AI isn’t just transforming digital marketing - it’s even impacting restaurants.

McDonalds, White Castle & Dominoes have all tested using AI bots to take drive-through and phone orders.

Soon, robots could prepare your burrito bowls at Chipotle. That’s already happening at a Chipotle in Irvine, California.

The robots are able to make salads and burrito bowls, which just require them to scoop up the right ingredients and throw them together.

For now, humans are still needed to make burritos, quesadillas, and kid’s meals. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Here’s the rundown for today…

• Google Spam Crackdown - Might Impact Non-Spammers

• X Considers New Ad-Free Subscriptions - New Options Incoming

• AI Ad Campaigns - Facebook Publishes New Guide

• Create Useful Business Plans - Simple Framework

• Short Video Secrets - Get The Most From TikTok

Lurn Bytes: Your Daily News Download

Google Is Cracking Down On Spam - Google announced new rules to make it tougher for spammers to send emails to Gmail users. These include a one-click unsubscribe button for big senders and email authentication. These changes aim to reduce spam, but they might also impact some real businesses that send lots of emails…

X Might Add New Subscription Tiers - X, formerly known as Twitter, is considering introducing different pricing levels for its X Premium subscriptions. This includes a completely ad-free option. Elon Musk has hinted at charging users to combat bots and AI spam on the platform…

Meta Publishes Guide On Using Its Advantage+ Ad Campaigns - These ad campaigns use AI to improve ad responses based on audience interests. The guide offers best practices, new features, and examples to help marketers understand and make the most of Advantage+ campaigns…

A New Approach To Creating A Business Plan

Every business should have a business plan that is UPDATED and USEFUL. That last word, useful, is really important.

Many entrepreneurs take the time to create a formal business plan at some point but never look at it again. That’s because the business plans they create aren’t actually useful.

Seth Godin has an interesting take on how to create a business plan that’s actually useful…

TLDR - The Modern Business Plan

Godin says that business plans today can often be confusing and uninteresting.

A “better” business plan can be divided into five parts: Truth, Assertions, Alternatives, People, and Money.

Truth: The current reality: the market, needs, competitors, and past successes or failures.

In this section, give detailed and honest information about the market and its history.

Assertions: This is where you share your goals: what you'll do and the changes you hope to make.

This part is the core of the plan, explaining how your business will bring about change.

Alternatives: Things might not always go as planned. In this section, you discuss backup plans and adaptability for when things go off track.

People: This is all about your team: not just their qualifications, but their skills, attitude, and experiences.

Money: In this section, you break down the finances of your business, especially costs, spending plans, profits, and exit strategies.

Some investors might prefer traditional formats, but this structure is clearer for your team. According to Godin, using this format can help you tackle challenges more effectively.

Check out the full article for Seth’s full take.

Daily Hack - How To Succeed With Short Videos

Short videos are hot right now. Whether it’s TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or Instagram Reels, people are consuming more of their content with short videos.

That presents marketers with an exciting new source of traffic.

Let’s talk about some of the best practices to get the most out of short

Here are the things you need to keep in mind…

• Post consistently (Ideally 5+ times per week)

• The first few seconds MATTER MOST

• Make people want to replay your videos

• Your content needs to be relevant

• Be a relatable person

• Reward your viewers in some way

Let’s talk about each of these principles now.

The First Few Seconds…

The opening of your Shorts video sets the stage for everything else. It’s what will determine whether or not your video gets watched (and all the subsequent engagement metrics that come after watching).

That’s why the first few seconds are so important. Your first job with ANY video content, but especially short, swipeable content that people can easily skip over, is to capture the viewer’s attention so they’ll stick around.

That means you need a compelling hook at the start of your video, just like we talk about in our 5-Step Copywriting Formula. To do this, you can add text or dialogue to the video that…

• Says something controversial

• Talks about a surprising twist

• Opens the video with a dramatic situation

• Introduces an interesting character

• Is super-specific and clear

Something else that’s quite popular on these short-form platforms which aren’t all that common on others is to open with content that is so over-the-top funny people can’t help but stick around to finish the video.

The best way to learn how to do this? Spend a few minutes, or even a few hours, scrolling through TikTok and making notes on the videos that capture your attention at the beginning.

What about them makes you want to stick around and watch?

