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What Makes a Likable Video Ad?

FEBRUARY 18, 2026

Research using fMRI brain scans reveals the key elements that make people actually like (not just tolerate) video ads.

At the heart of likability is emotional engagement. Ads that start with a compelling emotional scene trigger the brain’s emotional centers early and make people more invested in what comes next.

Successful ads typically pair that emotional start with a logical ending that clearly presents the product or solution.

Another key factor is the multimodal experience, like the use of dynamic visuals, meaningful dialogue and voice-overs, and music or sound effects that reinforce the narrative.

Here’s a little cheat sheet:

🎬 Emotional opening that hooks interest
🧠 Logical conclusion that provides a solution or payoff
💬 Dialogues and narration (text + voice)
👀 Engaging visuals with movement and variation
🔊 Sound and music that support emotion

Check out the research from Science Says.

LinkedIn’s Guide to Optimizing Owned Content for AI

FEBRUARY 18, 2026

You know the drill. Traditional “keyword-first” SEO is being eclipsed by an answer-first approach.

Content must be easy for LLMs to interpret and extract, not just rank on a search engine results page.

LinkedIn’s new guide on optimizing owned content for AI search emphasizes that blog posts, product hubs, and how-tos form the core knowledge base that LLMs draw on when synthesizing answers.

Some key insights:

Write for humans and AI: clear, concise prose at a readable level with contextual answers upfront.
Structure your content: use logical hierarchies and explicit headings to help LLMs parse meaning.
Technical signals: schema markup, metadata, and accessibility cues boost AI discoverability.
Signal richness: visuals, captions, and structured data make content more “AI-friendly.”

Spend some time with LinkedIn’s complete guide.

What to Expect from ChatGPT Ads

FEBRUARY 17, 2026

As you know, OpenAI has begun testing ads inside ChatGPT. But how do they integrate into the chat experience?

For now, they’re clearly labeled and appear in a dedicated, visually separate section beneath the chat interface and not embedded within the model’s responses, so they don’t interfere with or alter the answers the AI provides.
Ads are shown to logged-in users on the Free tier and on the low-cost Go subscription, while paid plans (like Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education) remain ad-free for now.
Advertisers don’t get access to users’ conversations, but, according to OpenAI, ads are matched to likely relevance based on the current conversation topic, past chats, and prior ad interactions.
Users can dismiss ads, view or delete ad-related data, turn off personalization (which limits ads to the current session), or even opt out in exchange for fewer daily free messages.

We’ll keep you posted once the first round of advertisers reveals how testing performed. Head to Search Engine Land for more.

Engagement on Social in 2026

FEBRUARY 15, 2026

Socialinsider’s 2026 Social Media Benchmarks report, based on analysis of 70+ million posts across major platforms, suggests that engagement is concentrating on short-form video platforms (no surprise there), while legacy networks continue to see flatter or declining interaction rates.

Here’s what you should know:

TikTok averages ~3.7% engagement rate, the highest among major platforms analyzed.
Instagram’s average engagement rate sits around ~0.6%–0.7%, remaining relatively stable YOY.
Facebook engagement averages ~0.15%–0.2%, continuing its gradual decline.
X averages under ~0.1% engagement rate, making it one of the lowest-performing platforms.
Video posts generate up to 2x higher engagement than static image posts on Instagram and Facebook.
Carousel posts on Instagram can drive ~1.4x more engagement than single-image posts.
Comments per post are decreasing year over year, even as video views increase, signaling more passive consumption behavior.
Brands post on average 4–5 times per week on Instagram, while Facebook posting frequency is often higher but with lower engagement returns.

Take a look at the full report at Socialinsider.

TikTok Playbook for SMB

FEBRUARY 11, 2026

TikTok’s SMB Creative Playbook is all about how creative execution is the biggest performance lever for small and medium businesses.

Here are the key takeaways:

Creative: Strong hooks in the first 2–3 seconds significantly impact completion rates. Multiple creative variations outperform a single “perfect” ad.
Native: Shoot vertically (9:16) and design for full-screen viewing. Use on-screen text to reinforce key messages. Incorporate trending sounds and cultural moments when relevant. Avoid overly polished, traditional ad aesthetics.
Structure: Start with a question, problem, claim, visual disruption. Show the product early. Demonstrate value through storytelling, not feature lists. Close with a clear, simple CTA.
Test: Launch multiple hooks for the same offer. Refresh creatives frequently to prevent fatigue. Test different creators, angles, and messaging styles. Use performance data to guide the next round of content.
Authenticity: Feature real founders, employees, or customers. Use UGC-style formats to build trust. Focus on relatable problems and transformations. Speak in a natural, conversational tone.
Systematic: Build a repeatable content pipeline. Repurpose organic posts into paid ads. Develop creative templates to scale production. Treat creative testing as an ongoing growth engine.

