So-Called Social: Week of September 3

Your weekly dose of social news.

First of all, how is it ALREADY September? Summer feels like it’s officially over and I no longer know where the time goes. Well, in the spirit of getting right to it, here’s what’s on tap for you today: organic posts might still be a thing on Facebook, you better share all the cool Adobe news from this week, and the state of advertising on Instagram. Get reading (so you can get weekend-ing soon).

Social nets update stuff

Organic might actually not be dead on Facebook… FB is conducting a little test with five publishers that allows them to determine the best-performing organic posts. Publishers in the test group can create up to four different versions of posts — changing things like headline, description, and image, in real time — to come up with the best combo. Wonder when they’ll open up this testing to brands?

Snap has snagged former Time Warner CMO Kristen O’Hara to head up U.S. global business solutions (read: sales). She’ll be in charge of developing relationships with brands and enabling marketers to achieve better results using the platform. Go, Kristen, go!

Sounds like Instagram is about to officially enter the e-commerce space with a new standalone app dedicated to shopping. The app — which may be called IG Shopping — will let users browse collections of stuff from merchants that they follow and purchase them directly within the app. Naturally, this hasn’t been confirmed by Insta, but if it is true, it’s a pretty smart play as so many users already use tools such as LIKEtoKNOW.it to make their grams shoppable (and affiliate-able).

Adobe does stuff

Yesterday was the #AdobeForAll Summit, and it was incredible. I was lucky enough to attend with 1,200 other Adobe employees from around the world. Inspiration was abundant among the mainstage speakers, the breakouts, and each attendee. Be sure to check out the @AdobeLife Instagram channel for a look at the experience through the employee lens. The @Adobe brand channel also chimed in with key takeaways from the speakers and a fun little game with Tan France. (Pro tip: if you’re reading this past the 24-hour mark, look at our highlights.)

The Adobe Students’ channels have launched a new sweepstakes this week, Make September More Creative. Daily creative prompts are released on the @AdobeStudents Instagram account, with each completed prompt counting as an entry. This challenge is all about developing a daily creative challenge, not creating perfect work. Students can use any Creative Cloud tool to complete the prompts, and prompts feature tutorials from Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Adobe XD, and Spark.

Also, if you haven’t shared all the good news this week, here’s a rundown. CEO Shantanu Narayen was listed as one of the World’s Most Innovative Leaders. Adobe was named as the number one place to work for new graduates. Exciting stuff!

Other brands do stuff

To celebrate hitting 2 million followers on Instagram, Mercedes-Benz went full UGC. The automaker posted “M(illion)oasic” images of its GT, G-Class, and CLS models on their grid — all made of photos taken by fans. Just 24 hours after launch, the mosaic designs had already garnered more than half a million impressions… and counting. Ready for @Adobe to hit 1 mil!

Controversial, I know. But I’d be remiss not to call out Nike’s new ad with Colin Kaepernick. Nike aired its first “Just Do It” ad, narrated by Colin, during Thursday night’s NFL season opener. The spot is part of Nike’s “Dream Crazy” marketing campaign, which rolled out on the company’s social feeds Wednesday. It’ll air during many of the upcoming important sporting events (U.S. Open, MLB, college football games, etc.). The ads are getting a ton of buzz (to the tune of $43 million), which is continued commentary on how people want to engage with brands that stand for something.

Interesting stuff

We all know Instagram Stories is all the rage rn. And now that brands can advertise via Stories, it’s a game-changer. Here’s a look at the state of advertising in five charts that include a comparison with Facebook and a peek at the falling cost-per-ad impression.

As if reshaping all of retail isn’t enough, Amazon is now going after the online ad industry. Watch out, Goog. With an insane amount of data on its consumers, Amazon really has a shot at displacing Google and Facebook from the top of the food chain. Not to mention, ads on the Amazon platform might feel a little less out of place. We’ll keep our eyes on this behemoth (how could we not?!).

Fun stuff

Denver International Airport — known for conspiracy theories — is trolling us all. (Thus making me a very proud Coloradoan.)

This UPS guy is my hero. (And yes, he was tracked down on Instagram.)

OK, but why is no one afraid of this lion?