California bans personalized feeds for under-16s

Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ MarketingShot.

California bans personalized feeds for under-16s LINK

• California has banned personalized recommendation feeds and autoplay for users under 16, part of a package of 13 bills signed on 10 September that also sets rules for companion chatbots.
• Unlike Europe's opt-out under Article 38 of the Digital Services Act, California removes the choice entirely for one age group, prohibiting content ranked on a minor's own history and profile.
• Adam Mosseri told an Australian briefing this week that engagement falls by half when users switch to a chronological feed, though those who switch are self-selecting, unlike a mandatory ban.

Amazon now lets you run your ads inside ChatGPT LINK

• Amazon has struck a deal that lets advertisers on its platform buy ads that run inside the ChatGPT app, starting today, September 10, adding the AI chatbot to the premium supply it has secured.
• The rollout is a pilot for now, open only to select U.S. advertisers using Amazon Ads and the Amazon DSP buying tool, with Delta Vacations named among the first brands taking part.
• Over the past 18 months, Amazon has moved its ads business into inventory from Netflix, Roku, Spotify, SiriusXM, Disney, Hulu and ESPN, and now extends campaigns into conversational chat platforms.

Old Navy's MrBeast deal shows creators can drive your traffic LINK

• Old Navy's back-to-school partnership with YouTuber MrBeast lifted traffic to its kids' assortment online by more than 22% in the days right after launch, showing how creators can pull in shoppers.
• The MrBeast videos, part of a multiyear deal with Jimmy Donaldson, drew over 100 million global views and 1.4 billion impressions on YouTube while raising Old Navy's viewership and engagement on TikTok too.
• The campaign, built around comedic content, sweepstakes and giveaways for students, follows a 4% drop in comparable sales at Old Navy in Q2 and marks the brand's first back-to-school effort anchored on one creator.

Instagram lets you turn tagged posts into profile content LINK

• Instagram now lets people promote posts they've been tagged in to their main profile grid, while the separate Tagged tab still holds every post a user has been tagged in.
• Tagged posts can be added to the grid from the DM notification, the three-dot menu on the post, or by pressing and holding a post in the Tagged tab.
• Added posts appear in reverse-chronological order by default but can be rearranged, building on the reorder feature Instagram introduced in June, and they can be removed later without deleting them.

Content marketing wins just hit a 12-year low LINK

• Content marketing results dropped to their lowest point in 12 years, with only 14% of marketers reporting that their blogs delivered strong results, according to Orbit Media's yearly blogging survey of 1,042 content marketers.
• That 14% figure sits six percentage points under the earlier 12-year low and roughly half the 26% recorded in 2022, a decline the report tied to marketers dropping proven tactics rather than to AI adoption, which reached 92.4%.
• Influencer collaboration showed the strongest link to success, making marketers 2.6 times more likely to report strong results, yet its use fell from 25% of marketers in 2017 to just 7% this year.

Strategies & Tactics

> How to do keyword research with Claude and Semrush: Explains how to uncover keywords rivals miss by feeding Claude your business context plus customer reviews and Reddit threads, then validating demand in Semrush.

> What is zero-click marketing? How to execute and measure it: Publish content that delivers complete value without requiring a click, building trust and brand awareness as search and social platforms increasingly withhold traffic.

> How to use Claude to run a stronger CRO audit: Direct Claude to sort your analytics exports and organize findings while you verify the data and rule out false causes, since it can sound confident while getting conversions wrong.

> The Ghost Citation: When AI Knows Your Brand Better Than It Knows Your Content: When AI recommends a brand, outside sources like Reddit often supply the evidence, so brands should audit these uncontrolled "ghost citations" to reclaim influence.

> The Docs Dividend: How Docker Built Its Largest First-Party AI Evidence Layer: Prioritize maintaining thorough technical documentation, since it earns more AI-answer citations than any other Docker-owned page by explaining products before positioning them.

Other news you might like

• Pinterest shares insights into men’s trends LINK

• Triton Ad Platform gains podcast targeting by show audience in 3 markets LINK

• Snapchat expands Dynamic Product Ads to Sponsored Snaps LINK

• Capital One gains 14.2% shopper pickup when AI names it, Similarweb finds LINK

• Google Search Console Indexing Report Missing Old June Data LINK

• Microsoft gates its new Conversions API behind per-account pilot approval LINK

Trending tools

Adomate: create Meta ads at scale from your ad account data, ad library, and Trustpilot or Amazon reviews with fully traceable, transparent workflows. LINK

AI Search Console: monitors how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and others mention your brand, tracking prompts, citations, competitors, and visibility trends from one dashboard. LINK

Migma AI: creates campaign-ready marketing emails in seconds, letting teams skip manual design work and launch outreach faster without technical setup LINK

Goose Ads Remixer: analyzes top-performing ads in your niche and generates fresh variations from your logo, product images, and messaging within minutes LINK

Fedica 2.0: schedules posts across 15 social platforms and analyzes your audience with demographics, city-level location, bot detection, and engagement metrics. LINK

high-stakes-analytics-decision-lab: analyzes messy data by choosing suitable methods and generating source-backed visual reports to support important decision-making. LINK

See you tomorrow for a new dose of ☕️ MarketingShot!