☘️ Understanding AI in marketing // Facebook to reintegrate Messenger into main app // Meta ends Reels Play Bonus program

Mari has the scoop for you... Greetings {NAME}! First, Happy St. Patrick's Day to you. Aw, such a fun holiday to celebrate. I like that fun Irish saying, "Top o' the mornin' to ye! Rest o' the day to meself." (Ha, maybe you didn't know about the second part of that popular saying for us non-morning people. LOL.) Well, it's sure been an intense week - I just finished speaking at the 10th annual Social Media Marketing World here in San Diego. We had about 2,000 marketers attending from across the country and the world. A great time was had by all. Check out the hashtag #SMMW23 across the various social platforms for golden nuggets, including [tweets with key points from my own session](, How To Achieve Epic Organic Facebook Results in 2023. [Mari at SMMW23](=) [Mari Smith & Tara Zirker]( L. Teehee. Fun Instagram Story by [Kylie]() Mowbray-Allen at Hello Media. (The crown is an IG sticker, just to clarify. haha!) R. So good to catch up with my friend and colleague, [Tara Zirker](=), founder of the Successful Ads Club Understanding and Applying AI in Marketing AI in marketing was one of the hottest topics at the #SMMW23 event. I cannot speak highly enough of my friend Paul Roetzer, founder of the [Marketing AI Institute]() who led a session titled How To Use AI Tools to Transform Your Marketing and Career. Paul and I first met in person around 2018 when we were sharing the stage at another event. Most people only started hearing about AI in the world of marketing when ChatGPT blasted onto the scenes in November last year. But Paul is already a long established artificial intelligence industry expert. He founded his institute several years ago, initially as an internal initiative at the marketing agency he owned. And, Paul's book - along with coauthor Mike Kaput - [Marketing Artificial Intelligence](=) came out in June 2022. What I deeply and profoundly appreciate about Paul is he has integrity, character, heart and soul, and is a devoted family man. There are a lot of 'overnight experts' in the world of AI and AI in marketing. No disrespect intended; there's room for everyone. But, please do yourself a favor and follow Paul's organization, [podcast]() and social channels. He will not lead you astray. (And, so you know, I don't have any vested interest to promote Paul and his organization other than I care about YOU, my friend! And I am certain there will be a LOT of shocking things emerging from the 'dark side' of AI as we all navigate this path together). Meta Ends Reels Play Bonus Program in the US [Meta Ends Reels Bonus]() Meta is pausing its Reels Play bonus program. The pause will impact US-based creators on both Instagram and Facebook. Any ongoing Reels bonuses that you'd already signed up for will be honored for the next 30 days. [Ugh, not much notice if you were doing well with the program.] Meta's Reels Play bonus program was first introduced in December 2021 as a way to pay creators for getting high views on their Reels. [Basically, an 'ethical bribe' to get people to publish their short form videos on Facebook and Instagram in the hopes of wooing them away from TikTok. ] Top-performing creators could receive up to $35k/mo in the beginning. Then, over time, the payouts lowered and thresholds changed. Meta will instead focus on supporting creators to earn AD REVENUE for their Reels and grow virtual gifting via STARS on Reels. [I'm personally not a fan at all of Stars; I find them annoying. Lol!] Other ways for creators to monetize Reels include SUBSCRIPTIONS and brand PARTNERSHIPS. YouTube actually made a very similar pivot last fall by moving away from Shorts' bonuses to a revenue sharing model instead. And, TikTok is reworking its creator funds by only rewarding creators who make videos of >1 minute + incentivizing new types of content, including a paywall with videos up to 20 minutes long. At the end of the day, it's exceedingly frustrating when the goalposts move or get taken away entirely. HOWEVER, my dear marketer and entrepreneurial friends -- I strongly advise that you put ALL your energy and effort into building your OWN business and monetizing your OWN offerings. Do not rely on third party payouts as your sole source of income. That is way too dangerous, IMHO. This message was a huge part of my talk at SMMW23. It's time to take back control of our content marketing efforts, become much more strategic, and focus on building a solid, loyal community. Don't succumb to Meta's constant pressure to become a creator and 'monetize your content.' Btw, [this recent headline]( really made me cringe: TikTok’s Former Head of Product Says Creator Fund Wasn’t Launched to “Help Creators Monetize” Sean Kim, who oversaw product for TikTok in the U.S. until last year, claimed the social media giant launched its $2 billion fund as a "reactive measure" against competition. "Platforms don’t really care if you