The TwoSix team is back and ready to share what’s On Our Radar for July so that you can stay ahead of the always-evolving digital marketing landscape. This month, the TwoSix team discusses Meta crackdowns on unoriginal content, Instagram allowing Google to index professional accounts for search, a new Reels ad guide, Google adjusting quality content rankings, and more! Keep reading to find out what we’re keeping On Our Radar for July 2025.

It seems that on every social media platform, video is the leader when it comes to reach and engagement. If engagement is key to getting your message to users, a compelling video is a must for gaining attention. Without it, you’re going to have a hard time getting traction. Video consistently proves to be the best post type for engagement in both organic and paid content. Video can increase engagement up to 10 times when you do it impactfully!

It’s always good to lean into what the networks want, too. All of them have prioritized video and are HUNGRY for your entertaining, inspiring, and off-the-wall creations. Recently, even LinkedIn pushed out a series of best practices to help you get started with video. LinkedIn!?

The two points that stood out to me were the importance of making the first 6 seconds count and “be creative, be different, be funny”. That’s ultimately the case for any video we do. Don’t be afraid to take some risks. It’s actually imperative that you do so. So many times, I see organizations playing it safe with video. A safe video is a failed video. Wasted time. Wasted effort. Half-baked. You won’t see the results you’re seeking from mediocre, uninspired effort.

Occasionally, I do see something that inspires me and gives me hope. Then I wonder, why can’t we do this in tourism? Why am I not seeing stuff like this all of the time?

Take this gem from Fort Collins, Colorado for example. It’s promoting an upcoming city council meeting:

Don’t you want to book a flight and hotel night to Fort Collins to attend a city council meeting? I do! So what’s holding us back in tourism? If a city council meeting can inspire such excitement and intrigue, just imagine what we can do in tourism! There are no limits. Tourism is fun! Our videos should reflect that.

Are you ready to start gaining attention? Stop playing it safe. Take some risks. You’ll surely stand out if you allow yourself to loosen up, make fun of yourself, have fun doing it, and strive to do something interesting.

I’ll be watching my feeds for your memorable efforts.

Instagram content is going to begin showing up in Google image and video searches. Consequently, your content will have broader discoverability beyond just Instagram platform, meaning there’s a new avenue brands to reach fresh audiences. Starting on July 10^th, 2025, you might have gotten a notification that said, “your public photos and videos may soon appear in search engine results”. The update means that posts, Reels, and videos will appear in Google search results — but only if the account the account owner is over 18 years of age, the account is currently public, and it’s currently a professional account.

This could be a huge boon for many businesses. Of course, this also means that we need to be more strategic about how we post our content. Not only should it be visually appealing, but it should also be optimized for search. To me, this is very reminiscent of Pinterest best practices and could demonstrate a shift while that platform is combating “AI slop”. Regardless, even if it’s not a drastic increase in visibility, putting keywords in your caption can only help.

The Instagram Edits app is getting somewhat more interactive, and somewhat more familiar. In its latest quiet rollout, Meta has incorporated sticker functionality to the standalone video editor, enabling people to add polls, quizzes, and emoji sliders before they even post a Reel. If that’s beginning to sound like the kind of thing you’d see on TikTok or Stories, it is.

However, the evolution is not only about catching up. It’s about enabling creators in the Meta ecosystem from start to finish. By giving users direct access to engagement features such as stickers in the very Edits, Instagram makes it easier to produce Reels that not only feel high-end, but buzz-worthy.

The announcement also brings expanded clip trimming and editing in the timeline, minor but important increments for creators wanting to make minor adjustments to the material without editing in third-party software. For the average user, it’s just one more streamlined way from idea to upload. For marketers and influencers, however, it’s a prod: if your Reels aren’t clickable, they’re probably being skipped over.

As the world has seen TikTok and CapCut leading the pack in creator editing, the Edits app is undoubtedly Meta’s play to close the loop. Edit, engage, post,  all in one workflow. And if stickers are just the start, we’d bet more creator-focused features are to come.

The importance of videos continues to rise, reels now account for 60% of time spent on Facebook and Instagram. In the latest reels ads guide, 85% of people surveyed have followed a business after watching a reel and 79% made a purchase. Those are pretty big numbers and could help your organization get the boost it needs especially during the peak travel period. The reels ads guide also tells a us a few things from a creative standpoint.

Build a 9:16 (vertical video) that fully takes over the user’s screen, cropping can be done in Ads Manager if you’re building a campaign just be sure to check all the crop types.

