An Instagram repost is an action that allows accounts to reshare other accounts’ content. Reposts then appear on the main feed with an icon showing the account that reshared the content.

For brands, reposts typically involve sharing user-generated content (UGC) such as customer photos, videos, reviews, or Stories where the brand has been tagged. This allows businesses to amplify authentic customer voices while maintaining an active, engaging feed.

What are the benefits of reposting capabilities on Instagram?

For business accounts, there are many benefits that can be taken from incorporating reposts into a content strategy. Utilising user-generated content helps evidence real customers, rather than relying solely on brand claims. It brings visibility to the real people and stories behind a product or service.

Brands become more credible when they highlight genuine customer interactions and experiences. Reposts also demonstrate that a business listens to and values its audience, showing engagement with its customer community in an unedited, honest way.

Additional benefits include:

• Increased trust and credibility, as potential customers are more likely to trust peer recommendations than branded messaging alone.
• Stronger community building, because reposting makes customers feel recognised and appreciated, encouraging further engagement.
• Cost-effective content creation, as user-generated content supplements branded content without the need for additional production.
• Improved reach and discoverability, since reposts can introduce brands to new audiences via the original creator’s followers.

How to utilise reposts to demonstrate reliability and build trust

To effectively use reposts as a trust-building tool, brands should be intentional and strategic rather than resharing content at random.

Prioritise authentic customer experiences
Focus on reposting content that shows real-life use of your product or service. Testimonials, before-and-after results, behind-the-scenes moments, or candid reviews help potential customers visualise themselves having the same experience.

Maintain brand consistency
While reposts should feel authentic, they should still align with your brand values and visual identity. Adding subtle branded elements, captions, or context helps keep your feed cohesive without over-editing the original content.

Showcase a variety of voices
Reposting content from different customers highlights consistency and reliability. A mix of demographics, use cases, and formats such as Reels, Stories, and posts reinforces that positive experiences are not one-off occurrences.

Add social context through captions
Use captions to reinforce trust signals. Briefly explain the customer story, highlight outcomes, or quote feedback directly. This adds credibility and clarity while keeping the focus on the customer.

Engage and give credit
Always tag and credit the original creator. This transparency not only builds goodwill but also reinforces authenticity and ethical social media practices.

When used consistently, Instagram reposts become more than just shared content. They act as powerful social proof. By amplifying genuine customer voices, brands can build trust, demonstrate reliability, and create stronger emotional connections with their audience.

Meta, the company behind Instagram, has announced a new age rating system that works similarly to the film industry’s PG-13 classification. The idea is simple: make Instagram safer and easier for parents and young people to understand.

What the New System Does

From now on, accounts belonging to users under 18 will automatically be set to a “13+” experience. This means Instagram will limit or hide posts that include adult themes, risky behaviour, or strong language.

The platform will also block certain search terms — such as “alcohol” or “gore” — and even catch creative misspellings of those words. Meta says this helps reduce exposure to harmful or age-inappropriate material, while still letting teens enjoy a social experience that feels natural.

Why Meta Is Making This Change

The update comes after a critical review by former Meta engineer Arturo Béjar, who found that many of the company’s earlier safety tools weren’t working well enough. Meta disagreed with some of the findings but acknowledged that clearer systems were needed.

UK media regulator Ofcom has also been pushing social media companies to prioritise user safety — especially for children and teenagers — or face tougher regulation. By using a familiar rating model like PG-13, Meta hopes to make these rules easier for families to understand.

What It Means for Everyday Users

For most teens, Instagram will now feel a little more filtered and focused on well-being. Parents will have a clearer sense of what their children see, and brands or influencers will need to make sure their content fits within the new boundaries.

This move is part of a wider industry trend: social platforms are trying to prove they can be both engaging and responsible. Meta’s new age-rating system could set the tone for how social media handles teen safety in the future.

What is social media SEO?

Social media SEO refers to optimising social content and profiles for discoverability on a search engine results page (SERP). Search today has drastically shifted since the advent of the internet, with more and more opportunities for social channels and the content on them to be displayed on search engines.

Optimisation also offers internal benefits for social channels. Search on social has shifted researching behaviours, with reports from Sprout Social recording a 41% of Gen-Z use channels like TikTok, Instagram, Reddit or YouTube to find information, instead of traditional search engines.

Do I need to optimise social content?

If you are using your social channels as a tool, then yes, absolutely. Businesses can reap several benefits from implementing social media into their marketing strategy, both on the SERP and on the platforms themselves.

