Key Updates in Online Tools, SEO & Online Advertising: News from Meta and Zapier
Staying on top of the latest changes in the world of online tools, from graphic design and marketing platforms to SEO and online advertising, can feel like a full-time job. For small businesses, knowing about these updates is crucial for staying competitive and reaching customers effectively. We've dug into the announcements from the past two weeks (ending May 13, 2025) to bring you the most relevant news.
Instagram Enhances 'Edits' Video Tool
Instagram has rolled out significant updates to its 'Edits' app, positioning it as a comprehensive video editing tool for creators. In early May 2025, two rounds of enhancements were released:
- The first set of changes included the ability to apply creative changes to all clips at once, a wider selection of fonts (up to 125), and more voiceover effects (up to 15).
- A subsequent update added 50 dynamic text animations, 'safe zones' for video elements, 30 different video transitions, 30 filter options, automatic captioning in 11 styles, and improved timeline framerate for smoother playback.
Meta Introduces New Creator Marketing Tools
Meta announced a wave of new ad updates on May 2, 2025, focused on helping businesses leverage creators and short-form video across Instagram, Reels, and Threads. Key updates include:
- Reels trending ads: Ads can now appear immediately after popular creator Reels, with options to target top trending content categories.
- Trends in Creator Marketplace: A new feature powered by AI highlights real-time cultural trends and suggests relevant creators and Reels for campaign inspiration.
- Creator Marketplace Discovery API: Currently in testing, this API aims to help brands connect with high-quality creators more scalably through agencies or third-party tools.
- Enhanced creator insights: Brands can now view creator hook rate, interaction rate, and past partners, plus get AI-driven search suggestions in Creator Marketplace.
- Partnership Ads upgrades: Advertisers can now feature a single creator in the ad header and run Facebook Live videos as Partnership Ads.
- Boosting UGC (Facebook): Businesses can amplify content from everyday users or creators using Partnership Ads directly from the Facebook feed.
- Video ads in Threads: 16:9 and 1:1 video ads are being rolled out to a small group of advertisers, appearing between organic Threads posts.
- Video Expansion for Facebook Reels: A new AI tool automatically adjusts video aspect ratios to turn standard clips into full-screen Reels.
Zapier Enhances Automation Platform with AI and New App Updates
Zapier, a popular no-code automation tool, continues to evolve its platform with a focus on AI and expanding its app integrations. Recent product news highlights include:
- Announcements around their AI orchestration platform, designed to help users leverage AI agents across their connected apps to automate complex workflows. This includes features like AI agents that can get tasks done and the ability to connect AI agents to nearly 8,000 apps.
- Updates to Zapier's AI features, such as enhanced reports and analytics for better visibility into automation performance.
- Ongoing additions and updates to their extensive library of app integrations, allowing for more seamless connections between various online tools used by businesses for marketing, sales, customer support, and more. While a specific major integration announcement wasn't highlighted within the last two weeks, their product news feed indicates continuous improvement and expansion of their automation capabilities.
These recent updates from Meta and Zapier demonstrate a strong trend towards enhancing capabilities with AI and improving the tools available for marketing, content creation, and workflow automation. By understanding and leveraging these new features, small businesses can find more efficient ways to connect with their audience, manage their operations, and drive growth in an increasingly digital landscape. Stay tuned for more updates as these platforms continue to evolve!
