Meta expands social commerce play with new AI, creator, ad tools

Meta is tightening its grip on the fast-evolving social commerce market, rolling out a suite of tools that bring creators, artificial intelligence (AI), and advertising closer to the point of purchase, particularly on Instagram and Reels.

The company’s aim is to turn what was once passive product discovery into a more direct, measurable sales channel.

At the centre of this push is a deeper integration of creators into the shopping journey. Businesses in 22 countries, including India, will soon be able to share product catalogs with creators, allowing them to tag and link products directly within Reels. The move effectively converts creator content into storefronts, which is evidently blurring the line between entertainment and commerce.

Meta says its creator marketplace already hosts over 1.5 million discoverable creators. With new filtering tools tied to Ads Manager, brands can now identify and partner with creators more precisely. The payoff, according to company data, is tangible. Campaigns using Partnership Ads see 19% lower cost per acquisition, 13% higher click-through rates, and a 71% lift in median brand perception. “This makes it easier than ever for businesses to quickly identify creators who are a good match for their goals and likely to perform well in their partnership ads campaigns,” said Meta.

“Partnership Ads has moved influencer marketing from a brand-building line item to a broader marketing channel,” said Vikas Chawla, co-founder of Social Beat, highlighting the growing ability to track creator-led campaigns against business outcomes.

Reels becomes the new storefront

Meta is also doubling down on Reels as a high-intent advertising surface. By expanding “Reels Trending Ads” into categories such as business, finance, travel, and entertainment, it is positioning brands alongside culturally relevant, high-engagement content.

In an analysis of 59 studies, these ads delivered a 6.6 percentage point lift in ad recall compared to campaigns without such placements.

“We’re now part of conversations consumers are already having… the performance uplift has been hard to ignore,” said Sadhvi Dhawan, VP - Media at Blink Digital, a digital brand agency .

AI shifts from efficiency to performance driver

Alongside creators, AI is emerging as the second pillar of Meta’s commerce strategy.

The company is expanding its Advantage+ suite with generative AI tools that automate video creation, voiceovers, and translations. This will help reduce the effort required to produce localised, high-volume ad creatives. In early testing, campaigns using AI-generated video saw a 10% increase in click-through rates and an 8% rise in conversions.

Meta is also testing “product set optimisation,” allowing advertisers to prioritise specific items within broader catalogs. The feature has shown a 17% reduction in cost per purchase for promoted products.

Meanwhile, automated catalog video tools are delivering up to 20% more conversions per dollar. Campaigns using these formats on Reels have seen a further 33% increase in incremental conversions. Automated catalog video tools are designed to convert static product listings into dynamic video ads.

“What used to take days now happens in hours… GenAI is becoming the competitive edge in performance marketing,” said Ramasish Bhowmik, co-founder of Adbuffs, an ad agency.