Creating content that leads to better discoverability and can enable a brand to raise brand awareness. This creates more opportunities for new potential customers to find and invest in the brand’s product or service. This gives businesses a better chance of improving engagement for both their website and social content.

Other benefits include improving local SEO efforts. Displaying this information makes it easier and efficient for the person searching. More so, it offers value to those searching across social media search engines.

How to optimise your social channels

Social content optimisations

One of the fundamental aspects of successful content is being session aware, ensuring every piece of content or asset put out is context driven. Optimisations are really small but important ways we signal to search engines and the customer that the content is valuable.

Using similar frameworks to those of traditional SEO enables the process of discoverability. Some of the ways this can be done are by:

• Defining the purpose of content, ensuring every asset has a reason for being posted. Intention is key when creating valuable content and reaching attainable goals
• Utilise your keyword research in your content captions.
• Use an editorial calendar to create structure and intention for your content
• Use high-resolution assets
• Create accessible content with subtitles and alt text
• Re-format appropriate content to suit the destination channel

Social Profile optimisations

Social profile optimisations are there so your audience finds the important information about your business with ease and speed.

Make sure the following information is readily available on your profile, which will ensure you’re prepared for potential customers:

1. A clear social media handle, making it simple for your existing and potential customers to find you, is the goal. Keeping it simple and using the exact name of the brand, using symbols for variation.
2. Use your bio to reflect your business’s offering. This ensures that when your profile is displayed, those searching understand what it is your business does.
3. Include your business address. This is critical for both local SEO and ease of physically finding your business. The easier it is for customers to find you, the better the experience.
4. Using brand imagery for your profile photos. Making it easier for new and existing members to recognise the brand.
5. Including a link or Linktree. Using your social platforms to promote your other channels is a simple yet effective way to increase the volume of followers/subscribers.

With small, consistent steps—like refining your bio, using keywords strategically, and ensuring content accessibility—you’re signalling to both search engines and potential customers that your brand is valuable and trustworthy.

The key takeaway? Treat your social channels with the same strategic mindset as your website. Done right, social media SEO doesn’t just boost discoverability, it builds stronger connections, enhances customer experience, and ultimately drives growth.

As of July 10, 2025, Instagram has taken a major step forward—public posts from professional accounts are now searchable on Google and other search engines. This means your Instagram content—photos, videos, Reels, and carousels—can appear directly in search results, expanding your visibility far beyond your followers. For brands and creators, this is a game-changer.

Instagram Content Is Now Web-Visible
If you have a business or creator account and are over 18, your public content is now eligible to appear in Google search results by default. This is controlled in your Instagram settings (Settings → Privacy → Allow public photos and videos to appear in search engine results). If you’d prefer your content to stay within Instagram only, you can turn this off at any time.

Why This Matters to Your Business
Your Instagram posts are no longer just social content—they’re now part of your online presence, just like your website or blog. The first line of your caption functions like a headline in Google search, and your alt text (image descriptions) helps search engines understand the content’s subject matter. Even your hashtags now help you appear in search results. In short, Instagram is becoming a new front door to your brand.

What You Should Do Next
If you’re a client with an active Instagram presence, now is the time to think strategically. We’ll help you update your bios, polish captions with relevant keywords, and ensure your most important posts are pinned or highlighted. From now on, we’ll also be tracking how your Instagram content performs not just in the app, but in Google search, too.

This update means more ways for potential customers to discover your brand. It’s visibility you don’t want to miss—and we’re here to help you make the most of it.

Google is rolling out a powerful new AI video tool called Veo 3 on YouTube Shorts later this summer – and it could completely change how marketers and creators make short-form videos.

What is Veo 3?

Veo 3 is an AI tool that creates short videos from just a few lines of text. Instead of filming, editing, or hiring a production team, all you need to do is type in what you want the video to show and Veo 3 will generate the visuals and even sound for you.

This is a step up from Google’s previous experiments with AI tools like Dream Screen. Veo 3 aims to deliver full videos with high production value, created entirely from a written prompt.

Why does this matter to digital marketers?

Faster content creation: Marketers can now generate engaging, short video ads or brand content without needing a camera or editor.

• Lower costs: This makes video creation far more accessible for small teams or brands with limited budgets.
• More experimentation: You can test more creative ideas quickly, since you’re not tied to expensive or time-consuming production processes.
• In short: it could revolutionise how branded content is made on YouTube Shorts, giving even smaller brands the chance to compete creatively.

