Image Source: Fashionbi Insights via Meta AI for Web

The assistant is embedded across Meta’s core platforms—Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Messenger—and is available as a standalone app, signalling Meta’s ambitions to compete directly with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.

Technological Capabilities and Product Suite

Llama Language Models

The Large Language Model Meta AI (LLaMA) series—starting with Llama 1 in 2023 and now up to Llama 4—represents Meta’s cornerstone in the generative AI arms race. Llama 4 introduces:

• Multimodal abilities (text + image) allow Meta AI to analyse a campaign image and suggest on-brand captions, emojis, and hashtags—ideal for brands posting visually led Reels, makeup transitions, or outfit styling tips. This helps brands craft posts that blend trend aesthetics with audience relevance.

• Multilingual fluency enables seamless campaign localisation. Brands can use Meta AI to generate region-specific messaging—long-form storytelling for India or minimalist product hooks for Germany—without losing consistency or tone.

• Optimised inference efficiency enables Meta AI to deliver faster, real-time responses—ideal for fashion and beauty teams working on rapid campaign turnarounds, trend-driven Reels, or last-minute product drops. This allows brands to iterate content, test creative variants, and engage consumers more responsively across fast-moving digital channels.

Supporting AI Tools

Meta AI’s innovation isn’t limited to text:

• Emu: A Meta’s high-performance image generator that can simulate ad visuals before a photoshoot. For example, a fashion label could visualise product drops in different seasonal backdrops, or a beauty brand could prototype textures for an eyeshadow launch.

• V-JEPA: A video prediction tool enhancing temporal understanding in media. It powers smart video analysis and helps identify the most engaging transitions, product placements, or time markers in Reels and Stories—valuable for beauty brands optimising GRWM videos or fashion houses showcasing collection highlights.

• Andromeda AI: The backend behind Meta’s Advantage+ advertising automation. It enables brands to rapidly test multiple ad creatives, match visuals to Gen Z preferences, and automate performance-driven placements.

These tools fuel a wide range of applications from creative content to predictive video analysis and customer segmentation.

Where Meta AI Stands Against the Competition

Sources: Meta AI Blog, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind

Meta AI Across the Meta Ecosystem: The Integration Advantage

One of Meta AI’s most compelling differentiators is its native integration across Meta’s core platforms—Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Unlike most other LLMs which remain confined to standalone interfaces or enterprise APIs, Meta AI operates within the social and messaging environments where users already spend their time. This proximity allows for hyper-contextualised AI interactions, personalisation based on user history, and seamless automation of content, communication, and commerce.

Instagram Integration

On Instagram, Meta AI works as a conversational assistant embedded in the search bar and chat interface. With LLaMA 4’s language capabilities, users can ask:

• “What hashtags are trending sustainably this week?”

• “What kind of Reels should I post to promote a new lipstick launch?”

• “What beauty trends are going viral in Southeast Asia?”

The AI then analyses public Instagram data—from posts and hashtags to captions and Reels—to generate culturally relevant, timely, and actionable insights. Meta AI’s context-aware design makes it especially effective for fashion and beauty brands where tone, aesthetic, and timing are critical.

What Meta AI Prompts Do Well

1. Highly Actionable for Content Creators

• Each response is structured to offer directly usable suggestions (e.g. “Create a Reels series using lipstick ASMR” or “Use #SustainableFashion for visibility”).

• Ideal for junior social media managers, solo beauty founders, or influencer marketing teams who need quick, structured inspiration.

2. Cross-Platform Awareness

• Meta AI surfaces responses based on publicly sourced web content. There is no clear indication that its prompt outputs are powered by internal Instagram engagement data.

• This is particularly valuable for regional trend prompts, like “What’s going viral in Southeast Asia?”, where ecommerce and cultural factors may not be visible on Instagram alone.

