May's paid social updates: what to act on, what to watch, what can wait

TL;DR: May had more consequential platform updates than usual. Meta is auto-editing live ads without notice, adding EU location fees from July 1, and rolling out auto-translation that's on by default. TikTok Shop launches in the Netherlands on June 15. Pinterest Performance+ campaigns now generates about 30% of lower funnel revenue.. Here's how urgently each one matters.

Do this now

Reforecast EU budgets before July 1

Meta is adding location fees to impressions delivered in EU markets starting July 1. The rates: 2% in the UK, 3% in France, Italy, and Spain, 5% in Austria and Turkey. These apply based on where your ads are delivered, not where your business is based, so in this case a Dutch brand running to UK audiences pays the UK surcharge.

This has been on the horizon for a while, but July 1 is close. Pull your EU campaign budgets, model the CPM impact by market, and update your projections before June closes. If you don't, you'll see ROAS drop mid-summer and spend time figuring out why after the fact.

Check what Meta is auto-editing in your live ads

Meta's Advantage+ Creative enhancements are making automated adjustments to ads that are already running. Brightness, aspect ratio, text overlays, video generation — all of it, without requiring approval. Most accounts haven't looked at what's changed.

Video generation example:

Pull a creative report on your active campaigns and review anything currently live. Off-brand or low-quality variations could be running right now without anyone having seen them. Make this a standing check, not a one-time fix.

Add auto-translate to your pre-launch checklist

Meta is automatically translating ad copy — including text overlays on creatives — and it's on by default. The risk is obvious: incorrect or off-brand copy running in markets no one has reviewed.

Thirty seconds in ad preview before every launch catches it before it goes live. That's all it takes. Add it to your current launch checklist now.

Review what Meta has pulled into your catalog

Meta now auto-syncs products from your website directly into your product catalog. In theory, useful. In practice, discontinued products and unapproved lines can end up in active campaigns without anyone flagging it.

Go into Commerce Manager and check what's been pulled in. It takes ten minutes and prevents you from running ads on things you didn't intend to advertise.

TikTok Shop launches in the Netherlands on June 15th

TikTok Shop goes live in the Netherlands — alongside Belgium, Poland, and Austria — on June 15. For lifestyle brands with a Dutch audience, this is the early mover window. The brands that get set up now, products listed, creator partnerships in place, logistics ready, will have a head start before the platform fills up.

Make sure to read our TikTok Shop guide for a step-by-step on how to be ready before launch, you can find the article here: https://goodkarma.agency/blog/why-getting-ready-for-tiktok-shop-now-is-your-competitive-advantage

Revisit TikTok Smart+ — it's not all-or-nothing anymore

Smart+ campaigns now let you toggle automation at the module level. Targeting, budget, and placements each have their own switch. If Smart+ got dismissed early because it felt like handing over full control, that objection is mostly gone.

Worth reopening. Start with one campaign and see what it does.

Pinterest Performance+: the numbers have made the case

Pinterest Performance+ accounts for roughly 30% of lower-funnel Pinterest revenue, just over a year after launch. Brands that adopted it grew lower-funnel spend at twice the rate of those still running manual campaigns.

If you're active on Pinterest and haven't moved to Performance+ yet, this isn't an experiment anymore. Add it to your campaign mix.

On the roadmap

Meta "Describe Your Audience" is rolling out

Instead of manually stacking interest selections, you can now type a plain-text description of your target customer and Meta's AI surfaces matching interests from its existing library, which you can review and add in bulk.

Worth knowing: it doesn't unlock new targeting options, it just finds existing ones faster. Vague descriptions produce vague results — be specific. Still limited rollout, check for the "Describe your audience" tab in Detailed Targeting at ad set level.

Pinterest native A/B testing is in beta

Pinterest launched a native A/B testing tool inside Ads Manager. If you've been testing Pinterest creative through manual comparisons or third-party tools, this is the cleaner alternative.

In beta, thus the availability varies, but worth checking if Pinterest is a meaningful channel.

Keep an eye on it

Creative diversity is a CPM issue, not just a brand issue

Meta's visual recognition model, Andromeda, identifies near-identical creatives as the same asset and raises CPMs accordingly. Running five versions of the same static doesn't count as variety in its eyes.

Real format diversity means static, video, founder content, carousels — different formats and not just the same concept resized. Static still drives 60–70% of Meta conversions, so the goal isn't to go into video formats completely. The goal is a mix that's actually varied. If your brief produces slight variations of the same thing, Andromeda sees one asset.

Cross-channel attribution is getting harder to trust

Every major platform is shortening attribution windows and optimising for in-platform conversions. That makes cross-channel ROAS comparisons less reliable — numbers that look good inside each platform don't always add up when you look across them.

Third-party attribution — Triple Whale, Billy Grace — is moving from a nice-to-have to a baseline requirement for any multi-channel account. If you're running more than one paid channel, you need a source of truth that sits outside each of them.

Automation is the default. Your job is to work inside it well.

Advantage+ Shopping, Smart+, Performance+. The direction across every major platform is the same. Accounts that fight automation underperform. The ones that win inside it have clean feeds, genuine creative variety, and solid account structure.

Automation handles targeting. Creative quality, catalog hygiene, and account structure are still on you.

Questions about what any of this means for your channel mix? Get in touch with us today.