Meta Unveils New Ad Tools for Reels and Threads

Because You Weren’t Seeing Enough Ads Already…

You might be interested in this as a content creator – whether you’re a writer or you do something else entirely.

Meta just held their big Brand Building Summit, which is basically their annual “Hey advertisers, please keep giving us money” event. And surprise, surprise, they rolled out some new ways to squeeze ads into Reels and Threads .

First, let’s talk about Reels. Meta is expanding these things called “Reels trending ads.” The idea is that advertisers can slap their ads right next to the most popular Reels. Meta described it as, “Reels trending ads use AI to curate the most trending and culturally relevant Reels inventory, delivering advertisers access to highly engaging, brand-safe video content that puts their brand where culture happens.”

Translation? Your shampoo ad might show up right after a cat video that went viral.

They say tests showed these ads can boost awareness by 20 percent, which is great if your life goal is to make sure more people know about your new protein shake brand. And now, apparently, anyone with a Meta sales rep can jump in on the fun.

Now over to Threads. Meta’s giving advertisers more toys here too, like carousel ads and bigger image formats. Basically, your feed on Threads will soon look like the world’s fanciest online catalog.

They’re even offering “catalog ads,” which tie into their Advantage+ promotions. Oh, and if you don’t even have a Threads account, don’t worry, Meta’s got you. You can just repurpose your Instagram or Facebook posts and voilà, you’re advertising on Threads without even logging in. Efficient, or lazy? You decide.

Meta also bragged that three out of four Threads users already follow at least one business. So, if you thought Threads was a quiet escape from ads, nope, it’s already turning into Times Square with text posts.

And then there’s the AI-powered targeting. Meta is letting brands use something called “value rules.” Basically, you tell the system who you value most, and Meta will bend over backward to spam them with your ads.

Early results claim that campaigns using value rules get twice as many “high-value” conversions compared to normal campaigns. Which sounds impressive, until you realize “high-value” probably just means the people who are more likely to cave and buy that overpriced hoodie.

So yeah, Meta keeps adding more knobs and dials for advertisers to play with, while the rest of us get to enjoy even more ads between our dog videos and random Threads arguments.