The platform updates you need to know from May
Campaign Middle East rounds up the latest platform updates on social media, content and streaming platforms from May.
Here are the key highlights:
X:
Vertical Video Ads now support sales objectives, enabling marketers to drive web conversions with immersive, sound-on creative. New iOS calls to action (CTAs) – shop now, sign up, book – streamline user actions, with Android support on the horizon. This update helps brands capture attention and scale mobile-first campaigns for high-impact results in a competitive digital landscape.
Snapchat:
Along with Sponsored Snap, advertisers can now use Snapchat Smart Campaign Solutions, a new suite of solutions to deliver AI-powered performance through two main features: smart bidding and smart budget.
Smart Bidding: The Smart Bidding strategy allows advertisers to set a target cost-per-action (CPA) that they would like to achieve. This technology automatically adjusts bids and budgets spent on behalf of advertisers to maximise scale.
Smart Budget: Smart Budget allows advertisers to automatically shift spend to the highest performing ad sets within a campaign to maximise outcomes while reducing time spent in Ads Manager.
LinkedIn:
LinkedIn rolled out two powerful new features designed to help professionals navigate today's highly competitive job market.
The new Job Match tool allows professionals to quickly assess how their skills and experience align with job postings, helping candidates save time and focus on opportunities where they're a strong fit.
To improve transparency in the hiring process, job postings now display real-time status indicators such as 'Actively Reviewing Applicants', 'Typical Response Time: X Weeks', 'No Insights Available', or 'Responses Managed by LinkedIn'.
These updates give candidates greater transparency into employer engagement and help them prioritise applications more effectively. Additionally, the 'Promoted' tag has been updated to 'Promoted by Hiree', signalling to job seekers which posts carry the highest priority.
Meta:
On 7 May, Meta Platforms and EssilorLuxottica launched the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in the United Arab Emirates.
The collection allows users to take hands-free photos and videos, listen to music discreetly without headphones or earplugs, and translate spoken and signed languages in real time, with access to Meta AI for on-the-go answers. A livestreaming feature enables content creators to broadcast from their own perspective, adding a new layer of relatability and authenticity to content creation. The glasses are supported by a companion app, MetaAI, offering users a seamless way to import, edit and add special effects to content.
WhatsApp Business:
Effective July 1st, WhatsApp Business will shift from per-conversation to per-message pricing to simplify the structure and better align with industry standards for messaging. Businesses will pay separately for marketing, utility, and authentication messages. Replies within a 24-hour customer service window remain free.
Businesses can still reply for free within a 24-hour customer service window, which resets with each user message. During this time, both free-form and utility messages are free to send. Volume-based discounts will be introduced for utility and authentication messages. As message volumes increase, businesses will get lower rates, encouraging growth.
Google:
Google unveiled a suite of new AI-powered models, products, and features for Gemini and Search at its annual developer event, Google I/O. The updates and new features will offer enhanced AI assistance to users worldwide that is more intelligent, agentic, and personalised.
Spotify:
Spotify Ads Manager is now accessible through Aleph, giving advertisers and agencies the tools to create impactful, highly targeted campaigns. Spotify recently introduced new ad formats available on Ads Manager, including Canvas and Opt-in Video.
These new formats reimagine what ads on Spotify can be and how advertisers can engage with people through sight and sound. Spotify also announced new outcome-based objectives to help advertisers of all sizes create, optimise and measure their Spotify campaigns, including a new App Installs objective and a new Website Traffic Objective. The Ads Manager will allow advertisers to choose goals such as reach, impressions, clicks or video views for highly targeted campaigns.
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