For everyone out there wondering why your search field on Instagram changed to “Ask Meta AI anything” versus running simple but limited searches before related to hashtags, locations, etc. it’s all about the multimodal fusion of data including Bing/Google search results in Instagram, which is creating a whole new ecosystem.

In a nutshell, the searches you now run on Instagram aren’t only tapping into Instagram content but also pulling from other sources like Google and we anticipate those data feeds/partnerships to expand in the future based on what’s important in the moment. For example, maybe tomorrow fusing Bloomberg data becomes critical.

Additionally, this is a pivotal moment in time where – similar to how the SEO and social media worlds collided years ago – now AI is being tossed in the mix which changes the entire recipe, including digital marketing strategies companies had in the past that just aren’t going to work in the future.

So what are the next steps/solutions based on everything outlined above? Here are some tips:

First and foremost, don’t overthink the AI side of things and try to become a scientist overnight but instead be aware of the developments taking place then incrementally include them into your business processes whether it’s in marketing or other departments.

Secondly, just go with the flow and listen, learn then adapt to what’s working and not working. Many times when you take a step back and listen you can learn a lot, and that gives you the ability to let others test then potentially fail and, if they do, you can learn from their mistakes before you spend a dollar.

Lastly, particularly when it comes to social media marketing, many companies are failing in that area today because they just don’t understand how social media works ranging from simple human behaviors/interactions (the foundation of social media) to thinking it’s a vehicle to sell/promote themselves which always equates to bad results in the end. And this new wave is going to either make or break them.

More insights coming soon as we guide clients and run new experiments.