Weekly Marketing Rundown - January 31, 2025

Weekly Marketing Rundown - May 8, 2026 Welcome to this week's edition of Kavanah Media's Weekly Marketing Rundown! This week features significant updates from Meta, including AI connection usage rates and more. Additionally, there are changes to Google Ads, the latest developments regarding Turkey's social media restrictions, and other important news. Enjoying the Weekly Marketing Rundown? Support our work and keep it free for missions teams worldwide: https://www.kavanahmedia.com/donatetoKM Meta AI Connectors for Ad Management Meta now allows advertisers to manage their ad campaigns using popular AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. This new feature simplifies the process by removing the need for complex technical setups or developer credentials. For Mission Teams A few weeks ago there were widespread reports of marketers have their ad accounts disabled for integration AI tools through third party means. Meta appears to have made an official connection, but many still urge caution.  Missions team hoping to leverage AI tools for ads management would be wise to hold off or exclusively use the new built Meta AI Business Assistant for the time being https://www.jonloomer.com/meta-ads-ai-connectors-claude/ Meta Daily Active Users Decline For the first time Meta reported a slight drop in the total number of people using its apps for the first time. This decrease happened mostly because of internet shutdowns and app restrictions in specific countries like Iran and Russia. For Mission Teams Even though Meta reported this slight drop in app usage, their add revenue is still growing and is likely simple related to global events. However, a drop in users highlights the risk of relying on single platforms for digital evangelism. Teams should diversify their outreach strategies to ensure they can still reach seekers when specific apps are blocked. https://www.jonloomer.com/meta-ads-ai-connectors/ Vimeo Data Breach Exposes Personal Information A security breach at Vimeo recently exposed the personal data of over 100,000 users due to a vulnerability in their system. This leaked information included names and email addresses, though passwords and financial details were reportedly not compromised. For Mission Teams Missions teams leveraging Vimeo as part of their digital engagement strategies should verify if their accounts have been compromised or not. This also highlights the importance of practicing strong cybersecurity hygiene such as utilizing strong passwords and MFA. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/vimeo-data-breach-exposes-personal-information-of-119-000-people/ Google Analytics 4 Task Assistant Update Google Analytics has launched Task Assistant to provide a guided checklist for improving property setup and data collection. This feature, found in the left navigation menu, organizes tailored recommendations into categories like account connections and data troubleshooting. For Mission Teams This assistant could help simplify the setup and management of data collection in GA4. Using this tool helps teams identify and fix data gaps that could otherwise compromise the security or effectiveness of digital outreach. https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/16888318?hl=en ChatGPT Ads Expansion OpenAI has launched a self-service Ads Manager, significantly lowering the barrier for businesses to advertise within ChatGPT. The minimum spend has dropped from $250,000 to $50,000, and the platform is moving toward a cost-per-click (CPC) model. For Mission Teams While still out of the reach of missions teams ad budgets this significant price drop could be a good signal. If prices continue to fall ChatGPT ads could become a viable platform for teams to leverage in their digital engagement projects. Additionally, other AI platforms may follow suit.  https://www.searchenginejournal.com/openai-launches-self-serve-ads-manager-for-chatgpt/573971/ Turkey Social Media Restrictions- Update  Turkey has passed a law banning children under 15 from social media to increase online safety for minors. Platforms must now use strict age verification and give parents more control over what their children see. For Mission Teams  Thus far Turkiye’s response to social media is similar to many countries around the world- age restrictions. It is unclear what further restrictions may come. Teams leveraging digital engagement tools in Turkiye should keep apprised of local news and adjust their strategies accordingly.  https://apnews.com/article/turkey-social-media-children-restrictions-law-d88963a7446a12cf4963b73d455b5ef7 Google Search Integrates Reddit Quotes Google is updating its AI search summaries to include direct quotes and advice from Reddit and other social forums. This change aims to provide users with authentic, human-focused answers by highlighting real discussions and community expertise. For Mission Teams This update means seeker questions about faith may now surface organic community discussions alongside traditional search results. Teams could consider leveraging these platforms as these peer-to-peer conversations now have significantly higher visibility in digital outreach. https://www.theverge.com/tech/924993/google-ai-search-mode-overviews-update-reddit-links Rising Facebook Account Lockouts Facebook is experiencing a surge in account lockouts as automated AI systems mistakenly flag normal user behavior as suspicious activity. These aggressive security filters often leave users stuck in a difficult appeal process with very little human support available to fix the errors. Members of the Kavanah Team have also seem a similar surge in Meta Ad account restrictions as of late.  