are successful at monetization. I’ll be completely honest,” Sean Kim, who now leads the creator business platform Kajabi as president and chief product officer, said during a wide-ranging panel at SXSW over the weekend. [Ugh. I rest my case.] Messenger Is Coming Back To The Main Facebook App Seven years after splitting off Messenger into a standalone app, Meta now plans to reintegrate messaging into the main Facebook app. This move is to make it even easier to share Reels privately. On Instagram, people already reshare Reels nearly 1 billion times a day through DMs. I had an interesting conversation with a good friend and video marketing industry leader at SMMW23 - he told me that he and his team regularly share Facebook and Instagram Reels and TikTok videos with one another via private messaging. They do this with colleagues and also with personal friends and family. It's a way to say, "I see you. I know what you like. I saw this and it made me think of you. I thought you'd enjoy this, too!" What are your thoughts about Messenger coming back into the main Facebook App? [Join the conversation]( on Facebook and/or email me by replying to this message. More News You Can Use - [The semiautomated social network is coming]() - LinkedIn announced last week it’s using AI to help write posts for users to chat about. Snap has created its own chatbot, and Meta is working on AI ‘personas.’ There's no question that future social networks will be increasingly augmented by AI. But, my fear is that we'll end up removing the humanity from these platforms. Ugh. - [Meta Verified]( is the new subscription service that the company is currently testing in Australia and New Zealand. Benefits include the blue tick badge, increased reach and direct access to customer support. - [Meta Verified success story]() - Facebook user regains access to hacked Ad Account and Business Manager. After trying in vain for two years to get support, Mark Bowness got his Ad Account back within one hour of getting Meta Verified. This gives me some semblance of hope that longstanding issues could potentially finally be resolved. - Meta Verified horror story - one of my own team members, based in Australia, told me of a local friend who had his Facebook account hacked just the other day. The bad actor, who appears to be based in Vietnam, was able to change the account name, profile picture and URL/username... and then got Meta Verified!! Holy crap. The account then got taken down within about 24 hours. Hopefully the original owner will get his account back. But let this be a warning to all our friends in Australia and New Zealand - your accounts are prime targets right now for hackers chasing the blue tick. SO, protect your accounts! Ensure 2FA is enabled via a reputable authentication app like Google Authenticator or Duo Mobile or other. - [Meta is building a decentralized, text-based social network](, codenamed ‘P92’ that will be interoperable with Mastodon. Will it be a Twitter replacement? Who knows? Who cares? LOL. Social Pulse Summit: ROI Edition If you missed Agorapulse's recent online event, there's still time to enjoy all the keynotes, panels and breakouts with instant replays. It's totally free. [Register here]( and get the latest methods for driving ROI on all the social channels. My session is How To Achieve ROI From Facebook! [social ROI summit]( Okay, that's all for this issue! I know it was a lot this time around. If you made it this far, THANK YOU!! Feel free to drop me a line with your own thoughts. (You can reply to this message). Definitely come and connect with your fellow marketers in my dynamic and super supportive [Social Scoop Facebook Community](=) - celebrating 22k+ amazing members. Cheers 'til the next time, Best, Mari Smith CEO, Mari Smith International, Inc. Premier Facebook Marketing Expert Top Social Media Thought Leader Author, The New Relationship Marketing Coauthor, Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day P.S. I was honored to have my [business success story]( written up recently by Leadpages!! I've been using Leadpages for over a decade - really since the company launched in 2010 - to easily build compelling landing pages and effective opt-in tools. I attribute much of my success with conversions to the tools they offer! Would you like to read the story? [Mari Smith Leadpages](=) Btw, not mentioned in the article, way back in the day starting around 2009 for several years, I was a member of a powerful, 'secret' internet marketing mastermind with Leadpages' founder, Clay Collins. It was such a joy to see him build a solid company which he went on to sell in 2020. (And the mastermind was like an entire who's who of extremely well known and very successful internet marketers - you would know most of these good folks by name!) If you wish to unsubscribe or CHANGE or UPDATE your information, please click this link: [Unsubscribe]( Mari Smith International 11956 Bernardo Plaza Dr., #201 San Diego, California 92128 United States