Dive into the 40-page guide from TikTok for Business.

Google Ads Shifts From Keywords to Intent

FEBRUARY 11, 2026

Google Ads is moving from a keyword-matching engine to an intent-modeling system.

Instead of auctions being triggered primarily by specific phrases and match types, Google’s AI now evaluates the broader context of a search, including user behavior, signals, and predicted needs, to determine which ads are eligible.

Keywords still exist, obviously, but they function more as inputs into a machine learning system rather than strict triggers.

So, what does that mean for us?

Broad match and AI-powered campaigns gain priority in modern placements.
Negative keywords are essential guardrails in automated environments.
Campaign consolidation often improves performance by giving AI more data.
Ad creative should address problems and outcomes, not just repeat search terms.
Landing pages must satisfy the underlying need behind the query.
Search term reports should be analyzed for intent patterns, not literal matches.
First-party data and audience signals strengthen targeting precision.
Account structure should reflect buying stages and user goals.
Performance may fluctuate more as intent modeling evolves dynamically.
PPC strategy is becoming more aligned with SEO’s focus on intent clusters.

Take a closer look at Search Engine Land.

What’s the Best Podcast Episode Frequency?

FEBRUARY 4, 2026

Deciding how often to publish a new podcast episode? Well… follow up: what does your audience actually consume?

Bumper recommends using your average episodes per verified listener as a deciding metric. This measures how many episodes a typical listener plays over a given time period (weekly or monthly) based on actual platform engagement, not just downloads.

A show might publish 4–6 episodes in a month, yet the average listener only tunes into 2 of them. When your publishing frequency far exceeds what your listeners play, you could be overproducing relative to audience appetite… and even increase the likelihood that automatic downloads stop.

Consistency still matters, but so does alignment with your audience’s behavior and your production capacity.

Here’s a quick overview to help you think about frequency:

Daily or weekday releases: high frequency for news and short‑form shows
Weekly episodes: the most common for serials and recurring formats
Bi‑weekly or monthly: good for deeper or long‑form content
Seasonal batches: focused runs with breaks in between

Know your numbers, match your audience’s listening habits, and choose a schedule you can actually pull off. Get the full scoop at Bumper.

How to Grow Your Personal LinkedIn Following

FEBRUARY 3, 2026

Growing your LinkedIn audience starts with optimizing your profile so the right people can find and connect with you. LinkedIn profiles with a clear value proposition get more views and invites.

From there, posting consistently, typically two to five times per week, keeps you visible and signal-boosts your expertise to the algorithm.

Pick a few core themes you can own and craft strong hooks that invite users to click “see more” and hit Follow. Mix up formats too: text posts, carousels, videos, and polls all serve different discovery and engagement purposes.

Thoughtful replies to comments, proactive networking, and interacting with others’ posts builds relationships and drives algorithmic reach, too.

Here’s a quick list of growth levers:

Optimize profile headline + summary
Post consistently on core themes
Use diverse content formats
Engage actively with your network
Leverage LinkedIn features (Polls, Live, Newsletters)
Evaluate analytics to iterate faster

Head to Buffer for more.

What is Liquid Content?

FEBRUARY 2, 2026

Liquid content: Instead of a publishing traditional article, publishers are increasingly publishing info that can flow across formats and surfaces and be reshaped into summaries, audio, video, chat responses, or personalized briefings in real time, based on who’s consuming it, when, and how.

We’re talking about stories that adapt to context, location, time, and interaction. Think of stories now as flexible “atomic” content units, not documents.

What’s behind the shift? Yep, you guessed it.

Agentic AI browsers and answer engines are already liquifying content by pulling, summarizing, and recombining reporting on the fly. That’s what audiences want. Static articles risk becoming invisible, and authors that don’t get on board risk their content powering experiences they don’t own.

And beyond just repackaging for the medium, true liquid content adapts to individual users’ habits, preferences, and intent. That’s why simply turning articles into audio doesn’t really count (that’s more like multimodality). Liquid content is dynamic, personalized, and continuously evolving.

What liquid content unlocks (and complicates):