For Mission Teams Over-active AI policing is causing problems for many. Teams should exercise caution when making major changes to Meta Business Suite settings, and even logging in while traveling. If pages, accounts or systems are restricted successful recovery is rare. https://searchengineland.com/why-facebook-account-lockouts-are-rising-and-whats-driving-them-476546 Facebook Sees Massive Engagement Surge Even in the midst of lower reported app usage in Q1 Facebook is experiencing a sudden and dramatic increase in organic reach, with some brands seeing their views and clicks nearly double. Meta is achieving this by updating its algorithm to prioritize original content and better rewards for creators who post directly to the platform. For Mission Teams This shift could prove to be a strategic window for mission teams to reach significantly more seekers without increasing their paid advertising budget. Teams should experiment with posting authentic, original video content now to take advantage of this increased visibility before the platform's reach potentially stabilizes. https://open.substack.com/pub/milkkarten/p/something-is-happening-on-facebook Instagram Testing Text Swaps for Reels Instagram is testing a new feature called Swap that allows users to replace the text on someone else’s video. This tool could let people quickly remix popular content, although it may conflict with recent rules against unoriginal posts. For Mission Teams Teams could potentially use popular trending videos to share gospel messages by simply swapping in biblical text or seeker-focused questions. However, this strategy carries a risk because it would make it easier for bad actors to swap out texts on Gospel centered content to distort the messaging before sharing it again.  https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-tests-option-to-swap-out-text-in-someone-elses-reels/819153/ Stay Equipped for Digital Engagement  Looking for ways to use digital tools to grow evangelism and disciple-making? Check out our other resources: Kavanah Media Blog – Learn from our experiences serving hundreds of mission teams worldwide. We share practical lessons, real stories, and best practices to help your team avoid mistakes and grow in digital outreach. Subscribe here. Jon Ralls' new book–  Check out Jon Ralls' new book The Reluctant Whisper on Amazon, where he talks of evangelism from a sales pitch into an authentic act of presence—sharing faith through story, not scripts! Check it out here. Ad Resource Store- Stumped on what ads to run next? Check out Kavanah Media's Ad Resource Store for ideas, templates and more! Digital Strategies got you stumped? Reach out anytime—we’re ready to help. Contact Us Church GAP Analysis Tool- Uncover hidden risks before they become problems. Use our Free GAP Analysis Tool to evaluate your church or non-profit’s cybersecurity, compliance, and governance today.  Thanks for reading this edition of Kavanah Media's Weekly Marketing Rundown! For more up-to-date insights in digital marketing, make sure to follow us on Instagram @kavanah_media and stay connected through all our social media channels via the link below. https://linktr.ee/kavanah_media Authors: Cody A. and Cherry Messimer Article Published: May 8, 2026

Weekly Marketing Rundown - March 6, 2026 Welcome to this week’s edition of Kavanah Media’s Weekly Marketing Rundown! We’re diving into the latest updates you need to know including virality on Youtube, FAQs for SEO/ AEO, passkeys for Google ads and more! Enjoying the Weekly Marketing Rundown? Support our work and keep it free for missions teams worldwide: https://www.kavanahmedia.com/donatetoKM YouTube Virality Strategies In an analysis of over 62 billion YouTube views, YouTube strategist Richard identified several key insights: 1) Virality Is Emotional Before It Is Informational The study found that clicks are driven primarily by emotion—not by usefulness or information. 2) High-Performing Emotions Among all emotional drivers, the top performers are anger, humor, and controversy. 3) Emotional Drivers Ranked by Performance When broken down further, emotional performance ranks as follows: Joy / Humor Controversy Anger Fear Nostalgia Curiosity Relatability Sadness Desire For Mission Teams While avoiding harmful anger, using gentle controversy can help your team address the big life questions seekers are already asking. However, campaigns built around felt needs (joy, community, etc.) have consistently performed well across a variety of global contexts. While apologetic or informational-type content may be useful in some settings, the data shows that appealing to emotion is a powerful strategy. https://x.com/richard_yts/status/2024937612813701486?utm_source=tldrmarketing Using FAQs to Influence Search Results Chris Long shares how using Frequently Asked Questions on a website can help control what people see in search results. By adding specific questions and answers, a site can show up more often when people search for those exact topics. For Mission Teams This strategy helps mission teams ensure that seekers find biblically accurate answers when searching for spiritual questions online. It also helps teams manage their digital reputation and improve the safety of their online spaces by directing users to trusted content. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chris-long-marketing_seos-this-is-a-brilliant-use-of-faqs-influencing-activity-7432854487377092608-s8tD/ Better Images and Faster Results with Nano Banana 2 Google released a new tool called Nano Banana 2 that makes high-quality pictures very quickly. It can follow difficult instructions and even put correct words inside the images without making mistakes. For Mission Teams This tool enables teams to create professional gospel media and social media ads more quickly and at a lower cost. Its built-in watermarking helps keep digital content secure and verifiable while ensuring that ads for seekers appear authentic and clear. https://gemini.google/overview/image-generation/ Google Ads Security With Passkeys Google Ads now allows users to sign in using passkeys instead of traditional passwords. This new method makes it much harder for hackers to steal account information or trick people into giving away their logins. For Mission Teams Using passkeys protects mission accounts from being hacked while running sensitive evangelism ads in restricted areas. This security update ensures that only authorized team members can modify account settings or access seeker data. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/google-ads-news-week-9-adriaan-dekker-mqwee/ The Shifting Landscape of Search Engines, AI and Social Media Searches New data shows that Gen Z's preference for TikTok is dropping as they return to Google and adopt AI platforms like ChatGPT. A large number of users are now choosing these advanced AI tools to find specific answers instead of scrolling through social media. For Mission Teams While this survey took place in the US, it is likely that this trend will continue globally. Mission teams would benefit from platform diversity and adjusting strategies to including both social media and SEO/ AEO (Search Engine Optimization/ Answer Engine Optimization) optimized websites. Strategic adaptation to these changing digital habits is essential for maintaining secure and reliable connections with those searching for spiritual guidance. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/gen-z-preference-for-tiktok-over-google-drops-50-data-shows/568267/ Google Discover Increases Social Media Content Google is now showing more posts from social media apps like TikTok and Instagram in its main news feed. This change happened because many people enjoy reading short and personal stories written by real people. For Mission Teams This update increases the likelihood that social media posts created by mission teams will reach seekers through Google search results. Teams should focus on creating authentic content to improve visibility and reach more people with the gospel. https://www.seroundtable.com/google-discover-feed-social-media-posts-41011.html Facebook Web Outage Interrupts Service Facebook recently experienced a technical problem that prevented the website from working for about three hours. While the mobile apps mostly continued functioning, people trying to use Facebook through web browsers could not access the platform. For Mission Teams Teams leveraging Meta in their digital engagement strategies likely saw a dip in performance. This outage reminds teams that relying on a single platform can suddenly halt communication with seekers and disrupt advertising campaigns. Teams should use multiple digital tools to ensure their outreach efforts remain active, even when one platform goes down. https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/03/facebook_outage/ Social Media and AI Growth in 2025 According to the State of Mobile 2026 Study, social media apps saw a massive increase in the amount of time people spent using them globally last year. At the same time, usage of artificial intelligence assistants grew faster than almost any other type of app. For Mission Teams High social media usage provides a significant opportunity for digital evangelism, allowing teams to reach seekers where they spend their time. The rapid growth of AI usage suggests that teams should integrate AI tools to safely manage large volumes of spiritual conversations and automate initial engagement. https://content-naf.emarketer.com/genai-was-2025-s-fastest-rising-app-category--social-media-still-lapped-field Foundations of Digital Engagement Strategy Course May 13-16, 2026 (Pre-EMDC Training) Chiang Mai, Thailand This course is for you. Digital permeates virtually every aspect of people's lives and it should be present in every stage of your mission and ministry strategy. Join Kavanah Media staff during the Pre-EMDC training week for a time of practical training in digital engagement. This course is designed for you to examine your end to end strategy and find ways that digital components can be added or improved whether you are just ready to begin or an experienced practitioner. Follow the link or contact us for more details. https://emdcon.org/ Stay Equipped for Digital Engagement  Looking for ways to use digital tools to grow evangelism and disciple-making? Check out our other resources: Kavanah Media Blog – Learn from our experiences serving hundreds of mission teams worldwide. We share practical lessons, real stories, and best practices to help your team avoid mistakes and grow in digital outreach. Subscribe here. YouVersion Reading Plan– Jon Ralls, CEO of Kavanah Media, just launched a powerful 4-day devotional on YouVersion called "Love Where You Are." Subscribe here Ad Resource Store- Stumped on what ads to run next? Check out Kavanah Media's Ad Resource Store for ideas, templates and more! Digital Strategies got you stumped? Reach out anytime—we’re ready to help. Contact Us Church GAP Analysis Tool- Uncover hidden risks before they become problems. Use our Free GAP Analysis Tool to evaluate your church or non-profit’s cybersecurity, compliance, and governance today.  Thanks for reading this edition of Kavanah Media's Weekly Marketing Rundown! For more up-to-date insights in digital marketing, make sure to follow us on Instagram @kavanah_media and stay connected through all our social media channels via the link below. https://linktr.ee/kavanah_media Authors: Cody A. and Cherry Messimer Article Published: February 27, 2026