Meta AI surfaces its responses from a mix of public web sources—often including third-party social media guides, content marketing blogs, and trend listicles curated across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. These appear in a “Sources” section beneath many responses, demonstrating that its answers are shaped by broader digital content ecosystems, not just Google-indexed pages. This helps broaden the context and practical relevance of responses, especially for prompts around hashtag strategy, content planning, and regional trends.

3. Format-Specific Structuring

• Suggestions are grouped under creative formats like influencer-led, fun/interactive, and informative categories—useful for campaign planning or filling content calendars.

What to Watch Out For

1. Not Fully Data-Driven or Transparent

• Despite Meta's access to massive platform data, the responses seem to prioritise summarised third-party search results and public web indexing over actual real-time Instagram insights.

• Hashtag metrics (e.g. “22,2M users”) are rarely dated or sourced clearly. It’s unclear whether this data reflects recent trends or historical aggregation.

2. Generalised Insights Lacking Brand-Specific Depth

• The outputs are broad, not tailored. While they help ideate broadly for beauty or fashion, they lack nuance for luxury vs mass market, or skincare vs apparel nuances.

• For example, the lipstick Reels suggestions are clever, but would require manual validation to ensure relevance for a brand with a distinct aesthetic (e.g. Glossier vs MAC).

3. Not a Substitute for Market Research

• While it can aid rapid content ideation, the tool should not be relied upon for strategic decision-making (e.g. entering a new region, allocating ad spend, or choosing product ranges).

• The Southeast Asia trend prompt, for example, is rich in consumer insight—but likely derived from Google scraping and not from Meta’s internal engagement data.

Additional Meta AI Features for Fashion and Beauty Brands on Instagram

Instagram serves as the most visually-rich and AI-enhanced platform in Meta’s portfolio. Meta AI is embedded in multiple touchpoints:

• Search bar assistant: Suggests trending topics, creators, and visual content based on user preferences and conversation cues.

Prompt: “Who are trending beauty creators in France this month?”

Meta AI's search bar assistant feature helps users identify trending topics, creators, and visual themes by interpreting natural language prompts. When asked for trending beauty creators in France, the assistant returned a segmented list of influencers categorised as mega, macro, and micro, along with follower counts and topical specialities. This structured output is helpful for fashion and beauty marketers looking to explore creator partnerships, spot emerging influencer tiers, or track regional engagement patterns within the Instagram ecosystem.

• Post and Story captions: AI offers suggested captions, emojis, and hashtags based on image analysis and current trends.

Prompt: “Suggest a caption and emojis for a beachwear OOTD set in Saint Tropez.”

For post and story captions, Meta AI is able to generate context-appropriate phrases, hashtags, and emojis based on prompt content. In the example featuring a beachwear OOTD in Saint Tropez, the assistant offered multiple caption styles with visual and geographic references, along with relevant emojis and fashion-related hashtags. This makes the tool suitable for ideating short-form copy that aligns with tone-of-voice, seasonal narratives, and engagement tactics used by fashion and beauty content creators.

• Shopping and product discovery: AI recommends similar products and related items through image recognition and browsing history.

Prompt: “Find a similar boots to these (Upload Image.)”

The product discovery feature enables users to upload an image or describe an item and receive curated product suggestions. In the example of black patent ankle boots, Meta AI analysed the visual characteristics such as material, heel height, and design elements, then returned similar product options with pricing, availability, and descriptions. This functionality supports the early stages of style matching and e-commerce browsing, allowing users to locate alternatives across retail categories from fashion marketplaces to luxury brands.

• DM-based AI assistant: Conversational features help users engage with creators, brands, or customer service bots.

Prompt: “Hii!! Can you help me find the best serum for oily skin?”

Within direct message interactions, Meta AI functions as a product guide by offering recommendations, ingredient insights, and skincare routines tailored to user needs. When prompted to find the best serum for oily skin, it returned a ranked list of products grouped by benefit (e.g., brightening, acne control), along with usage tips and key ingredients. This conversational output mirrors typical brand support messaging and can assist users in navigating beauty product decisions through a self-guided, educational format.