What are the risks?

While the tech is exciting, there are concerns:

• The Shorts feed may get overcrowded with AI-generated content, making it harder for authentic, high-quality videos to stand out.
• There’s a risk of low-effort or misleading content being created at scale.
• Some creators worry about being pushed out, as AI videos take up more space and attention on the platform.

To address some of these concerns, YouTube is developing a “likeness protection” tool in partnership with talent agency CAA, to help protect creators and public figures from having their image used without permission.

What does this mean for the future?

Veo 3 has the potential to open the doors for more brands and voices to join the Shorts space — but it also raises serious questions about content quality, originality, and trust.

As a marketer, this means:

• AI video content might become the norm so thinking about how your brand maintains authenticity and quality will be key.
• You may need to adjust your creative strategy as the content landscape shifts.
• Keeping up with YouTube’s algorithm and evolving rules around AI-generated content will be essential to staying competitive.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan described Veo 3 as a way for “anyone with a voice” to reach an audience. For marketers, it’s a powerful opportunity but one that comes with the responsibility to use it thoughtfully.

Meta has confirmed that WhatsApp—one of the world’s most popular messaging apps—is set to introduce advertising in its Status feature, similar to Instagram Stories. This marks a major shift for the app, which has long prided itself on being ad-free and focused on private, encrypted messaging.

What’s Changing and Why It Matters

From a digital marketing perspective, this update introduces a new, high-engagement channel. WhatsApp’s Status—where users share photos, videos, and text that disappear after 24 hours—is already heavily used in markets across Latin America, India, and parts of Europe. Adding ads here gives brands the chance to reach new audiences in a more personal, less saturated environment.

Challenges for Advertisers

However, this won’t be without its hurdles. WhatsApp is a platform built on trust and privacy, and many users may push back against ads entering that space. There are also technical limitations: end-to-end encryption means Meta can’t offer the same level of ad targeting as on Instagram or Facebook. This could limit how personalised or relevant these ads feel.

An Opportunity to Reach People Differently

Still, this change represents a real opportunity. As user data becomes harder to access and track due to growing privacy regulations, marketers are looking for new, high-attention environments. WhatsApp Status could become just that—a way to get in front of users without interrupting their main messaging experience.

What Brands Should Do Next

For businesses, especially those with international reach or strong brand storytelling, WhatsApp Status ads could be a useful tool to build awareness. But the key will be subtlety and relevance—ads here should feel native, valuable, and respectful of the user’s space.

Final Thoughts

This move is both a challenge and an opportunity. It tests how far users are willing to accept advertising in their private apps—but it also gives brands a rare chance to engage audiences in a new way. The smartest marketers will proceed carefully and lead with value, not noise.

Meta, the company behind Instagram and Facebook, has introduced expanded parental controls across both platforms in a bid to make the online experience safer for teenagers. These new features are designed to give parents more visibility and control over their children’s social media activity, while also helping teens form healthier digital habits. Originally launched on Instagram, these tools are now being extended to Facebook and Messenger.

Stronger Controls for Safer Sharing

One of the most significant changes is that teens under the age of 16 will now need parental approval before they can go live or disable automatic filters that blur potentially explicit images in messages. This aims to reduce exposure to harmful or inappropriate content while giving parents a say in what their children can access or share. In addition, all teen accounts will continue to be set to private by default, meaning their content is only visible to approved followers, offering another layer of protection.

Helping Teens Manage Screen Time

Recognising the growing concern around screen addiction and its impact on mental health, Meta is introducing new features to encourage more mindful use of social media. Teens will now receive prompts to take breaks if they’ve been scrolling for extended periods, and notifications will be automatically muted during sleep hours. These features are designed not just to limit screen time, but to foster better habits around how and when young people engage with social platforms.

More Transparency for Parents

To support parental involvement, Meta has updated its supervision tools to allow caregivers to monitor who their teens follow and interact with and even set daily time limits for usage. These updates are part of a wider initiative by Meta to address mounting criticism over teen safety on its platforms. For marketers and business owners, it’s a clear signal that user wellbeing, especially among younger audiences, is becoming a critical part of platform design and brand trust.

Meta (the company behind Facebook and Instagram) is facing serious backlash in Europe over its plans to use users’ old posts and comments to train its artificial intelligence (AI) tools. A leading privacy group says this move may break EU data protection laws—and could cost Meta billions. At the heart of the debate is a simple but powerful question: Should companies be allowed to use your data without asking first?