Use a free sound from the creative library or even better record your own, whether it’s sounds from the environment to show off the beauty of a destination or an informative and fun voiceover, anything original is welcome!

Leave space at the bottom for the reels interface, no text or anything that will be overlapped there.

Make your reel entertaining and engaging, bring energy, tell a story, share something informative in an upbeat and encouraging way. Make the audience care as much as you do. Of course, in that same vein, attention spans are short, be direct and make the information easy to understand. The goal is to stop the scroll with something attention grabbing and keep them around with engaging content.

Lastly, from my own recent experience for promoting reels, limit the AI enhancements. For example, you don’t want text overlay showing up on your videos but things like visual touch-ups are generally fine. The reels I’ve promoted for clients this season have seen great engagement with low CPCs and high CTRs. If you aren’t utilizing vertical video yet, it’s time to start!

Exciting news!! Mailchimp recently rolled out some new interactive features like in-email surveys and updated automation tools. With good email engagement getting harder than ever to achieve, these new tools will be an incredible way for DMOs to engage subscribers inside the inbox. Interactive content isn’t here to just look cool, it gets real results, increasing click-to-open rates by 73%, to be exact! 

And back to it looking cool, interactive content is a great way to spruce up your emails with something different and eye-catching, all while driving more clicks! From polls that trigger automation flows to quizzes that segment travelers by interests, I pulled together five easy, no-code ways to make your emails more dynamic and engaging using Mailchimp.

Click here to read the full blog post and start building better, more clickable campaigns!

If you’ve noticed some shifts in your organic site traffic recently, you’re not alone. Google is currently rolling out its June 2025 core update. This is a broad update to Google’s search algorithm, designed to improve the quality and relevance of search engine results. These updates happen a few times a year, and they can impact site visibility and organic performance. You may see some swings in keyword rankings, unexpected drops or surges in organic traffic, or fluctuating rankings for unique pages.

So, what’s changing? Early insights suggest that the update is heavily focusing on ranking improvements to pages that demonstrate deep, topical expertise and helpfulness, and removing pages that have thin or outdated content.  Additionally, some sites that took a negative hit from helpful content updates in 2023 and 2024 are now seeing recoveries, given they’ve improved content quality.

During this time, it is critical to monitor Google Analytics and Search Console to identify drops or gains in organic performance starting late-June. You can consider these fluctuations as signals of opportunity to improve SEO and content quality. Typically, it can take a few weeks for updates to stabilize, so don’t panic. Rather, focus on small improvements to the quality, depth, and trustworthiness of content to best serve your audience.

Core updates like this one are a reminder that SEO isn’t “set it and forget it.” Google’s mission is to deliver the most useful, relevant content to users – especially in informationally dense categories like travel planning.

If you’ve been making consistent improvements, this update may be sending favorable results. If you’ve seen a dip, now’s a good time to re-evaluate the quality of your content and site experience.

If you or someone on your team is looking to take a proactive approach here are 8 Best Practices during a Core Update Rollout.

Across the waters in Malaysia, an elderly couple booked a trip to a destination 3 hours away in hopes of riding on a cable car with scenic mountain views. They saw a video of the excursion on social media, which included reporter coverage of the spot and hundreds of people visiting. Only problem was the spot didn’t exist! The entire video was AI-generated, from every individual featured to the tram itself, and they didn’t find out it was fake until they had already made the trip.

Sure, we could chalk this up to user error in not doing further research on the destination before booking. But as far as AI-generated content goes, we can all be susceptible to the information presented (even if we believe we won’t fall for it).

A more localized, non-AI example is a viral post I saw about Tulip Time last year. Having gone to college in Holland and lived there for years, I saw this and immediately recognized the first 3 images were not showing Holland, MI but rather the tulip fields in the Netherlands. And a few others in the comments realized this, as well. But at first glance, a person unfamiliar with the West Michigan city wouldn’t have a clue.

While we can’t always control the type of content being shared and what users online will believe, DMOs can act by sharing the most up-to-date information and visuals of their destinations. Photos from 10 years ago may still look beautiful, but they might not reflect the current look and feel of your location—businesses may have changed, specific clothing is no longer in style, etc. Using current, high-quality images on your website and social media will let potential visitors know exactly what they can expect when they visit.

With the ever-changing digital marketing world, we are here to keep you informed of new digital trends and what we are keeping on our radar each month. Have any questions? Contact us! We’re here to help.

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