Got a minute? Check out our quick update on what's new in the industry.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is testing out autoplay video ads in their users’ mobile feeds. The videos will begin playing automatically as you scroll over them and will be distinguished from other content by a “Promoted” label. This is the second time LinkedIn has tested out video ads. Back in 2012, they rolled out support for video ads but, at that time, videos had to reside on YouTube instead of being embedded directly in the LinkedIn newsfeed.

Our Take: 

• As video ads becomes more and more popular on social networks, it makes sense that LinkedIn is hopping on board as well. -
• Since this move is still in beta testing, we would caution against jumping into video advertising on the platform too fast. We’ll be keeping a close eye on what kind of tracking metrics LinkedIn rolls out for this type of paid content.

Facebook
Facebook just added two new Custom Audience options to their advertising platform. The two audience options, called “Dwell time” and “Link sharing”, are aimed at helping brands target their ads better. The Dwell time option creates a list of people who have spent time viewing a brand’s display ads on Facebook or Instagram. The Link sharing option groups together people who have shared a brand’s content on Facebook in the past. Both options allow brands to advertise to people who have previously interacted with their content on social media, but haven’t taken a next step.

Our Take:

• One of the reasons we like Facebook advertising is because of how targeted the advertising can be. These new options allow brands to target their ads even more! 
• A note of caution: Despite their usefulness, custom audiences can, in some instances, still be a shot in the dark. Even though someone may have paused on your ad in the past (and now falls into the Dwell time audience), you still have no way of knowing why they paused on your ad.

Pinterest
Not to be left out, Pinterest also made some announcements about their advertising features this past week. Earlier this year, Pinterest added search ads to their platform. Search ads on Pinterest function the same as on Google. When a user does a search on Pinterest for keywords a brand has targeted, their ad (or Promoted Pin) will show up in the results. Initially, this function was only available to Pinterest Partners, but Pinterest announced this week that search ads are now an option for anyone using the Pinterest Ad Manager.

Our Take:

• Pinterest has slowly been transforming into a full-fledged e-commerce site with more and more people using it as a shopping venue. Here are some fun stats: 93% of active Pinners use Pinterest to plan for purchases and 87% have made a purchase because of Pinterest. What does this mean? Pinterest is a great platform for brands that sell products or services directly to consumers.
• This new advertising feature allows B2C companies (especially retail businesses) the ability to target their products to people who are searching for them at that very moment on Pinterest.