Weekly Marketing Rundown - June 20, 2025

Weekly Marketing Rundown - May 2, 2025 Hi everyone! In this week's edition of Kavanah Media's Weekly Marketing Rundown we discuss weak Meta's potential breakup, Open Ai's new foray into social media, Government censorship on Bluesky and more. Enjoying the Weekly Marketing Rundown? Support our work and keep it free for missions teams worldwide: https://www.kavanahmedia.com/donatetoKM Government Censorship on Bluesky and Türkiye Bluesky, at the request of the Turkish government, has restricted 72 accounts on the platform. This development raises concerns about freedom of expression and the potential impact on user content. What this means for mission teams: This is a good reminder to always be prepared to shift strategies and highlights the importance of implementing cybersecurity measures. Government censorship could affect how you share your message and engage with your audience, making it important to stay informed and adapt your strategies accordingly. Kavanah Media Founder and CEO Jon Ralls discusses risk management in missions in a 3 part series of the Christian Media Marketing Podcast. Listen here. https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/23/government-censorship-comes-to-bluesky-but-not-its-third-party-apps-yet/ OpenAI Explores New Social Media Platform OpenAI is exploring the development of a new social media platform to rival X, following a $40 billion funding round. This move aims to create a competitive alternative in the tech industry, potentially reshaping the landscape of digital platforms. What this means for mission teams: This development is significant as it could offer new opportunities for outreach and engagement for missions teams to integrate into their digital strategies. https://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/openai-explores-platform-to-rival-x-following-40b-funding-round/ Meta Breakup Threat: What Marketers Need to Know Meta is facing a potential breakup due to antitrust concerns, which could lead to the separation of its major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. This situation raises questions about the future of digital advertising and the impact on marketers. What this means for mission teams: Changes in Meta's ownership of it's platforms could SIGNIFICANTLY affect digital engagement strategies and how teams use these platforms for outreach. https://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/meta-breakup-threat-what-marketers-need-to-know/ Meta Advantage+ Tools and Ad Performance In their latest update Meta claims that their Advantage+ AI ad tools are showing impressive results across various campaigns. AI-generated backgrounds have increased click-through rates (CTR) by 11%, and advertisers using Advantage+ earn $4.52 for every $1 spent, which is a 22% increase compared to standard campaigns. The new sales setup has reduced the cost per action by 9%, and opportunity score recommendations have cut the cost per result by 5%. What this means for mission teams: While most mission teams likely are not utilizing Meta's systems for sales ads Advantage+ ads and utilizing AI content tools could improve your results. Members of the Kavanah Media team have experimented with these AI tools and did see similar performance improvements and lower costs. It should be noted, however, that any targeting parameters advertisers set when using Advantage+ Audiences (i.e. age, gender, location) are merely suggestions and the algorithms can and will ignore them if it believes it can achieve your performance goals elsewhere. In these scenarios it is best to utilize Original Audience targeting. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/meta-advantage-plus-ads-overview-ai/746042/ Branding in Ads Manager: AI-Generated Text and Images Meta has rolled out another update to it's Branding tools under the Identity section of Ads Manager. Previously users could upload logos and select font and colors choices. However, now they can ad text tone and visual style. These selections help guide the AI content tools in ads manager. What this means for mission teams: These AI tools can significantly improve your content creation process. Meta claims they can lead to lower engagement costs and higher performance. It should be noted, however, that these tools - especially the text specific ones, do not always function well in languages other than English. Teams should experiment in their context before utilizing the new features. http://jonloomer.com/qvt/branding-in-ads-manager-ai-generated-text-and-images/ WhatsApp Adds AI Tools Without Sacrificing Privacy WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature called Private Processing, which allows users to use AI features like message summarization or editing suggestions—all without breaking the app’s end-to-end encryption promise. The messages will be processed in a secure environment where neither WhatsApp nor Meta can access the content, even as AI is applied. This move aims to balance privacy with the growing demand for helpful AI features, and Meta plans to open the system for feedback, bug bounties, and security audits. What this means for mission teams: This is a positive move for user privacy, especially as concerns grow about LLMs being trained on scraped user data. If Meta follows through with these features missions teams could feel safer when experimenting with WhatsApp's AI integrations in their digital strategies. https://therecord.media/whatsapp-in-app-tools-secret-messages Stay Equipped for Digital Engagement At Kavanah Media, we’re committed to helping mission teams use digital tools to make God known around the world. Whether you’re looking for inspiration, practical insights, or in-depth strategy, we’ve got resources to help: Intentional Newsletter – Be encouraged each month with stories of transformed lives, ministry milestones, and the latest updates from our team. Subscribe here. 