• Content enhancement: Visual GenAI tools offer image touch-ups, animated overlays, and AI-generated backgrounds.

Prompt: “Make this product photo more vibrant and cartoonish. (Upload Image)”

For content enhancement, Meta AI can modify visual assets upon request, applying stylistic transformations such as increased vibrancy or cartoon effects. In the illustrated example with a product sweater image, the tool generated versions with adjusted colour intensity and stylised rendering while retaining the original layout and subject. This visual generation capability is valuable for testing campaign aesthetics, adapting content to different audience tastes, or preparing assets for creative storytelling formats.

Facebook and Messenger

• Post drafting assistant: AI helps users write posts by suggesting tone and phrasing.

• Comment moderation: AI tools flag inappropriate comments and suggest responses.

• Messenger chatbots: AI-powered bots manage FAQ responses, bookings, and product queries for business accounts.

• Events and group management: AI suggests relevant events and groups to join, based on user activity.

WhatsApp Business

• Smart replies: AI suggests instant responses for businesses handling high volumes of customer messages.

• Multilingual messaging: Built-in translation and intent recognition help facilitate cross-border communication.

• Broadcast message optimisation: AI proposes message formats and timing based on past engagement.

Personalisation and Context Awareness

By drawing from a user’s activity, preferences, and interactions across Meta’s apps, the AI can tailor experiences far more precisely than standalone tools. Whether it’s recommending fashion influencers to follow, adjusting tone for an ad caption, or highlighting trending hashtags in a product category, Meta AI has platform-native access to user context and behavioural signals.

Use Cases in Fashion and Luxury

Fashion and luxury brands are already experimenting with Meta AI in three key areas: marketing automation, content generation, and customer experience.

1. Trend Discovery

Meta AI supports consumer trend analysis by tapping into platform behavioural data. It offers predictive insights and consumer sentiment interpretation, valuable for product development and seasonal marketing plans.

Meta AI positions itself as a trend discovery assistant, offering topical prompts tailored to fashion and beauty. However, its responses often rely on web-sourced summaries rather than Instagram’s internal behavioural data, which may limit how real-time or platform-native those insights really are.

Example prompt:

• “What’s trending in skincare among Gen Z in Japan?”

Expected insights:

• Natural Ingredients, Sustainable and Clean Beauty, Minimalist and Multi-Tasking Products, Personalised Skincare, Biotechnology and Microbiome-Focused Products and Mental Well-being.

Note: This is a hypothetical use-case to illustrate Meta AI’s capabilities.

Brands can tune their visual and cultural narratives through these soft trend discoveries, though these scenarios represent potential rather than confirmed cases. Estée Lauder has also been testing AI-driven visual content optimisation through tools similar to Vision AI.

2. Hashtag Strategy Optimisation

Meta AI suggests performing hashtags based on topic and region. This enhances discoverability across campaigns.

Examples:

• A sustainable brand in Berlin might discover #ReWearMovement, #SlowFashionBerlin.

• Brands can utilise suggestions for regional product launches in Asia and the Middle East.

3. Creative Ideation & Campaign Planning

Meta AI serves as a virtual content strategist. Fashion and beauty influencers or marketers can ask for format-specific ideas, captions, and calendars. Brands have the potential to explore AI-assisted ideation for campaign diversity and creative testing.

For instance, a Dubai-based influencer could use Meta AI to generate a 7-day Eid campaign and may receive a response such as:
- Day 1: Post with wishes
- Day 2: Traditional Eid Outfits and BTS of creating the outfits(Reel)
- Day 3: Eid Food Fest (Reel with trendy audio)
- Day 4: Family Fun (Family-friendly event coverage)
- Day 5: Dubai-special Eid Tradition
- Day 6: Shopping Frenzy
- Day 7: Eid Al Adha Spirit (heartwarming humanitarian feed)

*Note: This is a hypothetical use-case to illustrate Meta AI’s capabilities.

