up via chat on Messenger and WhatsApp, with third-party integrations (e.g., Manychat, Botcake) to speed responses.
PR plays:
- Use verification for event interest forms, media list intake, or webinar signups to keep databases clean.
- Spin up chat sequences for post-download follow-up (case studies, newsroom updates, briefing requests) and hand off hot leads to comms or sales within minutes.
- Test Advantage+ Leads with separate budgets for B2B vs. consumer audiences to see where quality holds after the holidays.
Pinterest Assistant brings a conversational shopping companion that works with voice, image, and text. It factors in saved Pins and style history, making discovery feel closer to a stylist than a search bar. U.S. beta for 18+ is underway.
Boards are getting smarter, too, with three new tabs that turn saved Pins into active recommendations.
- Make It Yours: Product suggestions for fashion and home.
- More Ideas: Related concepts from adjacent categories like beauty, art, or recipes.
- All Saves: Your existing Pins, now organized for discovery-not just storage.
They're also testing Styled for You (outfit/decor collages from your saves) and Boards Made for You (auto-generated boards mixing editorial picks with AI recommendations) in the U.S. and Canada.
PR plays:
- Build campaign mood boards that auto-expand into product or story angles for seasonal pitches.
- For consumer brands, seed Pins that link to press pages and lookbooks; use Make It Yours to surface media-ready assets in context.
- Use Styled for You outputs as social content drafts-quick visuals for paid/organic tests before production.
X
X is prepping a new Following tab that surfaces top posts from accounts you follow, ranked by Grok. Grok will process posts at scale to categorize content, with semantic search coming next. Musk also teased XChat, a separate encrypted messaging app.
Security note: accounts using a security key or passkey for 2FA must re-register that key to the "x.com" domain by Nov. 10 or risk temporary lockouts.
PR plays:
- Rebuild your monitoring lists around the new Following tab to reduce missed updates from execs, partners, and reporters.
- Prep FAQs and fact sheets in short posts for semantic search-clear language, consistent terms, pinned threads.
- Audit your team's security keys today. Document the re-registration steps and confirm access before the deadline.
Thought Leader Ads are expanding with new discovery tools inside Campaign Manager. You can now find organic posts from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-degree connections that mention your brand or event, request permission, and sponsor them as ads.
There's a new Partnerships tab to filter posts, contact creators, and convert posts into Thought Leader campaigns. Details here: LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads.
PR plays:
- Identify authentic UGC-event reactions, product use, expert takes-and boost it for credibility over standard brand creative.
- Build a permissions workflow with legal and the creator to move fast after a post starts to trend.
- Measure lift on message pull-through and sentiment, not just CTR. Use learnings to brief spokespeople.
YouTube
YouTube Studio is getting an AI assistant to analyze video performance, surface comment trends, and suggest content ideas. This tightens your loop from audience feedback to scripting.
PR plays:
- Turn recurring comment questions into 60-second explainers for execs or product leads.
- Use topic clusters from comments to inform newsroom updates or a quarterly narrative.
- Map retention dips to edit patterns and adjust your briefing templates for future videos.
Competitive Insights is live for professional accounts. You can pick up to 10 accounts to benchmark follower growth and posting cadence across Reels, feed, and ads.
PR plays:
- Set a weekly rhythm dashboard for your category: posting frequency, Reels mix, and growth by handle.
- Back into a posting plan that fits your team's capacity while staying competitive on Reels volume.
- Pair insights with story saves and highlights to see which narratives actually convert followers.
Quick action checklist
- Meta: Enable verification on lead forms and pilot a chatbot sequence for post-event follow-up.
- Pinterest: Build a holiday board that your Assistant can expand into shoppable storylines.
- X: Re-register security keys to x.com before Nov. 10 and update your monitoring workflow.
- LinkedIn: Source one strong UGC post and test it as a Thought Leader Ad.
- YouTube: Pull three recurring comment themes and script short responses.
- Instagram: Add 5-10 competitor accounts to Competitive Insights and adjust your Reels mix.
Level up your team's AI skills
If you're formalizing AI workflows for content, monitoring, or lead capture, consider this resource: AI Certification for Marketing Specialists.
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