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. Christian Media Marketing Podcast – Tune in for weekly deep dives with CEO Jon Ralls on everything from digital strategy to cybersecurity. Subscribe here or on your favorite podcast app. Digital Strategies got you stumped? Reach out anytime—we’re ready to help. Contact Us 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 Adams and Cherry Messimer Article Published: May 2, 2025

Weekly Marketing Rundown - October 24, 2025 Welcome to this week’s edition of Kavanah Media’s Weekly Marketing Rundown! In this issue, we explore the Meta's new Andromeda system, the AWS outage, predictions for social media's future and more.  Enjoying the Weekly Marketing Rundown? Support our work and keep it free for missions teams worldwide: https://www.kavanahmedia.com/donatetoKM Meta AI Conversations Will Be Used for Ads Meta announced that starting December 16th, it will use your chats with Meta AI to help decide what content and ads you see. These AI conversations won’t directly create new ad targeting categories, but they will add to the data Meta already uses to personalize your experience. This move has sparked debate about whether AI chats should be treated like private messages or more like search history. For Mission Teams: Meta will have even more data to help match ads with the right people. It could improve ad performance, but teams should also be aware of privacy concerns and how users might react. Marketers may need to adjust strategies to stay transparent and build trust as AI becomes part of the ad targeting process. http://jonloomer.com/qvt/meta-ai-conversations-target-ads/ Big AWS Outage Shuts Down Websites and Apps Amazon Web Services (AWS) had a major outage that caused many websites and apps to stop working for several hours. The problem came from a network glitch, and it affected things like banking apps, streaming services, and company tools. AWS fixed the issue, but it showed how much the internet depends on their cloud system. For Mission Teams: If those tools go down, campaigns can pause, data can be lost, and users might have a bad experience. Teams should think about backup systems, check service status often, and plan for what to do if something like this happens again. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-aws-outage-2025/ Meta Andromeda: Why Mixing Up Your Ads Matters Meta’s new Andromeda system (the new ad delivery system) doesn’t just pick one “best” ad—it spreads out delivery across different versions to learn what works. Jon Loomer explains that advertisers should use a mix of creative types like different images, videos, headlines, primary text, calls-to-action, and formats (like single image vs. carousel). This helps Meta gather better data and avoid showing the same ad too often, which can make people stop paying attention. For Mission Teams: Teams should leverage different creative types and formats, enable Creative+ Enhancements and leveraging Adv.+ optimizations whenever possible as this approach can improve long-term ad performance and reach more people effectively. https://www.jonloomer.com/meta-andromeda-creative-diversification/ Meta Lead Ads: What’s Changing in October 2025 Meta is updating its Lead Ads system to give users more control over how their data is collected and used. Starting October 2025, advertisers must clearly explain why they’re asking for personal info and how it will be used. Meta will also require more transparency in lead forms and may limit how much data advertisers can collect without a clear reason. For Mission Teams: This matters for marketing teams because it changes how lead generation campaigns are built and approved. Teams will need to update their forms, rethink what data they really need, and make sure everything is easy for users to understand. It could also affect how quickly leads are collected and how much targeting data is available. https://giovanniperilli.com/en/blog/meta-lead-ads-october-2025-the-new-rules-and-what-really-changes/ No Consent, No Ads: Google’s New Privacy Rule Google now requires websites to follow the EU Consent Policy if you have end users in the EU—even for non-personalized ads. If your site doesn’t send proper consent signals, Google can suspend your entire ad account. To stay compliant, you should use a certified Consent Management Platform (CMP), check your consent setup in Google Tag Manager, and test it using GA4 DebugView and Ads consent mode reports. For Mission Teams: This is important for marketing teams because ignoring consent rules could shut down all ad activity. Teams should check their emails or Google Ads accounts to see if they have new Action Required notifications and also make sure their websites collect and send the right privacy signals, or risk losing access to Google Ads. Please reach out to us here at Kavanah Media if you need assistance with GDPR compliance. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/google-ads-news-week-42-adriaan-dekker-rn3qe/ Facebook’s “Group Highlights” Make Private Posts More Public Facebook’s new “Group Highlights” feature lets private groups share selected member posts outside the group. Members must give permission before their content is shown, and highlights can appear on the group’s front page, in Facebook search, or even on Google. AI may help pick which posts to show, but names and profile pictures are hidden for now. For Mission Teams: Missionaries utilizing Facebook groups in their digital engagement strategies can experiment with this feature to broaden their reach. However, they must proceed with caution, ensuring user consent and addressing security concerns. Furthermore, missionaries operating in secure areas should reassess the groups they follow to confirm that their sensitive information is not being shared publicly on the platform. https://www.facebook.com/help/970710061848673?cms_platform=iphone-app&helpref=platform_switcher What Social Media Might Look Like in 2026 This article from Social Media Today shares 36 predictions about how social media could change by 2026. Experts think platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook will focus more on AI, short videos, and private messaging. There’s also talk about more rules for content, better tools for creators, and new ways for people to shop directly through social apps. For Mission Teams: Some examples from the list include: AI-generated content becoming normal, private messaging replacing public posts, creators getting paid directly through platforms, and social apps becoming shopping hubs. These changes could affect how brands and mission teams handle digital security, ad targeting, and customer engagement. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/36-predictions-social-media-marketing-2026/802195/ Instagram Reels Tries Skippable Ads Like YouTube Meta is testing skippable ads on Instagram Reels, similar to how YouTube does it. Users will see a countdown before the ad starts and then get a “skip” button. Right now, creators won’t earn money from these ads, and Meta says the goal is to help businesses get noticed without annoying viewers. For Mission Teams: This test could change how ads are made and placed on Reels. It may push brands to create more engaging content quickly, since users can skip. https://www.adweek.com/media/meta-is-testing-skippable-ads-on-instagram-reels-borrowing-from-youtubes-playbook/ Marketers Still Trust Real People Over AI User-generated content (UGC)—like videos, reviews, and posts made by everyday people—is still the top choice for marketers. A recent report shows that 36% of marketers say UGC is extremely important, while only 2% feel that way about AI-generated content. Gen Z spends a lot of time watching UGC, showing that people want real, relatable content—not computer-made stuff. For Mission Teams: This suggests teams should consider pulling back on using AI to make content and leaning into user generated content. Localized authentic content is best, but teams working in secure fields should be cautious. As always, these findings are primarily based in Western markets. Teams should experiment in their own locations. https://content-naf.emarketer.com/social-media-strategists-value-ugc-over-ai Social Media Stops Sending Traffic to News Sites Social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram are sending way fewer clicks to news websites—down 30% since 2022. That’s a drop from 1.75 billion to 1.22 billion referrals. While platforms test new ways to boost link engagement, short videos and algorithm changes are making it harder for traditional news posts to get seen. Link-in-bio tools are growing, but they mostly help online shopping. For Mission Teams: Because social media platforms may limit the visibility of posts containing external links, marketing teams should think about alternative ways to share links — like putting them in bios or comments — to maintain reach and avoid algorithmic penalties. https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-media-trends-a6e42ba0-ae85-11f0-87d6-3dbac628b68f.html Stay Equipped for Digital Engagement  At Kavanah Media, we’re committed to helping mission teams use digital tools to make God known around the world. Whether you’re looking for inspiration, practical insights, or in-depth strategy, we’ve got resources to help: 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 8-day devotional on YouVersion called "Living in Tension." Subscribe here Digital Strategies got you stumped? Reach out anytime—we’re ready to help. Contact Us 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: October 24, 2025