4. Advertising and Personalisation: Advantage+ Campaigns

Meta’s Advantage+ shopping campaigns automate everything from segmentation to creative optimisation. Brands like Tuckernuck, Kitsch, and American Eagle have:

• Achieved +22% ROAS uplift on average (Meta internal data)

• Automated A/B testing of up to 150 creative variations

• Integrated visual enhancements, 3D motion, and GenAI-generated backdrops

Case in Point: American Eagle
Using Meta’s AI-powered ads, American Eagle saw a 48% increase in ROAS among Gen Z shoppers. AI managed audience targeting, creative assembly, and even offline store redirects.

Image Source: Meta made a series of upgrades to improve targeting and add generative AI features to Advantage+ campaigns. Above is a generic example of Advantage+ shopping ad formats. (Meta) | Adage.com

Case in Point: Boden (EMEA)
British fashion retailer Boden leveraged Meta’s AI-driven Advantage+ campaigns in the EMEA region and reported a 23% increase in ROAS. The AI helped optimise creative combinations, refine customer targeting, and adjust placements in real time to boost return on spend.

Case in Point: Dexter (LATAM)
Footwear and apparel brand Dexter in Latin America saw a 25% decrease in cost per purchase when adopting Meta’s automated campaign setup. Through generative ad assembly and regional audience segmentation, Dexter reduced acquisition costs while expanding its reach across e-commerce shoppers.

Image Courtesy: Meta

5. Localisation for International Brands

Meta AI helps global brands adapt content to regional cultures and communication styles.

Example prompt: “How does skincare content differ between India and Germany?”

• India: Regional language, longer reels, personal storytelling

• Germany: Minimalist visuals, expert voiceovers, clean design
  Fashion and beauty brands can tailor influencer scripts, ad captions, and tutorial styles per market using such insights.

6. Virtual Try-ons and Product Visualisation

Using Meta AI’s visual processing tools, fashion brands can develop AI-powered virtual try-ons directly in-app. Though still early-stage, this holds promise especially in beauty, eyewear, and jewellery segments.

7. Content Creation and Curation

From suggesting Instagram captions to rewriting ad copy and enhancing images, Meta AI streamlines the creative workflow for in-house teams:

• Kitsch’s team produces up to 100 assets per week with help from AI-enhanced iteration.

• The assistant suggests hashtags, trending content types, and image templates.

Fashion Use Cases vs Competitors

Meta AI: Strengths and Limitations

Strengths

• Deep integration with Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp—brands meet customers where they already are.

• Open-weight model (Llama 4) allows adaptation and experimentation by tech-forward brands.

• Powerful ad performance tools (e.g., Advantage+) that combine real-time AI learning with audience behaviour.

Limitations

• Fewer out-of-the-box creative tools compared to OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo.

• Less established developer ecosystem; lacks the broad plugin/custom GPT marketplace.

• Enterprise-grade safety, privacy, and audit trails still maturing.

• Slower uptake in multilingual enterprise use compared to Google Gemini.

Conclusion: A Work in Progress with Massive Potential

Meta AI represents a formidable force in the generative AI space—particularly due to its massive user base, integrated ecosystem, and open-model ethos. For fashion and luxury brands, its real advantage lies in streamlining creativity, automating marketing, and scaling personalisation, especially through tools like Advantage+.

However, Meta AI lags behind ChatGPT and Gemini in enterprise maturity, creativity tooling, and fine-tuned brand control. As Meta hosts its inaugural LlamaCon and ramps up AI investment, fashion brands would do well to keep Meta AI in their AI stack—especially those deeply embedded in Instagram and Facebook ecosystems.

At the same time, forward-thinking creators and fashion teams are already blending Meta AI with other LLMs to build agile, end-to-end content workflows. Brands can use similar tools to optimise hashtags for mature and unique campaigns globally. Whether identifying trends with Meta AI and scripting with ChatGPT, or combining Advantage+ with generative captions, the future lies in these hybrid applications that bring together the best of platform-native insights and cross-model creativity.

Cover Image Courtesy: CorriereNerd.