The point is to learn from other creators who are doing this well so you can learn how to best hook your viewers in the first six seconds.

Focus on Replayability

TikTok was created to promote content that gets watched over and over again. And the algorithm specifically singles out content that the same people watch multiple times.

This is a lot easier to measure on these short video platforms than on long-form video content because they automatically loop on replay over and over again until a viewer swipes away from the content. Because the algorithm is wired this way, you need to work to make your viewers watch your videos a few times before they swipe away.

This is where pacing your videos the right way comes into play. And there are a bunch of ways you can do this:

• Use the text to your advantage – Make it appear and disappear quickly, causing viewers to have to watch multiple times to read everything.

• Be outrageous and over-the-top – the videos that get the most replays tend to be the ones that bring people joy and laughter. Unleash your inner comic!

• Be mysterious – hide something (or someone) in plain view of the video and allude to it so people watch multiple times until they finally see it

• Have interesting backgrounds – something that really hooks viewers is to have crazy or funny stuff happening in the background of the main “subject” of your video

• Educate your audience – Because you only get sixty seconds, you have to teach quickly, so it encourages replayability. But you can also apply this to any other niche you want to teach in.

Again, the best way to learn what works for replayability is to watch lots of videos yourself and make note of which ones cause you to want to rewatch them over and over. We cannot emphasize this enough: learn from other creators by trying and seeing what works and what doesn’t.

Make Sure Your Content Is Relevant

Short video creators have to stay up on what’s popular and trending at the moment. It might be…

• Specific voice-overs

• Dance routines

• Viral comedic headlines

• Special filters

• Music & sound-bites

A lot of your time will be spent figuring out what’s popular right now. Luckily, you’ll already be spending a lot of time figuring out what other creators are doing while trying to improve your own videos. So you’ll naturally see what’s popular and trending at the same time.

But being relevant isn’t only about keeping up with trends: it’s also about making sure your content fits what’s happening in the world at large. You could focus your content on specific seasons or holidays as they come up. Or you could incorporate current events into your content as well.

Doing this serves a few functions: people will know you’re a real person making new content, rather than a bot or an uncaring, faceless corporation that’s just out for money. But it will also keep you from coming across as tone-deaf to the world around you.

Be Relatable

Related to being relevant with your content is the idea that you need to be relatable to your audience. People are more likely to watch (and rewatch) content they feel a connection to. And this may be the easiest thing for you to do with your content.

It’s pretty simple:

• Speak & act normally – don’t try to be someone you’re not. Behave like you would if you were having a conversation with a friend in a restaurant—it will come across on camera.

• Be authentic – let people know you’re real. One popular way to do this is to include behind-the-scenes content in your videos or as additional video content. Let people see the real you.

Reward Your Viewers

Now, this last principle doesn’t mean you need to start hosting giveaways or contests—though that is something you can do with short videos.

What it means is this: does your audience feel good after watching your videos? And “good” can mean more than just feeling happy.

• Do they feel entertained?

• Did they get a good laugh?

• Do they feel smarter and more enlightened?

• Are they empowered to take action on their own?

The feelings your content creates in your viewers will depend on your niche, but the key here is to make them feel like they got something out of watching your video. You never want a viewer to swipe away thinking, “Well, that was a waste of time!”

These rewards should be psychological, not physical, tangible goods (though there is a place for that).

If you take these principles seriously and apply them to your short video content, you can be sure you’ll see a lot of engagement from your viewers & ultimately grow the size of your audience.

ICYMI - The Biggest Stories You May Have Missed

Referral Traffic from Facebook and X Has Declined - A new report reveals that websites are seeing less traffic from Facebook and X. This is because both platforms are focusing more on short videos and less on link sharing. This change makes website managers rethink how they use social media…

LinkedIn Tests Fully Automated Ad Campaigns - LinkedIn is introducing "Accelerate", a tool that uses AI to automatically create ad campaigns for users. By just providing a product URL, the AI system will design the campaign, adjust budgets, and deliver results, potentially saving time and money for businesses.

Reddit Releases New Ad Targeting Options - Reddit is introducing new ad targeting features to help marketers better reach their audience on the platform. These updates include the ability to search for communities by topic, improved topic suggestions, and new ad management tools. The aim is to increase ad reach and effectiveness for businesses…

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