What is GDPR and Why Does It Matter?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a law that protects the privacy of everyone in the European Union. It gives people control over how companies use their personal data. Under GDPR, businesses must clearly explain what data they’re collecting and why—and in most cases, they must ask for your permission first.

Meta plans to use up to 20 years of Facebook and Instagram content, from all EU users, for AI training. But instead of asking people to opt in, they’re asking users to opt out, which puts the burden on the individual. Privacy experts say this is exactly the kind of thing GDPR was designed to stop.

The Legal Challenge

The privacy group noyb (short for “None of Your Business”) argues that Meta’s plan is illegal. They say Meta’s justification—that it has a “legitimate interest” in using the data—has already been rejected by European courts in similar cases about advertising.

Noyb has sent Meta a legal warning and is preparing for court action if the company doesn’t change course. They also suggest a class-action lawsuit could be launched, with potential damages of more than €200 billion.

Why This Matters to You

Even if you think you’ve got nothing to hide, GDPR is about your right to choose. Big tech companies shouldn’t be able to decide what happens to your data behind closed doors. This case is a reminder of how important data protection laws are in an AI-powered world—and how easily they can be challenged. AI Plans Are Stirring Up a Major Privacy Battle in Europe

YouTube is set to test out an AI Overview carousel for selected search queries on their site. This comes after Google rolled out AI Overviews on their search engine worldwide last year, causing a major shift in the way users interact with search.

What are AI Overviews?

AI Overviews are rich snippets that appear at the top of a search engine, collated by AI, that give users a comprehensive response to their queries. This allows users to find answers to certain queries without having to visit websites and makes for a quicker experience on search. How this translates to YouTube will be in the form of video carousels that highlight relevant parts of selected videos to give users an answer to their search queries.

How will this affect YouTube Search?

YouTube AI Overviews are being designed to help users with different types of queries, including Travel and local discovery and product search and will initially be rolled out to a selected number of users in the US.

This news may not be overly positive for YouTube creators, however. Since AI Overviews were introduced on Google search in May last year, many users have seen a decline in traffic to their sites, especially sites answering informational queries, as users are reading AI Overviews and not clicking through to the relevant articles.

If users begin to use the AI Overviews on YouTube, this could see a decline in traffic to YouTube channels and negatively impact viewing figures, just as we have seen with the decline in web traffic on Google. Also, if the AI Overviews are successful, we are likely to see them expand out to other queries, which mirror the current state of Google, where AI Overviews are expanding into different types of queries every month, growing in influence.

When to expect changes

This is currently only an experiment with AI Overviews on YouTube and by no means will it definitively roll out to an expanded audience but if it does it could drastically change how users interact with content on YouTube even perhaps enhancing viewing figures for some smaller users who manage to create relevant and engaging clips that make their way into the AI Overviews.

YouTube is experimenting with a new AI feature in its search results – and it could
change how people discover video content on the platform.
The new test, called AI Overviews, shows a scrollable carousel of video highlights
when users search for certain topics. Instead of just listing full videos, YouTube’s AI
picks out and displays what it thinks are the most helpful clips from relevant videos.

Why this matters for marketers and creators

This might sound helpful for viewers but for brands and creators, it could go either
way. On one hand, it might improve content discovery and get your videos in front of
new audiences. On the other, it could reduce clicks and watch time if people only
watch the AI-generated clip instead of the full video.
We’ve already seen how Google’s AI Overviews in search can reduce traffic to
websites. If YouTube rolls out this AI feature more widely, creators might see a
similar dip in views.

What we know so far

 Only a small group of users can see it right now – specifically, some
YouTube Premium subscribers in the U.S.
 It’s focused on specific types of searches, like product reviews or travel
recommendations. Think: “best wireless earbuds” or “things to do in San
Francisco.”
 YouTube is gathering feedback on the test – users can give a thumbs up or
down on what the AI recommends. This will help decide whether the feature is
rolled out more broadly.

What’s next?

YouTube runs tests like this all the time to see what helps people find and enjoy
content more easily. If you’re seeing something new on your YouTube account that
others aren’t – chances are, you’re part of a test group.
It’s worth keeping an eye on this one. If AI Overviews become a standard feature,
marketers and creators may need to think differently about how their videos are
structured – especially if only the most “useful” parts are being shown.